Voigtlander Bessa Lenses work on the Hexar RF, right?

[Mr_Toad]

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Hi, Hexar Folks!

Okay...I'm going to ask some dumb questions. But just confirming...

I have several Voigtlander lenses, for my Bessa R3A and R4A cameras. These lenses are already M mount, or M mount via a screwmount to M adapter.

Question 1: Is it correct that these Voigtlander Bessa lenses will work on a Hexar RF, even though they won't be coupled to the RF? ..or will they be coupled? (I'm confused.)

Question 2: Since the Hexar RF has a "View Frame Switching Lever", is it correct that a user can manually select the six different framelines displayed in the viewfinder...same as with the R3A and R4A?

😕

Your insights are appreciated,

Robt.

 

[Moriturii]

I can answer Question 2: It's the same as a Leica, it's a PREVIEW lever. You can switch it to see the framelines of other focal lengths but if you let go of it, it will pop back automatically to whatever focal length lens you have. Although that can be remedied with a bit of tape 😛

 

[Mr_Toad]

Thank you!

Uhh...but...with actual Hexar RF lenses, does the RF "know" what focal length lens is in place? If no lens is in place, would the Frameline Lever still pop back to the "middle"?

(I admit...I'm kinda confused about how the lens and camera talk to one another.)

Robt.

 

[pvdhaar]

If the Bessa lens is rangefinder coupled, the rangefinder on the Hexar-RF works fine. Depending on Bessa body versus Hexar, the only difference may be to how close the RF couples. On my Bessa-T, lenses couple as close as 0.9m, while the Hexar-RF goes to ca. 0.7m.. However, non-RF coupled lenses (e.g. the CV25/4 color skopar) will also not couple to the RF on the Hexar.

The frameline selection on the Hexar-RF is the same as on an M-mount Leica, and assuming you stick to conventional focal lengths (28,35,50,75,90,135), the correct frameline should pop-up. The frame line selection is done with a protrusion on the rear of the lens mount.

For LTM lenses, getting the correct framelines on the Hexar depends on the LTM-M adapter you use. Three CV adapters exist (each with a different protrusion on the rear), the 50-75, the 28-90 and the 35-135. If you use the right adapter with your LTM lens, the right frameline should pop up as well.

So you might think "What can go wrong?" There are two things..
1. Lenses with focal lengths not mentioned above. E.g. a 40 may be made to pop-up either the 35 of 50 frameline..
2. Modified lenses/adapters. Some people file off part of the frameline selector protrusion on the back of a lens or adapter to get different framelines.. E.g. 40mm lenses are sometimes changed from 50 to 35 selection.. So caveat emptor applies.

 

[Mr_Toad]

Thank you, Peter!

Well...looking at Stephen's CameraQuest lens spec page, it looks like most of my Voigtlander lenses are listed as "RFC" (RangeFinder Coupled)...and the adapters I purchased for the ScrewMounts were "theoretically" the correct adapters.

http://www.cameraquest.com/voigtlenchart.htm

Thanks again,

Robt.