Low cost rangefinder, the Bessa R, photos of one

[Derrel]

This Bessa R kit is the last brand-new film camera that I have bought. I seldom use it these days, but I always loved its design simplicity and simple, mechanical construction. It kind of reminds me of the Nikon FM, only in rangefinder form. Simple top-mounted speed dial, not a lot of frills, LED +/- diode metering, just "the basics". I bought a new low cost 24x24 Chinese-made softbox from eBay a while back, and decided to give it a quick test, so I dropped the Bessa R and its three lenses onto my desk top on a sheet of yellow poster board, and fired off a few shots with my 60mm Micro.


This is the Bessa R, shown with my favorite walkaround lens, the 35mm f/1.7 Ultron Aspherical.



Here the R is still fitted with the 35mm f/1.7, and to the right are the 50mm f/1.5 Nokton Aspherical, and the 75mm f/2.5 Color-Heliar. For me, this was always a nice, light, three-lens kit. When I bought this outfit, back in 2001, these were the top-level lenses that Cosina-Voigtlander had on the market; since then they have gone hog-wild, and made some incredible, ground-breaking new lenses with ultra-fast apertures. See cameraquest.com for more info on this brand of rangefinder and its lenses.

 

[gsgary]

I am thinking of getting one of these for my collection, already got the 40f1.4 nokton and 28F2 Ultron and will probably get 50F1.1 Nokton

 

[Derrel]

They sure have come a long,long ways in the lens department! So,so many high-speed lenses, and at decent prices. Plus the incredibly wide 12mm and 15mm lenses, the various pancakes and compacts, and so on and so on. They have also made some pretty nice external viewfinders. I gotta hand it to Cosina's founder for taking the rangefinder from the brink of Leica exclusivity, and bringing it back to working-man prices, and at the same time, offering SO MANY lens choices!

 

[ChrisedwardsHT]

Great product shots!

 

[terri]

Derrel, beautiful shots. You did a great job, so I'd say your Chinese softbox will work for you!

One question: How in the world can you keep your hands off this beauty?!?

 

[Derrel]

Thank-you chrisedwards. Terri, yes, it is a handsome camera to look at but as I get older, my close vision has grown steadily worse and worse, and I find that I need the biggest viewfinder image I can GET in order to shoot even half-decently. I used to be able to shoot a rangefinder, no problem, or even a crop-body d-slr....nowadays I need the biggest,brightest finder image I can get...kinda sucks, not being able to see smallish things very well...