Voigtländer Bessa 11 lens choice.

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OK I am only interested in Black and White work with this camera. Is there any serious difference between the Heliar and Skopar lenses.
Already have my late Father’s Super Ikonta 513/2 and love it. Recently got a Voigtländer Perkeo 11 with the Skopar lens, so I am now considering the purchase of a Bessa 11. So is the asking price difference worth it and are there anything’s I should watch out for. The Perkeo is a beautifully made camera, absolutely superb quality, so this is the reason for my Bessa desires.
Cheers James.
 
Just a heads up on whichever Bessa II you choose - make sure that the seller allows for returns.

Voigtländer's strong point is that their optics are second none. The design and build of their cameras are usually rather unique and their build aren't always renown for being trouble free seventy years down the road. In the case of the Bessa II, the front standard that holds the len/shutter assembly parallel to the film plane can be a bit wiggly.

On paper the Bessa II checks off the proper box with a coupled rangefinder and unit focusing. The only other compact 6x9 folder that comes to mind with a coupled RF and unit focusing is the Welta Weltur 6x9. Compact in this category is a relative term.
 
The skopar is afantastic lens. No loss of quality. People like the heliar for its bokeh, but the price difference is mainly due to collectors. Id say 400 is am average price for a bessa ii with skopar, I've seen them go up to 600. If you can find one for 200, go for it.

The folding bed on the camera is a weak point, checkthat the lens is properly aligned right away. Also make sure the rangefinder is clean, these can get hazy.
The lenses rarely have problems with fungus or haze. But check anyway.
 
Bessa II Lens

Bessa II Lens

The concerns summarized by darwinwc about overall condition and the potential of front standard weakness are all valid for the purchase of any Bessa II. The Color-Skopar is a Tessar knockoff, one of the best. With a 6x9cm negative shot near optimum aperture, you can make any size print with it that you could make with a Heliar. The advantage of the five element Heliar lens is that you can get a sharper image shot at or near widest apertures, but the differences would be small. If you aren't collecting, I can see no practical advantage to the holding out for a Heliar in this format. (I didn't.)
 
If you really want to go nuts, find one with an APO Lanthar...

The above posters sum it up. Gotta check that front standard. The viewfinder is a bit squinty as well, but shouldn't bother you too much. The Color Skopar is a great lens. Nice and sharp. The Bessa II is one of the few cameras I wish I never sold. The Heliar and Lanthar versions are really for collectors.

This won't really tell you a whole lot, but this image is off the Bessa II. You can at least get an idea how nice and sharp the lens is.

1998-120-01_rename322ps-Edit.jpg
 
randy stewart said:
The advantage of the five element Heliar lens is that you can get a sharper image shot at or near widest apertures, but the differences would be small. If you aren't collecting, I can see no practical advantage to the holding out for a Heliar in this format. (I didn't.)
Click to expand...


I don't think that is correct. The Heliar has some residual aberrations to give it its special character - smooth transition from in-focus and out-of-focus, an almost 3D effect, which makes it a great lens for portraits, still life and other types of photography when you want that.


The Skopar was improved after the war, but the Heliar stayed the same because of the characteristics people loved. Both are very good allround lenses, but at large apertures the Skopar may be sharper and the Heliar more pleasing.
 
The only drawback with the Bessa II is no cold shoe to mount an accessory viewfinder - as mentioned above the VF is a bit squinty. The RF has a nice long base length so focusing is easy. Watch for parallax when close focusing.
 
lynnb said:
The only drawback with the Bessa II is no cold shoe to mount an accessory viewfinder - as mentioned above the VF is a bit squinty. The RF has a nice long base length so focusing is easy. Watch for parallax when close focusing.
Click to expand...


The late ones have a cold shoe, and earlier ones have pegs for mounting an accessory cold shoe. Probably not easy to find.
 
I use the slide on accessory shoe, which fits on to the pegs, in order to mount a Leitz SBOOI finder.

It works great for landscapes. Close in composition can be a bit dodgy, but the Leitz finder does have a set of inner frame lines.
 
I had a Bessa II w/ a Color Heliar and a Bessa RF w/ an uncoated Heliar. With B&W the results were essentially identical. The RF is a lower priced version that had the same basic specs but in a different package, including a film and viewfinder mask for shooting 6x4.5. Heliar lenses have a lot of character (think of them as LF Summicrons, except maybe even better) and will give more of a 3-D effect on some shots. They're outstanding for portraits. The Skopar is a little sharper, but lacks the 3-D. They're both excellent lenses, but the Heliars are my preference. I once owned a Bessa RF w/ a 3 element Helomar, and even it took very good photos stopped down.

Over the years I've owned maybe a half dozen Bessa II and Bessa RF cameras, and have never seen one w/ bellows problems, film flatness issues or strut issues. They were all built very, very well, especially the Bessa II, and took incredible photos. Still, they're red window cameras and have their limitations. You aren't going to quickly fire off a few shots w/ either one of them.

https://i.imgur.com/af70Cpp.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/isWv346.jpg
 
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