änd now for something completely different

Dave Colangelo · Jun 18, 2018

Figured I would try out something new this summer, so this bad boy just showed up in the mail. The Bessa-L is a sans-rangefinder, L39 Mount, 35mm body. I have it with the 21mm, there is also a more pricy 15mm lens available . The camera is a "true range finder" in other words you need to guess the range of the object you are focusing on. Apperently the original idea was that the camera was to generally be used with wide angle lenses so that pretty much everything is usually in focus. This makes accurate focus less necessary. I'm hoping the camera drives me to obsess a bit less and have more fun (perhaps just think about things less). I really like my Rollei-35 and this is in a similar vein.

More to come.

Dave

MartinCrabtree · Jun 18, 2018

Looks like fun. Post up some results when you get a chance. Want a couple short rolls for experimenting?

tirediron · Jun 18, 2018

That's nae a man wi' three buttocks! :irked:

Nice piece of kit; looks like a lot of fun.

Dave Colangelo · Jun 18, 2018

Ill post some pics when i run a roll.

@MartinCrabtree If you have some short rolls that are gonna go to waist otherwise....

Not sure what I'm gonna through it first...

480sparky · Jun 18, 2018

And I thought this was going to be about a man with a tape recorder up his nose.........

Derrel · Jun 18, 2018

I had a Bessa-R of similar vintage....the lenses were superb! The auxillary viewfinders Bessa has made are FANTASTIC! BRIGHT, clear, crisp! I had the 35/1.7 Aspherical, the 50mm/1.5 Nokton,and the 75mm/2.5. Not sure if you're into any of those lengths...the 35/1.7 was absolutely flare-free, even when aimed right into the bright, summer sun...

With a 21mm, there's not much need for super-precision in focusing at most distances.

SWEET piece of kit!

Dave Colangelo · Jun 18, 2018

Derrel said:
I had the 35/1.7 Aspherical, the 50mm/1.5 Nokton,and the 75mm/2.5. Not sure if you're into any of those lengths...

I dove into this to force my self to work with wides more. One issue I always had on the Rollei-35 was nailing the focus and that was a 40mm. Id say 25% of my images were not quite what I wanted out of that camera, it was however a lot of fun. I have a 35mm off a FED-2 that is L39 mount so I could use that but ill need to source a finder. I think if im going to add anything it will be the 15mm.

Totally agree on the finders, the one that came with this lens is very bright.

Derrel · Jun 18, 2018

YES, the viewfinders used to retail for around $179 each...and they were/are ASTOUNDINGLY nice! The 15mm is a wayyyy-cool lens, and the ancillary finder is neat. The 15mm was in fact, one of the early, lynchpin lens offerings of the Bessa rangefinder system, back in the late 1990's/early 2000's. it always sucks when a particular lens does not allow you to hit focus easily and predictably; I've owned a few of those over the years, lenses which had,well, BAD focusing throws, like Infinity, then in a short turn, 10 meters, then 3 meters...made it danged near impossible to NAIL focus,reliably...the throw was just not "right"...too rapid typically, but on occasion, too SLOW, too much turn needed...

I think that if a person does a lot of rangefinder work with wide-angles, the auxillary viewfinders are _really_ nice; the Bessa-L, being finder-less, makes it necessary to use an external, shoe-mounted finder, which is just super when the finder's a modern one. In the Bessa-R, the telephoto finder lines on the 75mm were too small for my taste... But the 35mm finder lines were nice on the R body.

The Copal shutter in these is very durable, should outlive both of us.

Dave Colangelo · Jun 18, 2018

Derrel said:
The 15mm is a wayyyy-cool lens

There was one on another -L body that slipped my bidding (sold around $320ish) prior to buying this one. It sold for a very VERY VERY fair amount considering the lose lens+finder pairs are all listed for upwards of $450 with no body. Frustrating but I live to photograph another day. I'm keeping my eye out for another 15 if it pops up.