julianphotoart
No likey digital-phooey
The R3M is a MIGHTY FINE camera. This past Saturday I picked up from Stephen Gandy/CameraQuest a luscious black R3M and accompanying 50mm f2 Heliar “Classic”. Camera’s serial no. is 1031 which means, I guess, I’ve got the 31st one made. For anyone looking for a serious and reasonable Leica alternative, this might be it.
It turns out that moving 2500-odd miles from Toronto means I’m now right down the street from Mr. Gandy. Well, he’s a very nice guy. We had a nice talk and it would have been longer had not my 2 year-old daughter been itching to get to the park.
The camera and lens came in a garish white presentation box with red lining. Since this camera will definitely not be shrink-wrapped, the box will go away somewhere in the garage. I will USE this damn camera.
I’ve attached a few photos. Photos BY the camera/lens are not developed yet. My daughter was an unwilling photography subject while she played at the park. I’m afraid I was very UNimaginative in photographing the camera; no steaming coffee, no martini shaken not stirred, no gorgeous women, etc. Sorry.
Voigtlander/Cosina’s quality and workmanship have improved. I happen to also have a Bessaflex and R2C and this R3M is substantially nicer and more solid. It feels like a confident mature camera. The lens especially is unbelievably nice; it is stuffed with a LOT of glass and metal.
The R3M has the 1:1 viewfinder and allows use of 40mm lenses. Oh, so nice. I guess with 1:1, the shorter rangefinder baselength is less of a problem. Is that right? Seems so. The 40mm framelines a kind of tough whilst wearing glasses; I have a good view of 60% of the lines and kind of guesstimate on the rest. On the other hand, the framelines for a 75mm lens are big. I use a 75mm a lot and this is a good feature indeed.
The mid-gray pattern on the shutter looks just like that of the ZI, which seems to be a change from how it used to be on VC-branded cameras. The exposure readings in the viewfinder are really nice too, going across the bottom in half-step increments. I think there are 7 steps. I was able to easily adjust f-stop on the 50 lens without taking my eye away from the scene, which is something I usually can’t do. It was almost as simple as AE would be, but leaving exposure compensation in my hands. The light-meter’s numbers along the bottom are a fair bit easier to see than the ZI’s left-side shutter numbers that sometimes go invisible (it would just be so nice if someone reproduced the M5-type viewfinder that shows everything).
One thing not shown on other photos I’ve seen prior to the camera’s release is the backside showing the nice big eyepiece. One of the photos shows that.
The CV shutter keeps getting quieter and sounding more and more “solid”. A nice, moderate-sounding click. The camera feels just the right weight. Real solid but not heavy. The lens strikes me as noticeably heavy (that’s just this side of “quite” heavy). Maybe “dense” is a better word. It feels dense; a lot is packed into its volume.
Oh, I forgot. I also got the CV trigger-winder. Not a bad idea once I actually started remembering to use it. Easy continuous shooting.
It turns out that moving 2500-odd miles from Toronto means I’m now right down the street from Mr. Gandy. Well, he’s a very nice guy. We had a nice talk and it would have been longer had not my 2 year-old daughter been itching to get to the park.
The camera and lens came in a garish white presentation box with red lining. Since this camera will definitely not be shrink-wrapped, the box will go away somewhere in the garage. I will USE this damn camera.
I’ve attached a few photos. Photos BY the camera/lens are not developed yet. My daughter was an unwilling photography subject while she played at the park. I’m afraid I was very UNimaginative in photographing the camera; no steaming coffee, no martini shaken not stirred, no gorgeous women, etc. Sorry.
Voigtlander/Cosina’s quality and workmanship have improved. I happen to also have a Bessaflex and R2C and this R3M is substantially nicer and more solid. It feels like a confident mature camera. The lens especially is unbelievably nice; it is stuffed with a LOT of glass and metal.
The R3M has the 1:1 viewfinder and allows use of 40mm lenses. Oh, so nice. I guess with 1:1, the shorter rangefinder baselength is less of a problem. Is that right? Seems so. The 40mm framelines a kind of tough whilst wearing glasses; I have a good view of 60% of the lines and kind of guesstimate on the rest. On the other hand, the framelines for a 75mm lens are big. I use a 75mm a lot and this is a good feature indeed.
The mid-gray pattern on the shutter looks just like that of the ZI, which seems to be a change from how it used to be on VC-branded cameras. The exposure readings in the viewfinder are really nice too, going across the bottom in half-step increments. I think there are 7 steps. I was able to easily adjust f-stop on the 50 lens without taking my eye away from the scene, which is something I usually can’t do. It was almost as simple as AE would be, but leaving exposure compensation in my hands. The light-meter’s numbers along the bottom are a fair bit easier to see than the ZI’s left-side shutter numbers that sometimes go invisible (it would just be so nice if someone reproduced the M5-type viewfinder that shows everything).
One thing not shown on other photos I’ve seen prior to the camera’s release is the backside showing the nice big eyepiece. One of the photos shows that.
The CV shutter keeps getting quieter and sounding more and more “solid”. A nice, moderate-sounding click. The camera feels just the right weight. Real solid but not heavy. The lens strikes me as noticeably heavy (that’s just this side of “quite” heavy). Maybe “dense” is a better word. It feels dense; a lot is packed into its volume.
Oh, I forgot. I also got the CV trigger-winder. Not a bad idea once I actually started remembering to use it. Easy continuous shooting.
