Bessa users Unite!!!!

[Red Robin]

Anyone own and use Bessa's ? FYI there IS a Volk. group here

 

[Steve Mack]

I've got a Bessa R and the 35mm f/2.5 Color Skopar. It hasn't seen too much use recently, but I'm carrying it more and more, since I carry a camera everywhere I go and it's light and handy and does good work.

With best regards,

Stephen

 

[ntenny]

I've gotten quite a bit of use out of a Bessa-R, but I'm not shooting much 35mm lately. When I travelled a lot for work it was a nigh-perfect camera to pack along. It's not Leica construction or "haptics", obviously, but it's hard to beat in terms of bang for the buck!

-NT

 

[2F/2F]

Bessa R and Summitar. It replaced my Leica IIIc when it broke. 1/3 the cost of repairing the Leica, and it's a better camera, so the IIIc may never be used again.

 

[kraker]

My Bessa is an R3M. Together with a 40 mm S.C. Nokton, 15 mm Heliar and a 90 mm Leica Summarit (my only piece of Leica equipment) it makes for a great kit. When not shooting MF, this is the set that gets the most use.

I'm still trying to figure out what the Volk. group you mention is, though...

 

[GS_Jean]

I have Bessa L (silver), T (grey anniversary version) and R2A (grey). I never use the L (bought on flebay for the 15mm lens that was with it). My favorite is the "T", a wonderfull but for sure specific camera. And the build quality (metal dials and lever-base) of that version is great.
The R2A is a nice camera too, I use it regularly but it's my wife's camera ;-)
Lenses used are VC 15/4.5 (funny and lovely), 25/4 (most used, on the T off course), 35/1.7 (stay on the R2A as normal lens), and 90/3.5 (good lens used on both T and R2A). Also have Leica Elmar 50/3.5 (quite never used, aperture selection on front too hard to use) and a Summitar 50/2 (nice lens, and unique look with eom hood ;-)
The beautifull Leica IIIF, wonderfull piece of mechanical technology, stays at home beause it's a pain in the a.. to load :-|

 

[paulfish4570]

bessa r2m here, with 35/2.5 and 50/2.5 color skopars. the 35 lives on my r2m. the 50 lives on my iiif. i've got an m-mount elmar 90/4 that gets occasional use on the r2m.

 

[randy6]

I use an older Bessa II 6x9 120mm film camera

 

[sandermarijn]

Bessa R2A- great camera, focuses well even up close with large aperture 50mm's.

Makes a very compact package with the short-nose eveready case (GET IT!). The 50mm Sonnar and the 35mm f/2.8 Biogon both fit with that case on.

About the lenses: actually a bit disappointed with what they do on b&w film. They are not the manual focus versions of the Contax G lenses that I had hoped them to be. Tonality, shadow detail- just not up there. They're probably optimized for digital colour, if such a design consideration can be put into practice at all.

I once tried a 50mm Summicron and quickly found out that tab focusing is not for me.

I would not trade my Bessa for a Leica M7 or for the Zeiss Ikon. But then I have never used (or even held) one of those so what do I know?

 

[ntenny]

About the lenses: actually a bit disappointed with what they do on b&w film. They are not the manual focus versions of the Contax G lenses that I had hoped them to be. Tonality, shadow detail- just not up there. They're probably optimized for digital colour, if such a design consideration can be put into practice at all.

I've been quite happy with the 21/4 and reasonably happy with the 75/2.5, but haven't had the opportunity to play with others, though I've seen results I liked from other people. I'm curious which lenses have been problematic for you.

It doesn't seem like the screwmount lenses, at least, would make sense to optimize for d*g*t*l---of course there will be users who put them in an M adapter on an M9, or on a micro-4/3 camera, but surely the vast majority of screwmount lenses live out their days on film bodies?

-NT

 

[tony lockerbie]

I have accumulated a lot of CV lenseswhich I use on my Bessa R and also on my M2. The R does feel a bit plasticky but works really well, especially the meter, and for the price who cares about a bit of plastic!
The lenses that I have are the 15mm, 21mm, 25mm, 35mm Ultron and Nokton, 50mm Nokton, 75mm and the 90mm. Yes, I know that I need to thin them out, but which ones!? Most used are the 35mm Nokton and the 75mm Heliar, but hey, they are all great lenses, especially for the price.

 

[sandermarijn]

I've been quite happy with the 21/4 and reasonably happy with the 75/2.5, but haven't had the opportunity to play with others, though I've seen results I liked from other people. I'm curious which lenses have been problematic for you.

Perhaps this calls for a separate thread, but anyway, the Zeiss/CV lenses that I've tried (50 Sonnar, 35 2.8 Biogon, CV 21mm) are a step backwards for those who appreciate b&w tonality and shadow detail over high contrast and punchy colours. This is in comparison to the Contax G line and the Contax T2.

I won't even try to begin substantiate the above claims

Still love my R2A.

 

[ntenny]

Perhaps this calls for a separate thread, but anyway, the Zeiss/CV lenses that I've tried (50 Sonnar, 35 2.8 Biogon, CV 21mm) are a step backwards for those who appreciate b&w tonality and shadow detail over high contrast and punchy colours. This is in comparison to the Contax G line and the Contax T2.

