Scale focus a 35/2.5 on Bessa L?

[JohnR]

Hi, I'm quite accustomed to scale focusing my 25/4 on the Bessa L. I'm thinking of getting a 35/2.5 and doing the same. It seems like it should be pretty much the same, with of course less DOF in general. Are there any pitfalls with this idea? I don't expect to be shooting wide open very often.

Thx 🙂

JohnR

 

[nikola]

It should be fun, but you'll need external finder cause 35mm is quite tighter than 25mm

 

[oscroft]

You'll need to be a bit more careful than with a 25 because there is less DOF to cover your mistakes (as you know), but as long as you're familiar with using the DOF scale and you use suitably small apertures as much as possible, you should be able to scale focus a 35 quite easily. (I used to scale focus an Olympus XA-2 with its 35mm lens quite successfully, and that was without control of the aperture - having control of the aperture with a Bessa-L will give you considerably more flexibility)

 

[pvdhaar]

Scale focussing a 35 should is doable, which is proven by countless superb pictures taken with the Minox 35.. But longer focal length scale focussing cameras have been available as well, most topping out at 45-50mm.

Be aware though that over time, printing sizes have increased. The ca. 2 1/3 x 3 1/2 inch prints that were the most common enlargement in the scale focusing dominated 1960's have given way to at least 4 x 6 inch. The demand on focusing accuracy has increased accordingly.

Long story short, to get the same impression of sharpness with a 35mm lens on 4 x 6 prints, you'll have to work harder on guesstimating discance than your (grand)parents had to with a 50mm in the old days..

 

[Spluff]

I have the viewfinder and 35mm set-up - when I first used scale focusing, I was surprised how successful I was - but I had used scale-focusing on the 25mm. I try to shoot at f8. The only hard part is for objects that move - well I mean taking candid pictures of people - but its all part of the fun!

 

[JohnR]

Ah, the viewfinder... I thought I might just try guessing with the 25mm viewfinder at first, and look for a 35/50 multifinder on EBay. (Then I can use it w/ my classic cameras as well.)

I'm wondering/assuming that the DOF markings on the 35/2.5C lens are as easy to use as the 25/4. They seem so from the pictures I've seen - ? I'm mostly interested in landscapes, or at least things that don't move too fast 🙂

Thanks, I didn't expect responses so quickly 🙂

 

[oscroft]

Ah, the viewfinder... I thought I might just try guessing with the 25mm viewfinder at first, and look for a 35/50 multifinder on EBay

The field of view is very different between the two lenses, and I think guessing the 35mm fov would be very tricky with only a 25mm viewfinder to go on.

I'm wondering/assuming that the DOF markings on the 35/2.5C lens are as easy to use as the 25/4

Yes, I have both lenses and the DOF markings on the 35 are every bit as good as on the 25.

 

[rxmd]

You can try to get one of the Helios finders for 35mm, they used to sell for very reasonable money. I got two for 20 EUR or so including shipping.

Philipp