Which 24/25mm for my Bessa-T

[leafy]

The dark side of the GAS is strong in this forum and I just couldn't resist it anymore. I acquired a new Bessa-T for a good price and am now looking for the lens to go with it.

I have been shooting on and off as a hobby for almost 10 years. I had been through several outfits including Minolta SRT-101, Nikon FE/FM2/FE2 and finally a great collection of Contax gear. The funny thing is that I keep coming back to 24~25 mm focal lengh for my most-used lens. Nikon 24/2.8, 24/2 to Contax SLR 25/2.8. I know that the ZI line of lens has a 25/2.8 that is VERY tempting to me, but I would like to hear more opinion on the choice of lens in this particular range of focal length. I realize an external finder is necessary for a Bessa-T, though they really don't have to come from the same manufacturer.

Any recommendations?

 

[GeneW]

If you're not opposed to zone focusing, the CV 25/4 is really a nice little lens, and comes with external VF. Good optics and fun to use, in my experience with it.

Gene

 

[pvdhaar]

I'll put in another vote for the CV25/4. Fits the Bessa-T like a glove as it turns it into a very compact package. Picture quality is excellent. Price is excellent too, and even includes a very decent finder. Older finders show merely the entire frame, but the later ones have a somewhat wider field of view and mark the frame with brightlines.

That it's not rangefinder focussed has never been a problem for me; the click stop focus tab is easy enough to get used to..

 

[leafy]

Is it true that there are later versions of this lens that come with rangefinder coupling? I came to think of it, actually I once did own this particlular lens that came with a Bessa-L. I was not particularly fond of this lens when compared with my Contax 25/2.8. It has an almost pastel-like texture when comparing slides. I sold the combo after 1 a week or so. But that was back in my SLR days.

 

[pvdhaar]

Is it true that there are later versions of this lens that come with rangefinder coupling?

Unfortunately, no. Though given the DOF, I've never really missed it..