25, 28, or 35mm screwmounts with Bessa-L

[doug_brody1]

Hi Everybody,

The 15mm works fine with the Bessa-L because of the wide depth of field.

Because the L has no focusing system, or even viewfinder for that matter, I am

nervous to try a lens with a longer focal length. Has anyone used lenses from

25-35 or higher with a Bessa L? Suggestions. (I am trying to avoid shelling

out quite yet for a new RF body)

Thanks,

Doug

[charles barcellona www.bl]

Even to 35mm focal length, you can probably guesstimate the focus pretty well and let Depth of Field cover the errors.

 

Remember the Rollei 35? It had guesstimate focus and a 40mm lens.

 

Remember the Nikonos? It had guesstimate focus and a 35mm lens.

 

I had both the Rollei and Nikonos III, and of course I missed some shots due to bad focus (mostly because I was in a big hurry and forgot to set the focus), but the vast majority of shots were just fine for everyday non critical use.

 

BTW... the 35/2.5 lens on the Nikonon (still available but production ended) is one of the sharpest most contrasty lenses I've ever shot with. Its the same lens optically as the old 35/2.5 used on the Nikon S series rangefinders (except the current one is multicoated). Anyone who wants to see a tack driving 35mm lens ought to try one of those on the Nikonos body.

[john_collier2]

Scale focusing is a good thing to practice and it is not that hard to do with

practice. I use both the Rollei 35 and the Nikonos as well and do not miss the

rangefinder that much. If your lens has a tab on the focusing ring also practice

focusing by feel. Practice, practice, practice and soon you will be faster than

any AF camera.

[albert_smith]

My Minox ML has a 35mm f/2.8 lens and this is not a big problem, even though the camera has no focusing ability other than using the DOF marks for setting zones. The same focal length on the Bessa L should not be any more limiting. As for the 25mm, it was one of the two lenses introduced (along with the 15mm) with the L and it has no RF coupling anyhow.

[tom5]

Charles - I have a Nikonos IV-A and always thought that the lens was great. Recently some people told me that the 35mm f/2.5 was a "dog" ("bad" for non-native English speakers). Glad to hear that you concur with my opinon.

[douglas_green1]

While I wouldn't try scale focusing a very fast 35mm lens, or even a fast 28mm lens like the C/V Ultron at f1.9, it's not too difficult at all to scale focus a slower 28mm like a 28mm f3.5. Certainly scale focusing the 25mm f4 Skopar is no problem at all.

 

My advice would be that if you are looking at moderately slow lenses, it will be fine to use your Bessa-L with these, even up to 35mm. But forget about really fast glass like an Ultron or Summilux.

[charles barcellona www.bl]

Doug... he can ALWAYS stop down the faster lens when guestimating the distance, and enjoy the faster stops at or close to infinity, and later on too - when he gets his RF body.

 

Go for the fast glass!

[jsbc]

Go for the fast glass too! Especially as this does not require a trade-off vis-a-vis quality. Then it's available when you eventually opt for a body with a built-in range finder.

 

Only problem is, with C/V marketing, you have to shell out US$100 for a viewfinder once you go above 25mm. My suggestion is 1) better get a Russian turret style finder for $50 2) get the 25mm which is scale focus-anyway before the 35mm 3) use the money for the eventual RF body.

 

Johnson

[david_cuttler]

I have the 25mm CV lens & really like it. I use it on an M4-P, and have really come to like the click stop focus for grab shots from the hip. I also have owned a Rollei 35 since 1972, and never found the lack of a rangefinder to be a problem. My wife used it for years too before we purchased a Yashica T2 point & shoot. She also was able to take great photographs without a rangefinder. The 25mm lens has much wider depth of focus than the Rollei,and is even easier to use. I purchased mine used off this forum with a Bessa L, which I have never used. As a side note I don�t use the viewfinder that came with it. For more critical work, the whole M4-P viewfinder works well if one disregards the bright lines. The 25mm CV is a lot of lens for the money. Get one!

[tom_abrahamsson]

I have a Bessa L and a Cosina SW 107 (same camera, just different nameplates) and I use these with the 12,15 and 25 VC lenses. The 35/2,5 works well on these bodies too and if you are using older screw-mount lenses from Leica/Canon/Nikon, the fact that most of these lenses were 35/3,5 usually takes care of the focussing errors. I find that the combination L body and 25 Snap-shot Skopar is a great "street shooter's" package. The lens is wide enough to give you a margin of error in framing, but not so wide as to "distort" the view. It is also one of the sharpest lenses I have ever encountered. I have been sketching a design for a small metal finder for just that lens/body combination. It would have a small triangular top with either the sides folded up (1/8") or scribed lines indicating the coverage (I lean to the latter design as one could then incorporate at least 15/21 and 25 indicator lines on the same surface). This would allow you to use the camera as a waist level camera. You look down on the top and using the inscribed lines as "guides" you can quickly do a rough framing and as the meter is visible looking down on the camera you can shoot fairly unobtrusively. Verticals would take a bit getting used too. Framing would be slightly "hit and miss", but rangefinder cameras were never designed for precise framing anyway. The 28 could be used by mentally "shooting inside" the 25 lines.

Tom A

[Alex_Es]

Hi Doug,

 

For my birthday my wife got me a grey Bessa L, a slightly upgraded version of the original Bessa L. I agree with Tom about the qualities of the VC 25/4. Doug, here is an idea if you have a few wide angle SLR lenses lenses about. Get an SLR (Pentax screw, Nikon, Canon, Minolta and a few others) to L adapter (try Stephan Gandy at Cameraquest) and use your SLR lenses with your Bessa L. If you can afford it (and especially if you have 21, 24 and 28mm lenses) get a Leica 28-24-21 zoom finder. Presto! Bayonet mount (except PK screw) on a Bessa L plus zoom finder!

 

For a less exotic set up try the VC 35/2.5, 28/3.5 and 21/4. They are cool little lenses that are easy to range focus. If you get rich suddenly try a VC 12/5.6.

 

And: Absolutely get an Abrahamsson Soft Release (Softie) for your Bessa L (US$10). The Mini-Softie is probably best, though I use a classic wide on my Bessa L regular and a Mini (green) on my grey (which has a wider shutter speed dial).

 

A second Bessa L body probably wouldn't set you back much.

 

Cheers,

 

Alex