Which Bessa is for you?

Which Bessa is for you?

  • L

    Votes: 43 4.2%

  • T

    Votes: 59 5.8%

  • R

    Votes: 143 14.0%

  • R2

    Votes: 73 7.2%

  • R2M (Jahre 250)

    Votes: 16 1.6%

  • R2M

    Votes: 53 5.2%

  • R2A

    Votes: 112 11.0%

  • R3M (Jahre 250)

    Votes: 40 3.9%

  • R3M

    Votes: 91 8.9%

  • R3A

    Votes: 157 15.4%

  • R4M

    Votes: 118 11.6%

  • R4A

    Votes: 113 11.1%
  • Total voters
    1,018
You don't have the R2C and R2S on the list, and the former is the only Bessa I have. It's a crackerjack, with a bright viewfinder and RF patch.
 
I have an R3A and love it... but the 50 frame lines are hard to see without shifting my eye around the frame... and the 40 lines are pretty much useless... damn glasses. I'm thinking of trying to trade it for an R2A but I like the more accurate focusing of the R3A.
 
R2C. Because of the nice focussing wheel...

Unfortunately R2C and R2S are not on the list. Therefore I voted for R4A. I like the idea of using 21mm w/o external viewfinder.

Greg
 
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I have a R great little stuff

a friend bought the R4A, impressive, the 50 frame is ok to me, not too small, and when you look trough the finder, it hasn't a so much wild angle effect, I mean you see the 21 mm frame but it looks natural 😱 quite strange

I hope I can afford a R4 soon 😀
 
Same for me, I want to trade my R3M for a R4 so I can have the 21mm framelines...
I'd like to shoot at 21 mm but I find annoying to use an external viewfinder
 
I love my R3a, got it because I wanted it with a nokton 40mm. It just seemed like the perfect combo for me. The framelines are perfectly visible, but I can imagine it being less useable for someone with glasses.
 
Had an R and sold it here to make way for an M5. Which is fine, but so was the R.

An R, or alternatively an R2A, would be the only rangefinder camera I'd currently be interested in.
 
Bessa R. Beautiful viewfinder, incredible meter, LTM, clacky shutter. Love it.
 
I bought a used Bessa L. It worked fine for a few rolls then I noticed the take up spool clutch was too loose and it had started to rip up film a bit when it jammed. I did not pay very much for the thing so to send it out would be a little foolish, I took it apart myself.

I do not know what the other Voigtlander.Cosina cameras are like, I've never held one, but seeing what is inside this piece of plastic crap I'm not likely to.

-The base is not metal, but very thin plastic held on with tiny self threading screws. Very bad.
-The escapement has at least two plastic gears. Very bad.
-The internal metal parts I've seen so far are stamped tin.
-The top is plastic.
-All the knobs are plastic.
-The shutter is metal but really crappy.
-The advance lever is stamped thin metal covered with a thin sheath of plastic.
-The camera back is all plastic.
-I think wherever plastic could be used it was used.
-Yes I fixed it!
-It ain't a Leica M

This thing is not meant for a serious photographer. I'm now skeptical about my 15mm Heliar lens.

I will not be buying the Bessa III 667 for my trip to Scotland until I'm satisfied it is far, far better built than this Bessa L which means I probably won't be getting one soon.

Sorry, for the rant.
 
I read on CameraQuest that the regular brand new price for the Bessa L was $250, so I think one has to accept that you get what you pay for. If you want Leica quality, it's not going to be $250 brand new.

The Zeiss Ikon is also built by Cosina, and that's an all metal, very well put together camera, so I guess Cosina built the L to a price, just like all cameras are.

Having said that, I've got 2 CV lenses, both are very well made and don't give a bit of trouble.
 
I originally got the Blue Bessa T 101st Anniversary set. I subsequently added a rapid winder and the 1:1 50mm viewfinder and another standard Bessa T body. The standard T with the the f3.5 Heliar is my standard kit. I don't find the separate RF/Viewfinder a problem; rather I the think the 1.5 mag. of the range finder helps make the best of the Heliar's shapness. The only combination that I think would suit me better would be a Leica IIIg body with the Heliar. I would like to have the quieter shutter of the Leica.

I have considered the new f2 Heliar but given comments about its slightly lower contrast wide open (not its sharpness) I decided I would not be happy with it enough to justify its cost.

Over the years I have had a couple of Leica M series with the Summicron and 50mm f/2.8 Elmar and the Heliar is more than equal to either of them.
 
I forgot to add that I also have the grip for my R, and that changes the camera in two ways:

1. It now hangs from the strap just like any other camera.

2. Grip makes the camera an easy one-hander.
 
I had an R3A for quite a while and liked a lot of things about it. The noisy shutter that vibrated the whole camera, and the flaring viewfinder that made the shutter speeds impossible to see finally got to me and I sold it. Since then I've owned a few of the R's. They're neat cameras w/ accurate meters, but once again I got tired of their economy build and I sold them. To me the tragedy is that Cosina could have easily addressed the problems w/ these cameras and never did. That is sad. So, like a few others here, I went to a Leica and things are going a LOT better. Great cameras. So the R3A and R were for me, but I have since moved on.
 
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