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Anonymous
>>205464 Bessas are decent cameras, but they're not quite up to par with Leica nor are they as cheap as the people in this thread seem to think.
The oldest Bessa, the Bessa R, is around $150-200, but it's also all plastic and subject to a lot of reliability issues. The current Bessas, the R3/R4, are around $500-700 for the body and not appreciably cheaper used (if you can even find one). They have fewer frameline options than an M6, you have to manually select the framelines (done automatically on an M6), they have a significantly shorter RF baselength, and they use a metal focal plane shutter that is decent but doesn't match the track record of Leica's cloth shutters.
That said, the R3/R4 are good cameras. If you only have $500-700 to spend on an RF body, get one. Or if you want 21mm framelines and don't plan on using any tele lenses, get one. On the other hand, an M6 is a better camera. If you have $1000-1500 to spend on a body, get one. Don't buy a Bessa "first" with the plan to upgrade to a Leica later... you will automatically be unsatisfied with the first camera you buy and it will be a waste of money.
>>205462 It's the jack-of-all-trades argument. An SLR will do anything, but not necessarily well. A rangefinder has a limited area where it is useful, but in those cases it is the best tool available. If your shooting style fits into that area, it makes sense to use a rangefinder over an SLR. Aside from that, people should use a camera they like. If you like shooting with a rangefinder better than you like shooting with an SLR, it makes perfect sense to do it- regardless of how much more versatile an SLR may be.
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