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(Re)Considering the R4 PDF Print E-mail
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Written by Brian Webb   
Tuesday, 03 April 2007
R4AThe R4a and R4m are out and, like many Bessa fans, I've been lusting after one. C'mon! Wide angle framelines? Can you beat that? Apparently not, since Cosina is the first manufacturer (to my knowledge) to do it. While it's true that external viewfinders look cool in a retro kind of way, it's also true that they get lost rather easily. This is especially true for the heavy ones, like the CV 28 metal VF (which looks really retro-cool, by the way). I know there's some kid somewhere in the world using my ex-28mm viewfinder after finding it at the San Diego Zoo one lucky day... probably turned around as an "advanced solar ant frying device".

I miss that viewfinder. It was sturdy, bright, looked wicked on my grey R2a, and cost as much as 300 feet of Tri-X.

Obviously , a camera with 28mm framelines would solve this problem. Add to that the CV 21/4 Skopar Classic I purchased about 4 months ago (another wide, another external VF to deal with) and the R4 seems right up my alley. Oh, and the CV 28/1.9 Ultron is my most-used lens, too.  Do I need any more reasons? I should start selling pints of O+ now!

Or maybe not. Did I mention that my favorite lens is the 28mm Ultron? I might have said something about it. Oh, and did I mention that the R4 had framelines from 21 to 50mm? 21mm is quite wide. Gee, the viewfinder magnification must be awfully low in order to show the 21mm framelines and the size of the 28/1.9 is pretty big...

Anyone see where I'm going with this?

The 28/1.9 hood already sticks in to the .7x VF of my Bessa R2 enough to be slightly annoying. How much more will it interfere into the .52x magnification viewfinder of the R4? Will it not only intrude into the VF as with the R/R2/R2a/R2m but into the framelines as well? That would mean that, practically speaking, I would still need an external viewfinder.

So I'm still considering and reconsidering the R4. For the current price of it I can get one of the newly-styled matte black R3a bodies to fit my Nokton on to, another 28mm metal viewfinder, and a roll of electrical tape to make sure that I don't lose it this time.

 {mos_smf_discuss:8}
Last Updated ( Monday, 09 April 2007 )
 
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