Me & Bessa | what gordon knows

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a brand new Voigtländer Bessa R3M 250 year anniversary camera kit from cameraquest.com. It is the first new film camera I have purchased in over 10 years.

My Voigtlander Bessa is a rangefinder which is a type of camera that was popular in the 1970s. I like it because you focus the image by looking through the rangefinder and making two images line up. After using digital cameras for years, the voigtlander feels fresh and new. My specific Voigtlander is special for two reasons. The first is that it can be focused with both yes open and the second is that it came with a special limited edition Heliar 50f2 lens.

I find the act of holding and focusing Bessa very satisfying.

What Is It Like Using This Camera?
My Voigtlander the R3M is the manual version of the R3A which means that it can operate without a battery. What it means to a potential voigtlander owner is that the R3M takes longer to compose and shoot than the R3A. Not a deal breaker for me but depending on what type of camera you want, the R3M may not be for you.

The Heliar 50f2

My voigtlander R3M kit came with the special 50f2. I want to tell you that did all sorts of special camera lens tests and stuff before I purchased the camera and knew that the lens would be perfect. That is wrong and if that is what you are looking for in a camera, you should read a different blog.
Every Picture Looks Like Life Magazine
I took my Voigtlander to a local national historic site that has beautiful gardens. I used some generic fuji film and just had some fun. I’m not used to shooting with a 50 but had fun and I was excited about seeing the results. I processed the film at a minilab and then scanned the images in myself.