Voigtlander Bessa RF

Known also as Bessa E Messer, this one is a solid 1930s medium format rangefinder. I have the Skopar 3.5/105 version. Something has always been off with the rangefinder on this one, no matter how many times I adjusted it. That meant eyeballing my distances, a feat I've never been particularly good at. Still, a very fun camera to shoot with. A pocket 6x9 folder if you like your pockets large. Nice soft bokeh, a versatile range of shutter speeds and a good lens, albeit uncoated --there are three more to choose from, though (not interchangeable. The camera came in four lens variants). I do find it interesting to experiment with the naked glass, however, as it can produce pretty flares --see the last photo for an example of that. Regardless of what we call 'quality', everything is just a feature to be used, if you understand how, am I right?

It is probably better to shoot this one on a tripod rather than hand-held. It's a bit heavy and it's easy to make even a micro-shake, as I have found while developing the photos below. Most do show some shakiness on the part of the photographer when inspected up close. When held firmly though, and focused correctly (sigh), you can see the sharpness certainly is there.

Even with these caveats, I have to admit that with the rekindling of my interest in old cameras, I'm eager to finish the roll of film that's been inside for the past decade. I think I must have put it in as soon as I finished the one below, which seems to have been in late spring of 2012. Hopefully, we'll soon find out.

Bessa RF on camerapedia

Manual from Butkus