Voigtlander R3M Review

[gtochad]

do you know of any decent range finder or slr's for a low price? and by low price i mean like $50

i almost got a petri rangefinder at a thrift store but i didnt want to bother with finding battery's for it and that i could only adjust aperture

[IceBox3]

@gtochad for that price? Get an Minolta SRT-101 or something like that, they dont cost much and work like a charm.

But forget about the rangefinder Idea ;)

[gtochad]

@IceBox3 hey you never know ;) the petri ranger finder was under 40 with tax... although its automation is annoying to me and i didnt know if it worked

[mathomas1962]

Nice job.

[r4bush]

@urwholefamilydied Yes, I do actually think I'm going to get a better image quality out of this camera, but only because its a great film camera. As was just pointed out the digital vs film is debatable, but for me and many others the beauty of film is far superior...the digital market lately is flooded with software trying (and failing) to replicate the look of film. If I'm shooting sports its my 1dmkiii, but this is a beautiful camera for portraits, travel, street shooting etc.

[urwholefamilydied]

yes this camera is sweet. But compare the cost of this camera and lens to a similar canon camera and lens. Do you honestly think you're going to get better image quality out of this? Not to mention film and processing costs. As much as I'd love to have this camera, I just don't see the image quality beating out my canon 60D with a 16-35 2.8 L lens.

[scottybee915]

@urwholefamilydied film vs. digital is a long debate that has gone on for years. The only conclusion is that they are different mediums, and neither can fully replace the other.

[paolinosk8]

just the 40mm frames are 1:1? or also the 50mm frames

[ElJozir]

@paolinosk8 R3M has viewfinder lines for 75 40/90 50 magnification 1/1. If you shoot wide angle a lot go for the R4M .The number just stands for different viewfinder magnification and other lens lines.

[deadkrusty6]

Have you ever got any problem with the rubergrip? It doesnt come off that easy?

[LeftHandedJudge]

@deadkrusty6 I have a few R2s and an R2a. The rubber grip is coming up on a few of em. Haven't found a good solution to this yet. Let me know if you find one for yourself.

[111nuthead]

Very, very good review! Thanks.

[rch456789]

this may sound very dumb but..

how does one get the pictures that are taken with cameras like this?

And how can see the product before they actually print the picture?

[AlexMoores]

@rch456789 You can scan the negatives or slides, or view them on a light table, or just print straight from them.

[rch456789]

@AlexMoores hmm but aren't negatives really small?

and what about for people who don't have a personal lab?

how do they develop their photos?

[AlexMoores]

@rch456789 Pay a lab to develop them. And no, negatives are not small. 35mm negatives are the same size as full frame digital sensors, and twice the size of DX or digital crop sensors.

[GenericShirtNinja]

Very informative!

If you got the time to answer my question, how well does it work for people who wear eyeglasses? (I'm optically challenged)

[ElJozir]

@GenericShirtNinja The 40/50mm lines are sometimes a bit tricky with glasses. The R4M is the best for eyeglasses. If you are between +3/-3 you can change the dioptre glass I think :-)

[9unslinger]

can i mount a industra 50 f3.5 on this camera? I got 1 from my zorki-4k

[hoho1822]

@9unslinger you can't use a industar 50/.35 to r3m. they has a diffrent mount. if you want, you need to get a LTM adapter. you can get that easy in ebay.

[jburgie]

Nice review. I was glad to see that you can still buy an all-mechanical rangefinder.

[agerpic]

thanks for the review! you show all important features of the camera!