The Renaissance continues

March 20, 2009

bessa_iii_gallery1

Who woulda thunk it?  in a sea of digicams, Voigtlander goes ahead and releases a rangefinder. An analogue rangefinder.  A *medium format*, fixed lens, analogue rangefinder.  (and a folder to boot!).

Guess film isn’t dead after all :-)   The Bessa III (as it is called) apparently will be available in may for about 2k. not too shabby!

Tweet This Post  Stumble This Post 

There are 5 comments in this article:

  1. March 21, 2009Stephen says:

    The see this as more a harbinger of death than a Renaissance. The reason for this view is simply a look at the price tag. So what if it’s a reversion back to film. It’s out of reach for most people. I personally believe that for film to survive it needs to be used by the masses. Otherwise it will become a tool that only a few will use and become more and more prohibitively expensive. Actually, this is exactly what this camera is doing. It is pricing everyone but the camera “fashionistas” out of the mix.

    Oh well, there’s my two cents. Anyone who cares to disagree, go on, take your best shot.

  2. March 21, 2009Ed Z says:

    I dunno… I think 2k is very reasonable for a quality MF camera. The most direct comparison to this I think is the Mamiya 7II which is ~2400 for *body only*, more like $3500 with lens ($3699 w/80mm lens at B&H)

    With prices for a “prosumer” dslr system (with lens) hovering around $1500-2500, I don’t think 2k is out of like for someone looking for MF (particularly when Digital MF is still in the 15k+ range.)

  3. March 23, 2009Stephen says:

    I guess, but I still see it proving my point the film is dead. The problem is for film to survive, we need the consumer level film to survive. Yes, it may be reasonable when compared to other cameras, but I don’t see a new consumer level film camera. For film to survive, the processing needs to be funded by profits from consumer use. Professional use of film will not create viable business models for film producers and processors. Yes, you still have enough niche market that some companies are making high end products, but eventual you won’t find that anymore.

  4. March 23, 2009Big BAD Benny says:

    I believe this camera is relevant. For example we recently shot a catalogue in our studio using a D2X and strobe for set up and ready to use shots. For posterity we busted out a 50 year old Rolleiflex 2.8D TLR and shot the heroes on Velvia. Great results at a fraction of the expense of buying or hiring any 20+MP camera body or system.

  5. May 15, 2009jeremy says:

    I’d love one of these! It is a bit pricey but what a fabulous and extremely portable camera! I love MF but often take a 35mm with me as my Contax 645 is a bit bulky.

    I don’t believe that film is anything like dead. They said that would happen to vinyl but it is still going strong. I believe there will be a renaissance for film. I meet a lot of digital camera users who’d either like to go back to using film, and others who’d like to start using it for the first time.

Write a comment: