Cosina announced new Voigtlander Bessa-T body with Leica M mount:

http://www.cameraquest. com/VCBessaT.htm

Weird, controversial design at least...

-- Alexander Grekhov (grekhov@wgukraine.com), March 15, 2001

Answers

It's nice to know there are still some seriously gonzo camera designers out there. What a risky, weird and wonderful product! And if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Tom Abrahamsson must by feeling very flattered today - they've essentially duplicated his RapidWinder on the new camera.

I wonder when their M6-killer will come out - an M-mount version of the Bessa-R? Speculation is next year, but you never know. Apparently the CEO of Cosina has said he'd never do anything to hurt Leica economically, but a bit of stiff competition could be just what the gnomes of Solms need!

-- Paul Chefurka (paul_chefurka@pmc-sierra.com), March 15, 2001.

Certainly an interesting market/product approach. Good for the industry and us - the pot needs a little stirring now and then.

Recent comments by Leica top brass (public comments at least) indicated they welcomed the filling out of this lower end. It's not an area Leica was particularly willing or able to invest in, and Leica thinks it's a good breeding ground for future M buyers.

Now if someone decides to go head-to-head with the M, that will be a different story, I'm sure.

-- Ken Shipman (kennyshipman@aol.com), March 15, 2001.

Finally a cheap way to have a backup body for the M series lenses. With the low reliability of the M (in my experience) in humid climates, I'll be getting one of these to back up my two M6's as soon as they come out. Also good for lenses you have to mount an external finder with anyway, such as the 24. I could easily see dedicating one of these to the 24.

I also love the rapidwinder. Great news for Tom, I'm sure!

This is terrific news for anyone depending on the M camera, I think.

-- rob (rob@robertappleby.com), March 15, 2001.

Its pretty obvious at this point Voigtlander can produce a feature laden M6 competitor if they choose to. I'm glad they have made their first camera in an M mount, as I have no interest in owning a screw mount camera at this point (my first camera was a screw mount Fujica SLR a long time ago). Maybe in a year or two they will offer a Bessa R type camera with a few more features like an AE shutter and TTL flash for 1/3 the price of an M6 that will be a killer second body. I'm not so gung ho on the retro seperate finder style of the new "T", and think they may be a hard sell no matter the enthusiasm that Gandy has for it.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), March 15, 2001.

Below is Tom Abrahamsson's review he posted on CVUG mailing list:

