Voigtlander Bessa R the cheap Leica alternative

<p>I thought I would share some photos from my recent purchase: a Voigtlander Bessa R. The camera is made by the wonderful camera and lens maker Cosina. The Bessa R is a Leica Thread Mount camera. It is a wonderful way to experience Leica, Canon, Nikon, Fujinon, Topcor, and Russian made LTM lenses. </p>

<p>My first impression of the camera was `What a piece of junk.` When I picked it it up it did not feel well constructed. It felt like plastic toy and still does. It is light. The chrome finish looks more like tin plating. The rubber gripping is peeling on my camera. It is flaking and sticky. The peeling rubber was not a real selling point. The shutter is loud. It clacks, unlike a Leica or Canon LTM camera, which softly swooshes. The film advance lever squeals and whines as it advances forward. The camera`s saving graces are its wonderfully clear viewfinder, three switch frame line mirrors and the meter. The viewfinder is quite the revelation after using a Leica, Canon, Nicca or Leotax LTM camera. It is bright and clear. No mistaking focus. The internal revolving viewfinder mirrors are great. No need to attach an external viewfinder. just switch between 50mm, 35mm/90mm and 75mm frame lines. It is easy and convenient. The last selling point was the center-weighted diode meter. It is simple. You either get a + for over exposure, - for under exposure or @ for correct exposure. Nothing to fancy, but darn reliable. Overall, the camera reminds of the Cosina`s other famous manual camera the Nikon FM10. Anyway, it does the job! Please look for yourself!</p>

<p>Photos were taken with my Canon 50mm f1.4 and 35mm f2 on Kodak 400 TMax and Illford Pan F+</p>

<p>Mike </p><div></div>

<p>Photo 2</p><div></div>

<p>Photo 3</p><div></div>

<p>Photo 4</p><div></div>

<p>Photo 5</p><div></div>

<p>Photo 6</p><div></div>

<p>Photo 7</p><div></div>

<p>Photo 8</p><div></div>

<p>I thought I would try something off the wall a bit. I miss focused on purpose and set the lens aperture to F2 on my Canon 35mm f2. I wanted to see what would happen. I like the effect others may not!</p><div></div>

<p>This time I set miss focused my Canon 50mm f1.4 and set the aperture to f2 again.</p><div></div>

<p>Last one</p><div></div>

<p>How lovely to see a thread about the humble Bessa R. Leica and Hexanon users tend to sneer at the first coupled rangefinder offering from Cosina while others say that the R2 and later models are so much superior. The second part of my statement above is correct. The Bessa R has horrible rangefinder alignment issues and high ISO/low shutter speed metering issues. However, I absolutely love mine! I paid £250 UK pounds in early 2007 for mine with a 35mm 2.5 Color-Skopar pancake lens. Later I added Russian Jupiter 50 f/2 and 85 f/2 and a pre-war 1937 9cm Leitz Elmar 9cm. The Skopar is the best modern manual lens I own. The sharpness and colours are outstanding whenever I shoot Velvia. I do rather like using the Jupiter 50 f/2 with the hood as my normal lens on this. This turns into a very nice shooter from f/5.6.<br>

I am so pleased to see that you are almost in love with yours as well. The pictures show much potential. Do be careful about not knocking the top part of the camera body. The rangefinder housing is just under the flash shoe and even careless tugging or heavy pressure while attaching or detaching the flash can cause misalignment issues. However, if you are a careful user I do think that this is such a sweet little camera. It doesn't have the Leica kudos however, whenever I have been out shooting in and around London, some old chap would come up to me and congratulate on using a 'proper camera'! Last time it happened was in early November when shooting at the back of the houses of Parliament. I was waiting for an older lady to finish shooting the Burghers of Calais sculpture so I could capture it in glorious Velvia. All of a sudden an older gentleman, perhaps in his mid to late sixties came up to me and said, 'what a beautiful camera you have in your hand'! We talked a little about the Russian lens I had mounted on it. He told me about his passion for Olympus RC cameras that are still gathering dust. It made my day to be complement like that!<br>

Enjoy your Bessa R!</p>

<p>Starvy,</p>

<p>I do love mine, even with all it faults. I guess true love is when you can over look the faults.</p>

<p>Mike</p>

Beautiful pics, Michael. Only last night, I was reading about (and being intrigued by) the Bessa R3M. However, my

wife would have to come home with some seriously expensive hardware to justify my buying into yet *another* camera

system......

