Voigtlaender Bessa R3A 35mm Rangefinder Camera

I have owned several Bessas- the Bessa L, the Bessa R, the B3a. These are all excellent cameras with the Leica lens mount. They have accurate metering, accurate focusing, and with the R3a, aperture-preferred automation with exposure compensation. They flash sync at 1/125th unlike the Leicas at 1/50th. Any Leicanut will tell you this camera is not as heavy/substantial as an M7/M6/M3 or that the rangefinder base length is shorter than the M6/M7. All of that is true- but the Bessa is $550 new and a new M7 is $3495 from B&H. There is not a photographer in the country who can tell what picture was taken with a bessa body as opposed to a Leica body. THis is an excellent camera to get started in leica-mount lenses or as a back up body for your Leica (I own an M6 as well).