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Now I can "spill the beans" about the Bessa-T. It is a non- viewfinder, but rangefinder equipped Bessa body with an M-lens mount. Think about it a bit! You have to focus through a small window at the back, move your eye to the viewfinder for the lens you are using for framing and then shoot. Initially I was skeptical when I saw the camera last year in Japan. I have a very bad track record with external viewfinders - most of them are lost, broken or small pieces of essential glass fall out of them. When they work, they are great. Bright and contrasty as well as rather pricey and bulky. Like most of you have kept some of them around for years, not knowing why, but at last I have found a use for them. The Bessa-T is weird, no two ways about it, but in some strange way, it works! I have had one now for a couple of weeks and put about 25 rolls through it. Lenses have varied from 21mm to 75mm focal length and when I find my 90mm finder, I will try out that one too. With the lenses up and including 35. I use the camera as a hyperfocal camera with a "focus" checker built in. Now and then I would check that my range was within the focus and occasionally I would fine-tune using the cameras rangefinder. One can shoot fast and furious that way and have a reasonable rate of success. With lenses longer than 35 (or 35 in very low light) it is a slower process. You carefully focus and then move the eye to the finder and frame. It sounds a bit clumsy and for anyone weaned on M rangefinders, it takes a while to get used to. What really helps is the quality of the rangefinder. It is very bright and contrasty, the focus snaps in and out very quickly and precisely. There is a diopter control on the ocular - seems to handle at least +2 to -1 diopters correction. I found that with the 21 and 24 I shot similar to a Bessa-L, you wave the camera in the general direction and shot with less concern for precise framing. The focus was a nice feature when shooting wide-open, even a wide-angle lens will show focus loss when shot wide open without precise focussing. Where the Bessa-T shines is with the 35/1,4, the fast 50's and the 75/1,4. The base of the rangefinder is about 38 mm and the magnification is 1,5 so the baseline is 58mm, more than enough to give you precise focus even with a 75/1,4 wide-open. My 75 is a fairly late one with the built in hood and I could notice a slight shadow in the rangefinder when focussing close from the hood intruding. Not enough to make it useless, just something one had to think about. The trick was to push the hood back for focus and pull it out for shooting. Clumsy, maybe but it worked and that is the key. The 75 is not an easy lens to focus on the M6 as we have seen on the LUG, but with the Bessa-T it was a "snap". The "tunnel" vision that you get with the rangefinder (those who use screw-mount Leicas know what I am talking about) forces you to be very precise with the focus and "lock" it in. Yes, it is slower than with an M, but for portraits, I think it would work very well. The meter is the same as in the Bessa-L or R and the readout is on the back of the camera. You can see the diodes (red-green-red) when you focus or frame the shot and correct quickly. The meter works very well (it rivals the M6 meter for precise reading and uses far less batteries), but as you have no idea what the coverage is, you have to be careful with strong light sources throwing it off, particularly with wider lenses. Another feature that is close to my heart is the Voigtländer Rapidwinder! Yes, I now have competition at last. It is a very slick unit that can be attached and removed from the camera (although why anyone would want to remove it I can't understand) without fogging film. It is smaller and lighter than mine, it has a small, shallow grip with 2 straplugs attached so that you can carry the camera vertically (a la M5!). The lever is longish and 'flops" down and locks in place. The "unlock" mechanism is neat, you just push the lever backwards about 30 degrees and it frees it and you can fold it up. Good idea, but the main problem is that if you push it by mistake, it has to be folded up and then down again to lock. It feels flimsier than mine, but mine might be a case of overkill. The action is smooth, but it has more inertia than the Rapidwinder and a tendency to "high-spot" about halfway through the cycle. It is an almost essential piece of equipment as the eye of the shooter is more centered on the Bessa-T with the top-mounted viewfinder and there is precious little room for the finger to pull on the top-mounted advance lever. Even a right eye focusser is a bit squeezed there. The M-mount worked very smoothly and any of my M-lenses went on without problems with the lens-lock or focussing roller. The whole construction of the Bessa-T feels much more solid than the Bessa-R or L. The rubber cover has a changed texture that makes it less slippery and the controls are somehow tighter and more positive. The advance lever on the top is now black and has a ratcheted clutch in it, so that you can do multistroke advance (also possible with the trigger winder on the bottom). I am not sure where the Bessa-T fits in the rangefinder camera firmament, but however weird it sounds, it actually works very well. I can see it being used for wider lenses as a substitute M camera, but I think it will really come in to play for very tight precise focussing with high speed lenses, particularly when shooting wide open. Next experiment will be with the Noctilux at close range at f1! Voigtländer also supplied me with a 21/4 and the 28/1,9 Aspheric. I had seen both of these lenses at various times before. The 21/4 is in the same mount as the 25/4 Snap-Shot Skopar, a truly small and pocketable 21! It couples to the rangefinder and so far it has proven it self a very competent lens. I have not had time to shoot extensively with it, but from the negs, it looks sharp right across the board. Once I have had a chance to print something from this lens, I will let you know. The price is evidently going to be around $500 including the finder (which is much better than the Leica 21 finder!). The 28/1,9 Aspheric looks gorgeous, it looks and feels like a Leica lens! It is not a small lens, roughly the same size as a Summicron 28/2, but with a much smarter hood. It does not protrude into the finder of the M- camera as much as the 28/2 hood. Performance again, so far so good, but I need to print stuff shot with it to really judge it. Mine is a chrome version and it really looks slick on a chrome M2 and balances well with a M2/Rapidwinder combination. Boy, I think Voigtländer has done it again. The Bessa-T is strange, but in a good way, the 21/4 is truly a lens you can stick in a pocket and carry everywhere and I suspect that the performance of the 28/1.9 not going to be inferior to the 28/2 and most likely at a price that makes it highly competitive. Stephen Gandy has pictures of this stuff on his web-site: http://CameraQuest.com/VCBessaT.htm. To my knowledge, my Bessa-T is the first one in North America. For those who are serial number nuts, it is 000001 (and the 21/4 is 000006) so obviously very early production samples. Now we all know about the Bessa-T, the 21 and the 28. I wonder what's next from Cosina/Voigtländer. Tom A

Tom Abrahamsson Vancouver, BC Canada www.rapidwinder.com

-- Alexander Grekhov (grekhov@wgukraine.com), March 15, 2001.

Yes, this is weird. Sometimes I really wonder what Voigtlander are up to -- why not just go the whole hog and make an M6 competitor instead of all this mucking about? The only value I can see here is the fact that it may be better than an M6 when using lenses wider than 28mm. I cannot imagine the hassle of seriously full time going back to the idea of focussing with one window and then going back to a non parallax corrected viewfinder, especially for 50mm + lenses. This does seem to me to be taking a rangefinder obsession to extremes! I like most others will surely wait for an M6 clone and not use this ergonomic nightmare.

-- Robin Smith (smith_robin@hotmail.com), March 15, 2001.

I hope, I really pray, that the separate finders will have 100% coverage of the image, like the II-IIIf cameras. I am tired of having a lot of stuff show up around the edges of my negatives.

-- Bill Mitchell (bmitch@home.com), March 15, 2001.

I don't get the point of the Bessa-T at all. Quirky just for the sake of being quirky? Cosina already has the Bessa-R, what would have been wrong with just putting an M bayonet mount on it? From my viewpoint the Konica Hexar RF is so far the only worthy alternative to a Leica M body.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), March 15, 2001.

I am going to have to think about this. Sure seems like a good 2nd body for your ultrawide. Does this mean al the V lenses are going to be built with the M mount?

-- Dan Brown (brpatent@swbell.net), March 15, 2001.

You run into all the problems that people shooting with rangefinders back in the 1940's had--like chopping heads off because of no paralax compensation. To use it with my current lenses, I'd have to purchase a finder for my 35, 50 & 90, which would cost more than camera body. Then fumbling around putting in the right finder for whatever lens I stuck on the body would get old pretty quick. Need a quick fill flash?-pull out your side flash bracket you happened to have in your pocket. Seems like taking a backward step 50 years or more in camera design. Makes my M3 seem modern.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), March 15, 2001.

Maybe they should have called it the M-IIIa---what Leica would have done in 1937 if they'd thought of bayonet lens mounts, and were willing to sacrifice the viewfinder to do it. With any luck the next Cosina product will make the big leap to 1954, and be worth buying.

-- Michael Darnton (mdarnton@hotmail.com), March 15, 2001.

I think a lot of us are missing the point. Cosina probably aimed this right straight at the Japanese home market. They are in love with the older rangefinders, screw-mount lenses and accessory view finders. It however sure would be nice if they really did build a low-end M6 competitor.

-- mark ackermann (mramra@qwest.net), March 15, 2001.

Well, Andrew, what you describe are pretty much the limitations of the M6 with a 24 mounted - expensive accessory viewfinder, and no flash in the shoe, plus parallax estimation. If you use wideangles a great deal, as I do, the M6 doesn't seem like such a good deal. I recently got a 50 M lens and realised that this was still the best combo for the M series in terms of viewfinder.

I just see the new T as a wideangle body. The rapidwinder affair is very useful, I already have them on my M bodies. And in a pinch you could use it for longer lenses. So a wide-angle + backup, for about 1/4 the price of an M6+rapidwinder seems like a good deal to me. Maybe I was a little overenthusiastic when I first saw it, but I still think it would be a useful body.

-- robert appleby (rob@robertappleby.com), March 16, 2001.

Robert--It would have made a better W/A camera if they were in the custom of making W/A lenses with the ability to move a rangefinder. As it is. . . . tits on a bull, as they say. I think this camera is going to be one of the classical camera jokes. You'd think a modern company could do better than put irrelevant window dressing on a 1930 design, rather than improving a design that's within steps of greatness (think of the R with a bayonet mount, rapid winder, longer RF base, maybe aperture-priority auto.)

-- Michael Darnton (mdarnton@hotmail.com), March 16, 2001.

There's been a lot of criticism levelled at Cosina (here and elsewhere) over the Bessa-T, but I have to say I love it when a serious company does something this extravagantly odd. Not every camera out there has to beat or even emulate the EOS-1v, the F5, or even the M6. There has to be room in this world for the quirky, the off-beat and the downright eccentric. Who knows what Mr. Kobayashi is thinking? Who cares? I see this camera as a pure expression of joy, and I'm so thankful it's not yet another anonymous amorphous blob of microchipped plastic.

We can argue all we want about what we would have made if we were that same Mr. Kobayashi, but the fact remains that he has brought a camera to the world whose purpose isn't immediately apparent. You actually have to think about it; you have to try and decide how you would use it, and whether or not it would fit with your style. And in the process you actually have to think about what your style is...