It should remind you of the FM 10 as it has the same shutter. Cosina removed the prism and fitted it with a short base

rangefinder. This helped them to keep the price down. Great shots. BTW. Thanks for posting.

<p>IIRC, the rangefinder base of the Bessa R is close to that of the Leica CL and Minolta CLE. Sufficiently accurate for lenses up to 90mm. Glad to know that it works so well with the Canon LTM lenses. </p>

Nice to read some real first-hand reviews. I am almost of the opinion that this is LOMO contry. Ok that's a bit too rough, but to be fair in comparison to a Leica these cameras are affordable, they are still too expensive (= new) for my pocketbook! So in a manner this is a bit pretentious. I recently had the way way expensive Zeiss Ikon in the hand and wondered why this kind of quality costs so much money. The Bessa R could "feel better" for all that money. I imagine I might be less critical if I truly owned one! Thinking seriously about the Cosina/Voigtlaender glass though for a Fed!

<p>The R2 and up are very well-made cameras. (I have no experience with the R.) A Leica is better, but you can get a brand new Bessa R2/3/4 for a small fraction for the cost of a used Leica. </p>

<p>I use my Bessa r2 as a very compace bring-along for 35mm film. A Bessa R2 fits in the spaces left in my DSLR camera bag. As I use my Bessa R2 with slower (and smaller) lenses, the short rangefinder base hasn't been a problem. (I would be leery of trying to use a 50mm 1.4 or an 85mm f2 lens up close with the Bessa R2.)</p>

<p>The Bessa T, IIRC, has a longer RF base (I think it's M mount rather than LTM), but requires a separate viewfinder. It could probably handle the faster lenses. Not sure about going longer than 90mm with one though. If I had one, I'd be tempted to pick up a Leitz 135mm f4.5 Hektor just to see what would happen, since this lens seems to be pretty inexpensive.</p>

<p>Nice series once again, <strong>Mike</strong>, from another camera we don't see too much of down in New Zealand.I've looked at a couple over the years but, as you note, the build quality has limited their durability. Great pics; "Shadow" is pretty much my thing.</p>

<p>The R is mostly plastic, the newer R3/R4 have more metal and feel more solid. I got my R and 35mm f2.5 lens for $250 about 8 years ago which I think was a great deal. I also have an old Leica IIIf and while it is a beautiful solid hunk of metal the Bessa R is much more user friendly.</p>

<p>I have a Bessa R which I bought new last year. I very much like it, and I use it a lot. I have the 28mm Ultron, the 75mm Skopar and a 50mm Serenar lens I use it with. I did have the RF misadjustment problem, but I fixed it myself. I can't say I have notice exposure issues with the meter. I usually go commando and use a light meter.</p>

<p>Ok - the light weight. I went out the past couple days with my two LTMs - a Canon 7s and the Bessa R. That Canon is like carrying a brick. I think the light weight Bessa feels great in its own way compared to the heavier Canon. Certainly the Bessa is not going to stand up to a lot of abuse. But if you are one who takes care of your gear and doesn't leave it sloshing about in the trunk, I can't see a problem. I actually LIKE the finish on mine. I think it looks great. </p>

<p>I paid about $250 NIB, and I am quite happy with the value.</p>

<p>Another great post Mike, thank you.</p>

<p>I'd like to hear more input on how the current R3A might subjectively compare. For instance, does the R3A still use the Nikon FM10 shutter? Is it any quieter (shutter)? Is the finish any more durable? I've long wanted a quality rangefinder camera, but like many, am put off by the prices- Leica, especially.</p>

<p>Also, and I know this is a quite different question, but I wondered how many of you truly like the 40mm focal length as a regularly used lens for people oriented and/or general photography? I was generally okay with the 45mm perspective on my Y. Electro 35, but have often wondered about the 40... I know Alex mentioned a couple of affordable options in this length, and I've often thought that the R3A and a 40mm lens might be an affordable way to initially obtain a quality rangefinder system.</p>

<p>This link to Cosina's Voigtlander Bessa series might answer a few questions: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/35mm_Bessa">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/35mm_Bessa</a></p>

 

<p>Thanks Mike. Your Wiki link provides a lot of context and seems well organized.</p>

<p> </p>