The Aussie Travelling Bessa III Update

An excellent write up Leigh. I am now seriously considering an older American made Crown Graphic 23 - since I prefer 6x9.
 
Leigh Youdale said:
The prints of the duplicated Rollei vs Bessa comparison arrived yesterday and, after my last posting, I was a little surprised.
With both lots of negatives of identical subjects enlarged to the same magnification (8x8 or 8x10) in all but one pair of frames I'd have to say the Bessa wins in terms of sharpness, rendition and overall appearance.

Not by much though. The Rollei shots look perfectly acceptable until you put them side by side with the Bessa equivalents. The differences are subtle but detectable to the eye. I doubt they'd show up on a computer screen but in the print the difference is definitely there.
Click to expand...

I wonder if it is lens sharpness or local contrast emphasis that is making the differences in the way the prints look. The Bessa III lens is very contrast-y I find, compared to my Hasselblad. I don't have a Rollei to compare it to.
 
John NYC said:
I wonder if it is lens sharpness or local contrast emphasis that is making the differences in the way the prints look. The Bessa III lens is very contrast-y I find, compared to my Hasselblad. I don't have a Rollei to compare it to.
Click to expand...

John, I think you have a valid point in one regard. My prints certainly exhibit some of that - but there is also a slight softness evident in the Rollei shots. It's not all that obvious or something that I think I'd particularly notice without the side-by-side comparison I did of duplicated shots on the same film batch and processed in the same (professional) colour lab.
The Bessa contrast might well be the reason I'm perceiving slightly richer colour in those prints too. (Read "rendition"). It would be interesting (but maybe a bit academic now) to repeat the tests using black and white film thereby eliminating the colour effect and looking solely at contrast and sharpness. But what would that prove, in the end?
I'm also conscious that my Planar f2.8 lens is 52 years old and any effects I'm seeing could be as much a product of that particular lens' age as it could be in design and materials. My lens is in good shape with no fungus or scratches - but in other threads and with other lenses guys wax lyrical about the characteristics of some older lenses and actually seek them out just for this reason, so possibly we're seeing something of the same thing here.
 
I got back my Rollei 75f3.5 Planar after service a week ago. For the hell of it I loaded both the Bessa III and the Rollei with some old Tri X (1987 vintage) as I wanted a low contrast film ( and residual fog does provide that).
In one of Vancouvers suburbs there is a strange sculpture, part of an Art Biennale, of Lenin's head with Ms Mao balancing on top!!!
I shot a handful of rolls (in 6x6 with the Bessa) and compared the negatives/scans. The Bessa III looks a bit sharper (resolution wise) and with slightly higher contrast than the Rollei (which of course is 50+ years older). Metering with the Bessa was spot on - not an easy task with a 5 meter high "head" made from polished alloy!! I simple transferred the readings from the Bessa to the Rollei (whose meter is showing signs of age).
AS for handling, I ahven't shot with any Rollei for 10-12 years so part of the process was to relearn holding one! The Bessa has had about 50-60 rolls through it since I got it.
Conclusion: Either camera will do well and in reality, you wont see much difference between images shot with one or the other - at least not in bl/w. I do prefer the Bessa's handling as it is close to handling a 35mm rangefinder (focus patch, focus action etc). The AE is a bonus. Folded up it is more convinient to drag around than the Rollei - but it takes a couple of seconds more to set up.
As a "trip" camera I would prefer the Bessa as a complement to my regular 35 rangefinders (with spare batteries packed). The Rollie works better on a tripod though - more natural viewing.
The Heliar lens is good, really good. My Planar 75f3.5 is a bit prone to flare - even after cleaning some of the internal fog. There is a bit of Imogen Cunningham/Richard Avedon feel to the Rollei that the Bessa lacks.
If you go to Flickr and our site - click on Bessa III and some of these shots will show. Still haven't figured out how to shift images into RFf.
 
Thanks for those photos Tom. I keep going over the prints from my "tests", trying to justify buying a Bessa III. :) The main group are all 8x8 or 8x10 inch enlargements and in those, with careful scrutiny sometimes aided by a magnifying glass, you can see that the Heliar lens IS sharper. And I agree the contrast is a tad more. But without a side by side comparison or at lesser magnifications (say 6 inches x 6 inches from another test run I did) it's not easy to spot any real difference. Still, knowing that it's there tends to create an element of dissatisfaction. That, plus the convenience of the viewfinder, better focus (even with a Maxwell screen in the Rollei) and better shutter is creating a delicious dilemma!

By the way, I discovered that if you click on the "Go Advanced" button under this Quick Reply message field and work down the advanced menu that appears you'll find a link that says "Manage Attachments" and that in turn opens a window that stipulates acceptable image sizes and allows you to upload up to three images (one a a time) with each message you post.
 
Thanks Leigh. I have tried that stuff and they keep vanishing into that great hard drive in the sky!
Nothing worse than the nagging feeling that camera A is marginally better than camera B - and the instant desire to buy! I know it well.
There is a lot of discussion about Bessa pricing. Have anyone checked the prices for the last (latest!) Rollie's lately. Makes Bessa's seem like bargain's.
The Rollie is a different animal than the Bessa. The Bessa comes along with a M2 or MP Leica as a supplemental camera. The Rollei goes out on its own. Dont know why - but the Rollei likes to be alone.
 