Those of you who think it's an idiotic piece of gear are under no compulsion to buy one. Those of you who can think of a possible niche for it in your work can buy one and try it out with little financial risk. Those (like me) who think it's a cool "objet d'art" but just isn't going to be practical given the way they shoot can pass on it but continue to admire a company that is prepared to ignore the received wisdom of the Nicanoltax pundits and blaze its own trail.

And let us not forget that Cosina is proving itself to be a most prolific generator of new gear. Who knows what is going to leap from their febrile imaginations into the camera stores in the next year or two?

My reaction is that it's great to see a camera company that looks like it's having some fun for a change.

-- Paul Chefurka (paul_chefurka@pmc-sierra.com), March 16, 2001.

it goes without saying that if you don't like something, don't buy it. My complaints about them bringing out this camera and not something more useful to me are purely selfish. I want to buy a $550.00 M body with 1/125 flash sync, hot shoe, TTL meter, at least 3 frames for 35, 50, 90mm. Basically an slightly updated Bessa R would do fine- I'd buy one tomorrow and so would thousands of other M users. Isn't that what its all about, putting something out that your potential customers really want to buy?

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), March 16, 2001.

Perhaps they figure that there are potential customers that really do want it - that happy band just happens not to include us :-( I agree that the Bessa-M you describe would be very attractive to a lot of people, me included. You can never have too many bodies to mount that fabulous Leica glass on.

I just sold my 24 Elmarit-M because I don't like using external viewfinders. Anyone who would do that is certainly not a customer for the Bessa-T!

-- Paul Chefurka (paul_chefurka@pmc-sierra.com), March 16, 2001.

"Yes, that's my life: keeping a certain distance from things." - Cartier-Bresson, when someone noticed he had marked 4 meters on his lens with red nail polish.

Anybody who shoots very much on the street, and especially if he or she shoots a 28 or wider, will recognize this as a perfect tool, allowing a convenient check of focus and exposure just before the action starts, at which time, forget about them, just wind, frame, shoot. Perhaps Mr. Yokabashi is channelling Oscar Barnack[and Willi Stein]......

-- david kelly (dmkedit@aol.com), March 16, 2001.

that should read "Kobayashi" i sure don't want to disrespect this wonderful guy! -boy that dyslexia is really kicking in..............

-- david kelly (dmkedit@aol.com), March 16, 2001.

It looks to me to be the perfect body for the 21mm and 24mm Leica lenses which require a separate finder regardless. You have a rangefinder for when it is too dim to zone focus and you can adjust the exposure without bringing the camera to your eye. During the day it should be a fine body for lenses of 50mm or lower. I think that I will buy one but I would appreciate it if you would not tell my darling spousal unit that just yet.

Cheers,

-- John Collier (jbcollier@home.com), March 17, 2001.

This may be a controversial camera, but it seems like a reasonable configuration for anyone who uses an auxiliary viewfinder a lot.

I use the 50 and 90 brightlines quite a bit (on a .85 TTL M6-go figure!) and for me the brightlines are terrific for street and sitting portraiture.

The BessaT provides the same functionality, though it would have been nice to have autoexposure-I can see this camera will be a bit slow with top deck match diode metering.

As for parallax problems, I can see that happening too, unless you can train yourself to avoid it, as M camera users train themselves to do many little things while using their old fashioned cameras-but loose framing is a given.

If it had been any smaller it would have gotten my immediate and total attention. You've got to give Cosina a lot of credit for being imaginative.

Its been a good 50-60 years since 35mm camera configurations were standardized, and this is a refreshing, if retrogressive, departure from the formula. Who knows? It may work for some.

-- Mani Sitaraman (bindumani@pacific.net.sg), March 18, 2001.

Except of parallax problem that does exist I saw another one: seems it isn’t a vibration-free camera, as far as it is equipped with a metal vertical-travelling-curtains shutter Copal (old type with 1/125 sec synch).

-- Victor Randin (www.ved@enran.com.ua), March 19, 2001.

How many of you guys would like to see nikon convert the Nikon FM into a rangefinder with M mount? The FM has a proven track record and you could use the MD12 motor. Much better quailty than the plastic voigtlander.

-- jon harkness (harkness@wt.net), March 21, 2001.

If you mean the new FM3A with the AE shutter that also works without batteries, I'd be first in line to buy one with an M-mount. Especially if it had sophisticated spot metering like the OM-4T.

-- Mani Sitaraman (bindumani@pacific.net.sg), March 22, 2001.