[Leica] Bessa R review - compact travel package (long)

[Cummer Family <cummer@asiaonline.net>]

I picked up my Bessa R and a 35mm Pancake lens from Dr. Joseph Yao last
week. I have been using the 15mm, 25mm Voigtlander lenses with a Bessa L so
the body of the R was familiar to me. I also have the Voigtlander 35mm/1.7,
the 50mm/1.5 and the 75mm/2.5 which I have been using with my CLE and Leica
M6 bodies using LTM to M adapters. I have to confess that I prefer smaller
camera bodies - that is why my favorite carrying camera is a Rollei 35. I
have a preference for my CLE over my M6's because of size and it is one of
the main reasons I like the Bessa R. The camera is light and so seems
smaller, but is well made and the R, perhaps because of the viewfinder
structure on top of the body feels more solid than the L - but both bodies
are pretty much one and the same. The viewfinder on the R is bright and
clear - really impressive. The first R body that I tried did not have a
completely accurate rangefinder when focussing to infinity. I live on the
35th floor of an apartment building in Central Hong Kong and I have lots of
points of light to focus on outside my windows. I consider accurate
focussing at infinity to mean that when you focus on a light source a mile
or so away when the lens reaches infinity then the two points of light in
the viewfinder / rangefinder merge as one. I am a stickler about this and
have had my M6HM TTL back to the Leica distributor twice in order to get it
right. The second Bessa R body I tried produced a slight ghost of the light
point at infinity but after checking with the viewfinders in my other
rangefinders I decided it was close enough. I also get a slight ghost in my
CLE and in my M6 Classic. Part of the finder accuracy problem is that I
wear trifocals and as I shifted my eye around in the viewfinder, I could
reduce but not completely eliminate the slight ghost that I noted. I have
shot and developed only a few rolls of film, shooting mostly the pancake
and 75/2.5 lenses. The results are very good. I took some available light
pictures of my daughter with my old Summarit 50mm/1.5 and really liked the
way the lens handled on the camera - beautiful bokeh too. I went to a
dinner party with the camera (amazed comment - you mean you have to wind it
by hand?) and took some flash pictures using the Olympus SF20 flash that I
use with my Rollei 35 - (F5.6 @ 1/125 with ASA 400 film). The pancake lens
at F5.6 produced color saturation and detail that were outstanding. There
has been a recent discussion on the LUG about minimal camera packages. I
took the R, the 35 pancake, the 75/2.5 and the SF20 flash with me to
Beijing but didn't use the flash once. I took pictures of my Chinese
customers - hand held down to 1/30 - and the results with the pancake 35
show little to no camera shake. I can't imagine a more compact yet
competent set of camera equipment than this set. Now the R is not a Leica
M, but the fit and finish is good - a non stick rubber covering - and you
don't need to worry about dinging US$2000 worth of camera body. Winding is
not as smooth as Leica, the shutter has a louder metallic click than the
swoosh of Leica's cloth shutter, and the rewind is a bit sticky like the
film is being held too tightly by the pressure plate (no scratches
however). Yet, for an introduction to the joys of rangefinder picture
making one would be hard pressed to find better value. One other thing -
attaching screw mount lenses is easier if they are focussed at their
closest distance. Then the focus barrel doesn't fight with the rangefinder
cam in the camera body. Attaching the screw mount lenses just highlights
what an advance the M bayonet was in 1954. I think Cosina is going to sell
a lot of these cameras and the LTM lenses to go with them. I also think
that many R owners will aspire to a Leica as the ultimate rangefinder. This
trading up will be good for the entire RF industry. Finally the logical
progression for Cosina would be from Bessa L to R to an M bayonet body -
that would give the company real breadth to their camera range.
Cheers
Howard Cummer.