Skip to main content

Bessa or Fed?

Fed 2 with 35 mm lens

On and off for a couple of months I've been trying to decide whether to bother to save up for a Voigtländer Bessa T. And I've not yet come to any conclusion. A T seems to be a very good camera, from what I've read about it. But apart from a couple of features, that I seem to be able to live without, other rangefinder camera bodies seem to be just as useful.

I've only once held a T in my hands - in a camera shop in Stockholm - and the handling felt truly great. The thing with setting focus through one finder and composing through another doesn't seem to me particularly troublesome. Using most consumer grade rangefinder cameras from 1980 or earlier did consist of several movements that demanded previsualization of the desired outcome - i e: Metering the light (in or out of the camera); setting exposure; composing the picture - like with the T. Even the most automated cameras demanded that you at least set the focus before snapping away. In the '60s or earlier a significant number of the models available were even without rangefinder, so you would zone focus or guess (or meter in studio or home portrait settings). The approximated focusing was - statistically speaking - the norm. Let's not forget that. But I digress.

Fed 2 with 50 mm lens


The Bessa T is small. That is one prerequisite for my inquiries. But so is the Fed 2. They're almost the exact same size. Of course the Fed is heavier, being all metal. But weight in this case is not an issue for me. Height is more important. Or rather - flash shoe position, since that's where the external viewfinder will be positioned. And external viewfinders protrude and are prone to take beatings or get stuck in clothing. So, when looking at camera bodies to use for my wide angle lenses, I don't want big cameras. Unfortunately, I am fond of the Soviet Fed 3 and Zorki 4, but their internal finder only caters for 50 mm lenses, and they are high bodies, housing shutter mechanisms and finder glass. In my search, even the thought of getting a Leica Standard has crossed my mind, the flash shoe being positioned next to the finder. A really discreet camera. But rangefinder focusing is lost with that model - the centerpiece of this present quest. So that's another course to take, eventually.

So. The Fed 2 is the greatest rival to the Bessa T, besting it in price. But not in performance such as shutter speed - the Bessa clocking in at 1/2000th of a second to the Fed at 1/500th. But thinking about it - how many times have I ever needed to expose at 1/2000th in the harsh dark Nordic conditions of my homeland? Well, they can be counted on my fingers.

Alright - the T has an accurate light meter, which the Fed does not. That's true. But when don't I use an external light meter when out walking my rangefinders? Very rarely, I must say.

Okay. Winding: The T has a winder arm like all modern cameras - the Fed doesn't. But the Fed's winder wheel is very easy to use. I even love using it. Then we get to rewinding: Just rewind the film using the little fold out arm on the T. On the Fed it's a whole different ball game. Especially if you're out in the harsh dark conditions with cold fingers. Quite troublesome. But it's easier if you hold the wheel still with one hand and turn the camera instead.

I love the black T:s. But I can find black Fed:s as well, if I give it some time. But then the cost rises almost to Bessa levels.

Longevity then? Plastics and electronics do have a tendency to give in after some time, metal winning in the long stretch. But the time span in these (camera tech) circumstances can be counted in decades, I know from experience in trading used cameras through my webshop.

Picture taken with Fed 2 with 35 mm lens

So which one will it be? Voigtländer Bessa T or Fed 2?

I will mull some more. I already own a Fed, and I favor diversity over monotony when it comes to using cameras. It would have to be a black one then…

Thanks for reading!

Visit my shop at Etsy.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Celebrating 20 + Articles Elsewhere

  I have had a fun eight years burrowing deep into the world of film photography. Within a few weeks my 22nd contribution to 35mmc.com will be published. The website, which is run by a small group of people, publishes contributions from the global community of mostly film photographers. I have contributed sporadically with reviews and other articles on  photography related issues since May 2017. Almost as long as I have written about photography on this blog.   Disposable Cameras Canon QL17 Rangefinder Canon Demi half-frame Canon Lens Modding Olympus LE Camera Olympus Pen-F Yashica 50 mm Lens     Halina Lens Modding  4 Minolta Cameras Steinheil 50 mm Lens Instamatic Voigtländer Lens Modding Meikai Camera Ricoh Auto 35 Camera     Chaika Camera Modding Redscale Film   Hanimex 110 Camera  Canon 1980s Compacts Canon Prima Mini Camera Reviving Instamatic Cameras Focus-Free Digital Lens During this time I have also contributed a few art...

Chaika Leica

Well, here's a Chaika 2M that I bought from Alex Helios via Instagram.  It's a great full manual viewfinder half-frame camera. The wheel on the top is for shutter time selection, from B to 1/30th to 1/250th of a second. The square button on the front right of the camera is the release/exposure. The lens mounted on the camera in the picture is not the original Industar-69. The Chaika is a rare model compact camera since the prime lens is detachable. What is more is that it has M39 screw mount. But - like with the Paxette M39 system - you can't get focus with a lens from another M39 system. Unless you adapt the lens or - in this case - the camera (mount)! The Chaika mount is easily detached from the body by loosening four screws. If I want to mount the Leica thread mount M39 (LTM) lenses on the Chaika - which is my goal with this mod - I have to add 1.3mm to the mount. That is what is needed to change the camera's flange focal distance (FFD) from Chaika system to L...

Lomo-Modd-Orama

A Lomo Smena 8 camera with a faulty shutter. An Olympus Pen F camera. Part of a microscope adapter for the Pen. That's what I started out with. 45 minutes later I had a new lens! Mount The mount came off a microscope adapter. I got the adapter from my first (of two) attempts to buy an Olympus Pen F. There seem to be some unscrupolous ebay sellers around peddling useless Pens with microscope adapted prisms. Luckily - in hindsight - I got a microscope adapter with this first Pen. Which I now trashed when a Lomo Smena 8 without a future landed on my doorstep (figuratively speaking). Conversion / Havoc Smena I only knew the camera as a half-frame camera [Correction - it's a full frame camera!] called Smena 8 and hadn't thought to place it in Lomography-land until I read the name Lomo on the lens when it was already modded. Unwittingly I had tread the tiles of lomo-dom twice in as many weeks, also having put two rolls through a Praktica CX-1 which appears to be Gr...