R2A or R4A ??? Opinions

[CodeMonkey13]

I am going into the RF world. I shoot mostly landscape now but want to get more into Urban/Street shooting. Right now I shoot Nikon Digital. I would Love to shoot RF digital, but the cost is not at my pricing point yet. SO in the mean time I will scan film. I have a pretty good film scanner for 35mm(Polaroid 4000) that I have been happy with in the past. To bide my time I am looking at the R2A or R4A. I think I am leaning to the R4. I figure if I want to shoot Longer lenses I would just use the SLR. If I got the R4 could I just add a 75mm viewfinder if I decided to use a lens like that? RIght now I am thinking about the R4 with a 21 or 25mm Len for my landscape work. and a 40 or 50mm for general shooting (recommendations or links to reviews?🙂 ).
Thanks for the time anyonespendsn inresponsee to me. If I am covering old ground a ref to a link would be great.

 

[mtbbrian]

I have an R2A, with 25, 35 and 75mm lenes.
The lines on the R2A are 35, 50, 75 and 90, so with the 25 I use an external viewfinder.
Here's my advice:
If you are thinking of purchasing lenes that will have two or more lines on the camera then go with that one.
If you have to use an external viewfinder, I'd suggest going with the short lens.
It sounds like the R4A is the camera for you.
Good Luck!
Brian

 

[ferider]

I find really wide angles pretty useless for landscape work. You can use
the R2* down to 28mm without external finder, and it is a better camera
for 50 and 75mm (both good for landscapes, too, IMO). I recommend the R2*
therefore, and would consider the R2M instead of the R2A (I find
auto exposure doesn't help but distracts when shooting landscapes).

Best,

Roland.

 

[CodeMonkey13]

I find really wide angles pretty useless for landscape work. You can use
the R2* down to 28mm without external finder, and it is a better camera
for 50 and 75mm (both good for landscapes, too, IMO). I recommend the R2*
therefore, and would consider the R2M instead of the R2A (I find
auto exposure doesn't help but distracts when shooting landscapes).

Best,

Roland.

I thought the r2 only had brightlines down to 35mm?
Which lense sounds better to you?
40/1.4
50/2
50/1.5

 

[mtbbrian]

I thought the r2 only had brightlines down to 35mm?
Which lense sounds better to you?
40/1.4
50/2
50/1.5

Yes, but if you look through the viewfinder beyond the frames lines, it's pretty close to 28.
A lot of people like the 40, becasue it is really fast.
Brian

 

[ferider]

I thought the r2 only had brightlines down to 35mm?
Which lense sounds better to you?
40/1.4
50/2
50/1.5

Hi Lonnie,

the full viewfinder on the R2* works well with 28mm and you can use the
90mm lines to compose (1/3rd).

I personally love the 40/1.4.

I recommend, in particular for landscapes in low light, either a 28/1.9 + 40/1.4
or a 28/1.9 + 50/1.5 combo. All three stellar lenses. The 28/3.5 is a great lens,
too, with more contrast than the 1.9. Here are two 28/3.5 examples, the
first shot with a Bessa R2, BTW:

Best,

Roland.

 

[peter_n]

Beautiful Roland! 🙂

If I got the R4 could I just add a 75mm viewfinder if I decided to use a lens like that?

You could, but I would think you might have quite a bit of difficulty focusing a 75mm lens on an R4. A 50mm is about the limit on that body.

 

[BillBingham2]

Lonnie,

Which style body (R2x, R3x, R4x) really depends upon two different factors. First, which lenses you want to use.

I've never really be a 50mm lover/user in the past, these days that has changed a bit. On my Leica kit I love the 40/1.4, the size, quality and speed are IMHO, world class. I use the 35mm frame lines with is and it works fine. The Nikkor LTM 50/2 has a growing following again which is nice to see. Nikon made some great LTM glass way back when that still is very good.

I love the 25/4 CV as a wonderful lens. My main M6 kit is a 15/25/40/105. The 25 is on a Bessa L because of size and speed of it as a second camera. I would look at a Bessa R4x as a great place to start. The R3 is perhaps the best camera on the market for a 75mm lens as it has a dedicated frame line for it and a 1:1 viewing ratio.

Your idea of using an SLR for longer lenses and RF for wider is a great idea. Use 85 and up on your SLR and 50 and below in RF. I use SLRs for 180 and up, but that is me, I'm a bit strange some times (e.g. the gap between my lenses is wider than most).

B2 (;->

 

[globetrotter]

Hi Roland!
I've heard something about the difficult that coud have the 28 Ultron 1.9 with the R4A, because it's too big and could "invade" the viewfinder? Is that true??
Sorry about my english 🙂))