Voigtlander Bessas 1 Feet or Meters

[Mcary]

OK dumb question time. Is the distance scale on the lens for this camera in feet or meters?

My plan is to transfer the distance setting from M4-2 and want to know if I need to do the metric to feet conversion thingy.

Thanks Mike😀

 

[sevo]

YMMV, both were made, and what you have will depend on where it was originally sold...

But you can guess by the scale values: Feet scales on medium format folders usually have a sub-infinity start value in the 30 to 100 range and a near end at about 3, metric scales tend to start in the 10 to 30 range and mostly go to 1.

 

[ZeissFan]

>> Is the distance scale on the lens for this camera in feet or meters?

The answer is yes.

Some are in feet, and some are in meters. I would suggest that you buy the camera and then buy a Voigtlander accessory rangefinder (or some other brand) for the camera that uses the same scale.

Waltz made a lot of accessory rangefinders, and either way, it's a lot less weight than carrying around another camera.

 

[Mcary]

YMMV, both were made, and what you have will depend on where it was originally sold...

But you can guess by the scale values: Feet scales on medium format folders usually have a sub-infinity start value in the 30 to 100 range and a near end at about 3, metric scales tend to start in the 10 to 30 range and mostly go to 1.

Thanks!
sub-infinity is 60 so looks like its feet.

Mike

 

[Mcary]

>> Is the distance scale on the lens for this camera in feet or meters?

The answer is yes.

Some are in feet, and some are in meters. I would suggest that you buy the camera and then buy a Voigtlander accessory rangefinder (or some other brand) for the camera that uses the same scale.

Waltz made a lot of accessory rangefinders, and either way, it's a lot less weight than carrying around another camera.

Actually I'll also be shooting with the M4-2 rather then just using it as rangfinder-for the Besssas. The Bessas will be used from a tripod while the Leica will be used handheld.

But thanks for the excellent suggestion of getting an accessory rangefinder as that will certainly be a future purchase 🙂

Mike

PS one thing I'm still getting use too, is how light both cameras are compared to the 5D I've been using 🙂