Voigtlander Bessa III

[John]

Here's one that will strike a chord with collectors of older cameras (not "old camera collectors" as someone put iy in another forum):

http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/ne ... 68910.html

For those who don't know, the pinnacle of folding camera design was the 6x9cm format Voigtlander Bessa II, particularly with its 105mm f4.5 Apo-Lanthar lens. If you find one of these, then its second hand value is about £2000.

So Fujifilm are revisiting the design type and marketing it outside Japan as Voigtlander. Interesting.

[Walter Brooks]

The European price and launch date of the Voigtländer Bessa III medium format rangefinder camera have been confirmed. The Bessa III, announced last autumn, now has a confirmed MSRP of 1999 euros. Availability is May 2009. The Voigtländer Bessa III 667 (marketed in Japan as the Fujifilm GF670) is a folding bellows camera that uses 120 and 220 format roll film. With a special selector switch, you can specify whether you want it to shoot a 6x6 or a 6x7cm frame (the actual dimensions are 56x56mm and 56x69mm, respectively). The Bessa III features a HELIAR 80mm f/3.5 lens, whose angle of view is 53 degrees for 6x6cm frames, and 57 degrees for 6x7cm ones. Just in case anyone is interested ...

[John]

I'm interested and if I were still using film I'd want one of these. Actually I still want one, but have no use for it, which is a shame.