I won't even try to begin substantiate the above claims

'Tain't my experience of the CV 21/4, but I'm happy to differ as reasonable people. The others I haven't tried in screwmount (I have a Soviet Biogon copy, but it's nothing to write home about).

But then, I like focussing tabs too, so what do I know?

-NT

 

[Rom]

Bessa R3 here with a nokton 40mm sc which i am quite happy.

Good to see that we are in the place

++

 

[jorj]

I love shooting with my 3 Baby Bessas - 1930s, 40s and 50s. The action of the one from the 40s is my favorite; the lens from the 50s. And the bellows from the 50s which don't yet have any light leaks

 

[segedi]

R4A and 25mm Zeiss. Really nice combo - no external finder!

 

[Vanishing Point Ent.]

Contax G-2 Kit, with a Bessa L Ultra Wide Kit; The Best of Both Worlds !

Anyone own and use Bessa's ? FYI there IS a Volk. group here.

Here's the kit that I finally was able to put together.
I find that I prefer this to my SLR kit.

First I started off with a Black Contax G-2, with the
following Black lenses:
21 mm f 2.8 Biogon,
28 mm f 2.8 Biogon,
45 mm f 2.0 Planar,
90 mm f 2.8 Sonnar.

About the lenses: I'm not disappointed one bit with what they
do on b&w or colour film. They are everything I had hoped these
versions of the Contax G lenses would be. Tonality, shadow detail
& sharpness are way up there. The T* Coating is probably optimized
for colour, but seems to work well in B&W, as well.

I find that there is something VERY SPECIAL
about the Biogon lens design.

The 28 mm has a " stretch ", that makes it look like
a 24 mm SLR lens, but without the distortion &

The 21 mm has no " discernible " distortion at all.

I mention this here as a prelude because to augment,
this system I've added a Black Bessa L, ( labeled
Cosina 107 SW ), with the following Black lenses:

The 12 mm f 5.6 &
The 15 mm f 4.5 lenses.

Both of these appear to be Biogon designs as well.
While they don't have T* coatings, they are both
Apochromatic, so I know they are similar in sharpness.

With the Contax G-2 being AF & the Bessa L lenses
being Hyperfocal Focus, focusing is NOT an issue, not
like it was on my Old Minolta CLE w a 90 mm f 2.8
Summicron, the focusing window was so small, it
was difficult to focus at all & impossible to do fast.

I may add a Titanium G-2 with a 35 - 70 mm lens to
all of this someday.

Just in case you were wondering, I use a Sunpak 120 J
TTL & a Quantum X2 along with Stroboframe & Newton
Flash brackets for lighting, with these cameras.

Finally, the key to all of this is to build the kit slowly,
when the prices are right. Don't run out & spend top
dollar on this equipment, this is after all an investment,
not just photographically, but monetarily as well.

 

[Vanishing Point Ent.]

CORRECTION: Leica Lens Name.

First I started off with a Black Contax G-2, with the
With my Old Minolta CLE w a 90 mm f 2.8
Summicron, the focusing window was so small, it
was difficult to focus at all & impossible to do fast.

My Mistake, My Bad, my Leica 90 mm f 2.8 was a
Tele-Elmarit, not a Summicron.

The Summicron would have been an f 2.0 lens.
Which I tired once & found that it was way too
heavy for the light weight Minolta body.

P.S. The lens was impossible to focus sharply at
f 2.8. Leica says that the body was designed to
use an f 4.0 lens. I think that because of the
" Compact " size, the distance between the range-
finder windows was not wide enough.

It took me awhile to figure this out, but I figured
that the lens would be sharper 1 stop closed down
anyway.

The Contax having a similar focus window distance
but being AF, does not suffer from this problem &
I've shot many images wide open at f 2.8, with NO Problems.

 

[Rhodes]

Bessa R and elmar 50 or summaron 35 or jupiter 8 or industar 61 or elmar 135mm!

 

[gb hill]

Bessa R & Bessa L shooter here. Using the R more, finally begining to come into one with it.

 

[Sanjay Sen]

Speaking of the CV Bessa cameras, I have each of the first four models! I use the Bessa-L (silver) with a SW Heliar 15/4.5, the Bessa-R (silver) with a Color-Skopar 35/2.5 and the Bessa R2 (olive) with a CZ Biogon 35/2. The R and R2 get the most use, while the L is more of a special purpose set. I have yet to use the Bessa-T (black).

 

[kimmo7]

I have Bessa-T and have Jupiter 8 with it.

 

[jacksond]

I had a used Bessa R3, but the shutter jammed twice. Bought a Leica M6. I like the CV lenses. I might try another Bessa R when one comes available used.

 

[georg16nik]

More or less.. in the same boat as Jorj and Randy6.
An old school 1950, Voigtländer Bessa I 6x9/4.5x6 & Voigtländer Color-Skopar 1:3,5 / 105.

 

[Ole]

Bessa-L and a Bessa-T - the L has a problem with the film advance which is a real pity, it's a very nice little camera especially with the ultrawide lenses it's made for. I use 15 and 21mm on that, and mostly a Jupiter-9 85/2 lens on the T.

Oh - and a "real" Bessa, a folding 6x9 one.