This is not a review more a tale of disappointment.
Recently I spotted an interesting potential addition to my collection on the auction site and decided to bid. The auction was for a Voigtlander Bessamatic which came with the very rare Zoomar lens. The Zoomar lens was the first zoom lens ever for 35mm cameras and was invented by Voigtlander. I was aware of the rarity of the lens and so didn’t really expect to win as my budget was limited. As luck would have it though I won it 🙂 mostly due to the seller misspelling Voigtlander so I suspect not many people spotted it.
I then had to wait for delivery which didn’t happen very quickly and in the end the camera arrived when I was away in the UK.
On my return I was excited to get my package.
Inside was the wonderful Zoomar lens and the Bessamatic camera which is where the story turns sour.
The Bessamatic is not a light camera and the Zoomar lens is also pretty heavy and unfortunately the seller had packed the two still attached to each other. They were well wrapped in bubblewrap which protected them from impact but there was room for movement. There had been sufficient movement to put strain on the mount; which had given way and broken away from the camera a little.
It doesn’t look like a lot but the camera is inoperable. The good news is that the lens which is the rarer part of the pair is itself is okay. It means that I had to spend a little more money to buy another body before I can really enjoy the lens.
I have that additional body now and will try to sell the other one for spares to try to get some money back.
Not sure what the moral of this tale is other than to maybe check that the seller knows what they are doing and be prepared that you haven’t won until you have the thing in your hand. Also if you are selling, make sure you think about all the stresses and strain that will be inflicted during shipping and pack appropriately.
I will do a full review once I have shot a film through it.
July 6, 2017 at 12:37 pm
Bummer!
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July 6, 2017 at 1:11 pm
Yeah.. the replacement is hopefully a better version so I think the final result will be better but my investment is more than my normal comfort zone
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May 21, 2019 at 9:04 am
Sorry to hear about the broken mount. Wow, what a way to ruin a precision instrument. It’s amazing the amount of stupid on eBay. I once ordered a vintage light fixture for a Casablanca ceiling fan, and the seller shipped it with the glass globes attached. Well duuh…. Anyway, I hope you find a functional replacement Bessamatic.
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May 21, 2019 at 3:30 pm
Yes it was very disappointing at the time; people can be careless at times. I did find a replacement and although I haven’t used it recently you can see a post about it here
https://carrotroom.wordpress.com/2017/08/07/cameras-voigtlander-bessamatic-cs-with-zoomar-lens/
and also here
https://carrotroom.wordpress.com/2018/03/21/world-on-film-post-joshua-tree/
Thanks for you comments; what are you shooting with yourself?
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May 21, 2019 at 6:04 pm
Oh my gosh, too many cameras. My dad’s Leica IIIC, stepdad’s Leica M2, Vito BL, my wife’s Spotmatic, Rolleiflex 3.5E, Hasselblad 501CM, Fuji GW690II. See, too many. I am mostly using black and white film now. Check my blog and you can see some urban decay. Ciao!!
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May 21, 2019 at 8:06 pm
Ha ha yeah that’s a nice selection; I have a similar issue 😉
thanks I will check out your site
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