New camera

[Bahia]

Hello, my name is Daniel i´m registered for quite a while in this forum, but now finaly i decided to go to film, starting on digital, a mechanical "issue" is forcing me to go to film, but for that i need some help, if anyone could give some advice i would be extreme gratefull.

What i´m looking for is a camera that permit me use all kind of lens, preferabily the russian one´s (budget reason), cheap, and with a reliable photomoter. Thanks in advance.

Daniel Carreira

P.S. sorry about my english, but my primary language is Portuguese...

 

[back alley]

the bessa r is a great camera with a screw mount that will take most of the fsu lenses.

and welcome daniel.

joe

 

[Fred]

the bessa r is a great camera with a screw mount that will take most of the fsu lenses.

and welcome daniel.

joe

Seconded, just don't forget the FSU bodies as well.

 

[back alley]

i mentioned the r as daniel wanted a meter built in.

for fsu bodies, the zorki 3m gets high marks.

joe

 

[Bahia]

Thanks for the replies till now, i´m now checking the bessa sub forum😎 ,m

thanks again

 

[mascarenhas]

Hello, Daniel! I see that your nickname is Bahia, are you from there? If yes, I would like to greet a fellow baiano to RFF (although I live in Rio)!

Getting back on topic, I have been using a Bessa R3A for the past couple weeks, and it is great. Bought it from another RFFer, along with a 40/2 Leica Summicron (keep an eye on the classifieds session). Cost quite a bit for a graduate student of the third world 🙂, but absolutely no buyer's remorse. You will see that focusing a rangefinder accurately is the easiest thing in the world, much easier than focusing manual focus SLRs (even those with split-image, microprism, blah blah blah focusing screns).

The Bessa R+35/2.5 kit that CameraQuest is selling for $400 should be great if you are on a budget, and you can use Russian lenses with it (you will need an LTM->M adapter to use Russian lenses on a R2 or R3, these will set you back $30-60 each).

 

[rbiemer]

i mentioned the r as daniel wanted a meter built in.

for fsu bodies, the zorki 3m gets high marks.

joe

Daniel,
As joe suggested, the Bessa R is a good, relatively cheap option. If you can live with out a meter, the Zorki 3m is a wonderful camera.
There is, perhaps, one other metered FSU camera that you might think about: the FED 5. It is bigger and heavier than the Bessa and quite a bit uglier. But; there are still some "new old stock" cameras around--this means the cameras have been sitting in a warehouse some where since aproximately 1994--as long as they have been stored well they will be as good as they would have been if you had bought one in '94. The FED 5 has an uncoupled meter that is OK for color print film, and they are usually not too much money. I have bought a good one from Sibir Sergey on ebay:
FED 5 (BLACK) link
and he also has(for quite a bit less):
Chrome FED 5 link
The Bessa is, I think, a great way to get into the rangefinder world but if your budget is not up to it, the FED 5 will work as well. Not the most elegant camera, certainly, but it is hard to go wrong with a new 35mm RF camera for $52 USD.
Rob

 

[oscroft]

Just thought it's worth pointing out that you can't use the Jupiter-12 35mm lens on a Bessa, because the rear element fouls against something and also blocks the meter cell. So if you plan to get one of those, you'll need a different body.

But for me, the only way to use Soviet Union lenses is with a FED or Zorki body and a hand-held Leningrad meter 🙂

I have bought a good one from Sibir Sergey on ebay

I've bought a number of things from him, and he seems like a good guy.

Best,

 

[Bahia]

Hello, again, thanks for all the replies they are being very helpfull, i´m analizing what would i buy, and this posts are being a great help.

Mascarenhas, my nick is Bahia, but i´m not from there (i wish), i´m Portuguese currently living in Dublin, Ireland, but you can greet me at the same as a possible Baiano... lolol

Daniel

 

[Bahia]

Hey, my camera finnaly arrived, and my flatmate tried to put her to work, fiddeling on her as he say, so now she´s not working, he was moving on the exposure whell and pressing the shutter at the same time, now the camera is jammed and now the curtain shutter (?) is not moving, can anyone help me?? Because i´d like not to have to buy another...

many thanks,

Daniel

 

[ZeMane]

Hey, my camera finnaly arrived, and my flatmate tried to put her to work, fiddeling on her as he say, so now she´s not working, he was moving on the exposure whell and pressing the shutter at the same time, now the camera is jammed and now the curtain shutter (?) is not moving, can anyone help me?? Because i´d like not to have to buy another...

many thanks,

Daniel

Oi Bahia,

There are lot of people here that could help you with that problem but ... I can not see which camera did you finally buy? Bessa R? Fed/Zorki?

Regards,

JoSe

 

[Bahia]

I´m sorry the camera is the FED 5, my mistake, but i fixed her, thanks anyway José.

Regards,

Daniel

 

[KoNickon]

And I hope you told your flatmate to never touch it again!