C41
Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
View profile →rangefinder-35mm
The Bessa-R2A (2002) is the M-mount, aperture-priority variant of Cosina's Bessa rangefinder line. It accepts all Leica M-bayonet lenses — Leica, Zeiss ZM, Voigtländer Nokton/Color-Skopar, Konica M-hex — and adds automatic exposure control missing from the simpler Bessa-T and Bessa-R. The shutter is a horizontal cloth focal-plane unit running 1s–1/2000s, with full mechanical operation when batteries die. The viewfinder shows 35/50/75/90 mm framelines; a 0.68× magnification suits "standard" focal lengths well.
Reference
Recommended film stocks for the 35mm format your camera takes.
C41
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
View profile →BW
Ilford HP5 Plus is a flexible ISO 400 black-and-white film with classic grain and strong push-processing tolerance.
View profile →BW
Kodak Tri-X 400 is a classic black-and-white film known for strong tonality, visible grain, and documentary character.
Develop 35mm film
Labs in our directory that process 35mm film.
Before you buy used
About this camera
M-mount aperture-priority rangefinder at a fraction of Leica M price. Mechanical shutter fires without batteries — the thinking person's Leica alternative.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 35mm |
| Mount | Leica M bayonet |
| Years | 2002–2015 |
| Shutter | 1s – 1/2000s, horizontal cloth, mechanical |
| Flash sync | 1/50s (slow — X-sync via standard PC port) |
| Meter | TTL SPD, aperture-priority AE + manual |
| Framelines | 35 / 50 / 75 / 90 mm |
| Viewfinder | 0.68× |
| Weight | 460 g (body) |
| Battery | 2× SR44 (AE only; mechanical shutter works without) |
Cosina began the Voigtländer Bessa revival in 1999 with the LTM Bessa-R. The M-mount "R2" arrived in 2001; the "A" suffix (R2A, R3A, R4A) added aperture-priority AE to each magnification variant. The R2A (0.68×) targets 35–75 mm lenses; the R3A (1.0×, same magnification as Leica M3) targets 50–90 mm; the R4A (0.52×) targets 21–35 mm wide-angles. All shared the same Cosina chassis with minor finder and shutter speed differences. Production wound down around 2015 as Cosina shifted resources.
The R2A is the clearest answer to "I want a working rangefinder with M-mount and auto exposure but cannot afford a Leica M7." It is simpler and heavier than a Leica, the rangefinder patch is smaller, and the shutter is noisier — but it meters correctly, accepts the full canon of M-mount glass, and provides genuine mechanical fallback (a full-speed mechanical shutter at one speed — 1/125s — fires without batteries on some early units; later R2As run fully mechanical across all speeds when in manual mode). Used prices have stabilized below $400 for clean, CLA'd bodies.
Full M-mount compatibility: Leica, Zeiss ZM (35/2 Biogon, 50/2 Planar, 85/4 Tele-Tessar), Voigtländer Nokton 35/1.4, 50/1.5, Color-Skopar 35/2.5 P-II. Also accepts LTM lenses via the standard M-to-LTM adapter (body ships without one). An external viewfinder in the accessory shoe is useful with very wide lenses since the internal finder only covers 35 mm at minimum. No motor drive or dedicated flash beyond a standard hot shoe.
C41
Kodak Portra 160 is a professional C-41 color negative film with fine grain, soft contrast, and natural color.
View profile →C41
Kodak Gold 200 is a daylight-balanced C-41 color negative film with warm color, moderate grain, and a classic consumer-film look.
View profile →Voigtländer Bessa-R2A
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