Voigtlander Bessa L or T?

Hello! I’ve won a bid on eBay for Voigtlander BESSA-L Silver+50mm range finder+1968 Jupiter 50mm f2 lens. Was wondering if color skopar 35mm f2.5 or voigtländer 15mm f4 5 super wide heliar aspherical would produce sharper and nicer photos?
If so, would you recommend Bessa L or T?
Thank you!

The L doesn't have a viewfinder or rangefinder, so the first issue is sort out a framing system. Whatever lens you opt for, budget for a viewfinder as these can exceed the price of the camera. A Voigtlander lens will out-perform a Jupiter on spec sheets, although you may prefer the look of vintage Russian glass. I use a Bessa L with a Kontur finder and a coated Industar 61.

nothing wrong with the Jupiter lens, I use one on a Leica screw mount camera and love the results, and also the 2 lenses you name are both wide angle, indeed the 15mm is extreme wide angle,so for either you will need a seperate viewfinder, and the bessa is comes without viewfnder and rangefinder, so whatever lens you use you will need a viewfinder, which for the 15mm c, also can run into £200 GBP, would cost you more than the camera, also make sure that you have a 50mm viewfinder with the bessa for the Jupiter as without one it will be almost useless,Personally I would not get the Bessa L,
Richard

It’s kind of hard to meaningfully compare those three lenses: a normal lens, a moderate-wide, and a superwide. All are good lenses but they fill different niches. On the Bessa-L, it’ll be easier to scale-focus with a wider lens.

If you want the Bessa-T, be aware of the potential compatibility issue between Soviet lenses and Leica-standard bodies. The Jupiter-8 probably won’t quite match the rangefinder up close and/or wide open.

Personally, I love the 35/2.5. I’ve only used it with a rangefinder but I think it’s a good match for the Bessa-L too.

-NT

I had the L with a 25mm skopar + VF. for a few years, loved that combo. Didn't feel the need for the T as as the split RF + VF always bothered me, just go for an R at that point or R2 if you use M mount lenses.

Welcome to Photrio.

You got the Bessa L and 50 mm Jupiter and finder! Enjoy it for a while before you buy too many other cameras.

You will get “artistic” effects with the lens. I wouldn’t call it a sharp high quality lens. But I would call it a fun and games camera. It’s a lifestyle kind of thing.

One thing that your camera does not have is an accurate focusing mechanism.

Focusing is an important act that you
will have to do with the scale.

You will use the f/stop markings and distance marks on the lens to set the approximate focus.

I recommend a short rope or string as long as the “close” focus of the lens. Set the lens at the closest mark and tell your friends to hold the string up to their nose, walk back until the string is taut and then both of you drop the string and you take the picture. Leave extra room “above” because you don’t want to “cut their head off”.

There will be places where the lens is very sharp and others where it is soft and swirly. That is a good thing for artistic photos.

Another day you can get a camera with every necessary feature designed to work seamlessly... which would have accurate focusing (an important feature your camera does not have) like a Leica M rangefinder with Summicron lens or Nikon F SLR with its excellent lenses. Those take professional high quality photos which is why they are hard to find.

But for learning your own limitations and the camera limitations and having fun by trial and error ... you just got a very fun camera that will be playful and quirky.

I disagree on the Jupiter 8 being an "artistic" effects lens. It's a Soviet made duplicate of the Zeiss Sonnar that was common on Contax cameras, and was converted to other mounts (Leica thread, at least, M42 I'm pretty sure, and maybe others) as an export lens. From my limited experience, it may not be as nice as a Super Takumar, but it's perfectly fine for any of the uses you'd want a normal lens for.

Bessa L - is the best street gun.

Check my latest video about it, showing it in action

The Bessa-T is an M mount camera.

I can endorse the Bessa L Snapshot Skopar 25 combination makes it a dedicated wide angle camera. Use the very wide hyperfocal focussing distance to effectively turn it into a point and shoot with much better results - and so much fun.

Vounch for Bessa T. I often use it and it is a pretty fun camera to use. Like a Leica I but with range finder and light meter. Also, being M mount, it let you use both screw and m mount lens. Quite practical. The fact tha you can adjust the ranger finder dioptre is a blessing for glass wearer. Also, it feels better build than L .

Had both the L and the T with external finders using the Voigtlander 15 Super Wide and Skopar 35 (ltm > m adapter on the T) and enjoyed both. L had a much less sturdy build quality and eventually the take-up spool stopped functioning. The T was a stronger build and the ergonomics were slightly better at that size

Feel like Bessa R is the best bang for your buck out of the Voigtlander bodies at half the price of any M-mount bodies

The Jupiter is a great lens! Check out my article on 35mmc for some image examples.

Another recommendation for the modest little Jupiter-8 lens. Mine is from 1962, and Brian Sweeney adjusted it to focus correctly on a Leica body. The center portion of mine has impressive resolution.

https://worldofdecay.blogspot.com/2021/07/optical-treasure-1960s-jupiter-8-lens.html