Wide Angle Recommendations for Bessa R

[bryan_rieth]

I've recently treated myself to a Voigtlander Bessa R, and after a little

rangefinder calibration, I'm into getting some more lenses to take advantage of

it's 75, 35/90, and 50mm framelines. I've heard decent things about the russian

lenses, and have had great results using an industar-26 and industar 61(the

lens currently gracing said camera). I was wonder what folks may recommend for

a wide angle lens, considering my first thought ruskie Jupiter-12 35/2.8 won't

work. Keep in mind that I'm a poor starving artist, and can't really afford

that 3.5cm leica summicron. =)

[bryan_rieth]

make that last on "summaron" =P

[Alex_Es]

I have good news for you, as an ex-poor starving artist. The Voigtlander Color Skopar

35/2.5 classic is an excellent lens and very much poor starving artist friendly price-wise. It is

optically good and well made and nice to use.

[mohir_ali]

A 3.5 Summaron can be bought for less than the cv, new or used. I've done it.

[mohir_ali]

That's f/3.5, 3.5cm.

[vincenzo_maielli]

The Jupiter 12 35/2.8 in LTM mount have the rear element that protrude too deeply in the Bessa R body; is not compatible at all.

The LTM Summaron 35/3.5 or 2.8 is a very excellent choice. In the CV range, the better choice is the Classic Skopar 35/2.8.

 

Ciao.

[vivek iyer]

The Jupiter-12 is a swell lens.

 

One person who puts it to good use:

 

You can look for a 28/6 Orion-15. A real gem. Can't make use of the framelines though.

 

There are many tessar clones in 35mm FL (normally f/3.5) made by Nikon, Acall, what not. All are decent.

 

Look at ebay and buy what you can afford.

[orvillerobertson]

Check out the Voigtlander 35/f 2.5. Compact and wonderful. And cheap. You can still find

them at Cameraquest.com.

[michael_p2]

You can have my 28mm Voigtlander for free. For a year I got great results from this compact lens. Then it sustained some mysterious catastrophic alignment problem and I came back from a visit to Tibet to find the 12 rolls of Kodachrome I took came out hopelessly blurred. Now used as paperweight.

[Vlad Soare]

I second the Voigtl䮤er 35mm f/2.5 Color Skopar suggestion. Very nice lens, worth every penny.

[Vlad Soare]

Sorry, that should have been Voigdlaender. It seems Photo.net doesn't like umlauts. :-)

[starvy]

bryan

i bought my used bessa r about this time last year with a near mint 35mm color skopar 2.5. the lens is really quite superb with wonderful contrast and sharpness. given that the rest of my lenses are all older and cheaper, this certainly is a gem.

you haven't specified your budget but it must be said that anything below 50mm would be expensive. i am a struggling writer and the most expensive lens i managed to afford after the initial purchase of camera and lens was a 9cm leitz elmar f4 for uk pounds 65. this is a 1939 version and the ebey seller took pity on me after it failed to raise his original reserve of 80. i did save money on acquiring industar 61l and a jupiter 8 lense for 5 uk pounds each. they are both good performers for the money with dubious build quality. if you are on a budget, i don't think wide is really an option on bessa bodies.

[bryan_rieth]

Yeah, I'd love to get that Voigtlander Color Skopar 35/2.5

 

And yes, my budget is a bit tight...i think theyre going for about $200 on cameraquest, but thats a bit steep for me, considing I payed (slightly) less for the camera ($180) haha.

 

a 28/35mm lens would be really nice, though not in the cards at the moment. Thanks for all the feedback...perhaps I'll focus on getting that sidegrip from CQ to balance out the camera.

 

what about canon? I suppose they're a bit spendy though...