Voigtländer Bessamatic - 1959
Below are some sample photos from the Bessamatic:
|
With its fully interchangable lenses and match-needle metering, the Bessamatic represented the state of the art in single lens reflex (slr) design when it appeared. This is one of three leaf shutter slr cameras that I have; all are capable of producing very high quality results. The leaf shutter slr has often been criticised on reliability grounds, but it is not actually the shutter itself that usually causes the problems cited. The shutters were Compurs, very similar to those on earlier rangefinder cameras. The functional problems were usually associated with the need to properly actuate the mirror and the aperture stop-down process. The addition of coupled light meters and linkage of aperture and speed settings lengthened gear trains, offering further opportunity for malfunction and greater challenges to camera servicing and repair. Early models like the first Bessamatic can be repaired even today, but later, more complicated models seem to present a challenge that few modern workers are willing to tackle.
Although Voigtländer recycled lens names from an earlier era, the Color Skopar is clearly not the same design as all elements lie in front of the shutter. This placement may put some theoretical limitations on lens performance as compared to designs for focal plane shutters, but the Bessamatic's lenses never-the-less perform at quite a good level. I was particularly impressed with the sharpness and contrast obtained from the 35mm Skoparex.
Since I tend to like compact cameras, the big, heavy Bessamatic is not one of my own favorite shooters, but it is a very interesting representative of the German camera industry's later efforts to remain in the high-end amateur market.
|