Tom A said:
Thanks Leigh. I have tried that stuff and they keep vanishing into that great hard drive in the sky!

Nothing worse than the nagging feeling that camera A is marginally better than camera B - and the instant desire to buy! I know it well.
There is a lot of discussion about Bessa pricing. Have anyone checked the prices for the last (latest!) Rollie's lately. Makes Bessa's seem like bargain's.

The Rollie is a different animal than the Bessa. The Bessa comes along with a M2 or MP Leica as a supplemental camera. The Rollei goes out on its own. Dont know why - but the Rollei likes to be alone.
Click to expand...


I'm getting a bit worried that one day all that lost in space stuff is going to reach critical mass somewhere up there and fall on us!

I don't think I want to comment on the Bessa pricing! Some people have had unrealistic expectations, I think. And some never had the money in the first place and were just venting their disappointment.

I'd probably keep the Rollei but for the same reason I switched to using Bessa R3/4 cameras instead of my Nikkormat. Eyesight! I find using a rangefinder with split image so much easier these days and although the Rollei has a Maxwell Hi-Lux screen and is much better for it, there are lighting and subject situations where the Rollei screen is slow and difficult to focus. There's also the factor that using the Bessa 667 is so similar to the 35mm Bessas that you don't have to do a mental jump because the controls and operation are so different.

Along with about 20 other Aussie photographers I'm hanging out for the draw at the end of the project. Some lucky person will win the Travelling Bessa for their very own! Scott tells me there are still eight people to get their chance to use it and the raffle won't take place until (probably) July. That seems a long time to wait now.
 
chippy said:
got some more pictures? some comparisons perhaps (or not), doesnt matter..pictures are interesting is all
Click to expand...

Yes, I have all the scans from Horsham, but I'm a bit pressed for time as I'm going away for the next three weeks. Also I'm not at all sure that posting the pics will be useful. By the time they've been compressed down from 25MB to a size that can be posted here, then expanded and viewed at 72 dpi the slight differences between the two lenses will be undetectable, I think. And they were taken for purposes of comparison, not as art!
There are a couple up on Scott's blog. One of an old school building, one of my daughter taken on Delta 3200 and one taken at the beach.
But try this crop of one shot. It started as 6x7.
 
Last edited:
The well travelled Aussie Bessa has arrived and its all mine for 2 whole weeks. Bewdy mate!

Its 9 degrees outside at the moment..a bit colder than when Leigh's shots were taken above but I'm raring to go.

I gather we Melbournites are the last few to have it before it wings its way back to Scott at Mainline.
 
jmilkins said:
The well travelled Aussie Bessa has arrived and its all mine for 2 whole weeks. Bewdy mate!

Its 9 degrees outside at the moment..a bit colder than when Leigh's shots were taken above but I'm raring to go.

I gather we Melbournites are the last few to have it before it wings its way back to Scott at Mainline.
Click to expand...

Enjoy it! If the countryside is bleak for scenic work, maybe some inner city shots might suit.
 
Well, the project is almost at an end. On return the camera will get a service and then there will be a raffle, with the winner able to purchase the camera at a substantial discount. Someone is going to be a happy camper!

Scott informs me -
"The Raffle will go ahead as planned and the price
due to extra 2 participants is going to be $795.00 :)

I will email everyone on the list in the next few days
to double check if they still wish to be in on the raffle.

BTW after nearly a year and a half crisscrossing the country
in it's little box and over 20 folks using it for two weeks
it has survived very well with only one rangefinder adjustment."

And before anyone starts thinking the price quoted above is some sort of benchmark second hand price for the Bessa III, remember this was a special one-off deal worked out for 20 photographers to have a chance to trial the camera and for one to get lucky at the end.

I'd like to win it and couple it with the newly announced GW667. It's a combination that would suit my photography very well!
 
I loved having the Mainline Travelling Bessa to play with for my couple of weeks and certainly want in on the raffle!

I haven't got my shots back yet from Horsham Colour (my delay not theirs) but started this flickR http://www.flickr.com/groups/1216006@N23/for poeple's shots - uploads welcome if they've disappeared from here. I'll scan some other shots I took and had developed quickly to see how they looked before I sent the couple of rolls to Horsham.
 
One week to go and some fortunate person from amongst the 24 who participated in the project will be an excited owner of the Travelling Bessa III.
 
Yes, a great chance to try this very interesting camera out for an extended period and now it's ended with one lucky winner. Thanks Scott and Mainline and thanks too go to Horsham Colour for their generous participation with free Pro film and processing.
Now it's back to using the Rolleiflex for a while and a further wait to see what eventuates with the Fuji GF667W.
 
C.V. Bessa III 667 and Fuji Reala 100:

5192478216_483af071ee.jpg


Around Ravenstein, the small city I live in. (The Netherlands)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom