Voigtlander Bessa 667 questions

[wda]

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I would LOVE one of Fuji MF cameras...

 

This thread has encouraged me to dust off my Fuji GA645 which still yields superb transparencies which I scan.

[stealthman_1]

Nice, some excellent images there.

 

Did you rely on the auto exposure mode?

 

Thanks. All the outdoor shots were pretty much 'by the meter'. The dark bar shots of course were taken with a close up meter of the desired subject and then reframed and shot with those settings. No meter I know of would expose them correctly.

 

The shot of the family riding their bikes is about a 20% crop of the original frame. Thought I'd point that out as it is softer than some of the other outdoor images.

[Guest AgXlove]

Here's a link to some samples from my first couple rolls through the Bessa III. I quite like the camera, though I wish it were 6x9. The meter is excellent and MF folders are wonderful for packing inconspicuously. I recommend it for a backpacking camera (though a Bessa II is hard to beat). The only real tick the camera has is the requirement to be at infinity focus to close. I have a Fuji GW690 II and GSW690 III, can't argue with the quality of the optics on these.

If that's the biggest "glitch" the camera has, I could certainly live with that. The more I read about this camera, the more I want one; I'd much rather have this camera than an M9 (I know, I know: Blasphemy! ) Not so much, at least in my book.

 

I have come to realize that I miss 120 format and those wonderful thumb sized rolls of film and the nice big negs and chromes they produce.

 

I have a line on a Hasselblad 500C/M with an 80/2.8 T* lens and film back, all rated at "9" used for $1050 less than the 667, which is an outstanding deal. However, when I think back to my days of shooting with a 'blad, I recall the bricklike size & weight and the fact that the camera can be rather unwieldy. Then there's the unholy racket the 'blads produce when you release the shutter. I guess the whisper quiet exposures of my MP have spoiled me.

 

*Sigh* I guess it's time for a rummage sale...

[stealthman_1]

Well the Bessa leaf shutter makes my MP shutter sound like a shot gun and that is no joke. In some cases it is actually too quiet. On one of my early outings, I went from Ektar 100 film to Portra 800 and forgot to change the film speed. I was shooting indoors in aperture priority and not paying any attention to the indicated shutter speed in the finder. Finally after 5 shots I saw it, I was shooting at 1/4 when I expected to be shooting at 1/30th. With any normal shutter I would have heard the problem, with the Bessa, in a room with just a normal level of background noise, I could not and while my hearing isn't perfect, I ain't deaf either. Despite the desire for quiet shutters, I prefer the soft 'cluck' of the Ms, especially at 1/30th...music to my ears!