Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Bessa L

Cosina Voigtländer · LTM mount · 24×36mm on 35mm film · 1999

Also known as: Voigtländer Bessa L · Voigtlander Bessa L · Bessa-L · Cosina Bessa L · Cosina 107-SW · Voigtlander Bessa-L

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Bessa L, silver LTM 1999–2003 — Unpublished
Bessa L, black LTM 1999–2003 — Unpublished
Bessa L, olive and grey (and the limited blue and red) LTM 1999–2003 — Unpublished; limited runs
Cosina 107-SW (Asia) LTM 1999 — Unpublished; limited
  1. Meter range: EV 4–19 at ISO 100 (Cosina's specification) against EV 1–19 (camera-wiki). Cosina's figure is used.
  2. The 12mm and 15mm Heliars in this catalog are recorded in their Nikon-mount versions; the screw-mount versions that this body was made for are the same optics.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • No eyepiece anywhere on the body; three meter LEDs on the back edge of the top plate; a shoe for a finder
  • Polycarbonate top and base; 320 g

Bessa L, silver:

  • Silver or black, ¥33,000 before tax; polycarbonate covers; 320 g

Bessa L, black:

  • Black, ¥33,000

Bessa L, olive and grey (and the limited blue and red):

  • Olive and grey at ¥38,000 (Cosina); blue and red limited editions (camera-wiki)

Cosina 107-SW (Asia):

  • Sold under Cosina's own name in Asia, usually with the Skopar 25mm f/4 (camera-wiki)

Specifications

Format
24×36mm on 35mm film
Finder
None — no viewfinder and no rangefinder; an accessory finder sits in the shoe and the lens is scale-focused · no rangefinder image
Shutter
Mechanical vertical-travel metal focal-plane · 1 s – 1/2000 and B · flash sync X at 1/125, hot shoe and PC
Film advance
Single-stroke lever
Back
Hinged
Meter
TTL centre-weighted, three LEDs on the back edge of the top plate, EV 4–19 at ISO 100, ISO 25–1600
Weight
320 g
Dimensions
135.5 × 78.5 × 33.5 mm
Country
Japan
Original price
¥33,000 silver or black, ¥38,000 olive or grey, before tax (Cosina) (today ¥37,000)

What reviewers say

History

The camera that brought the Voigtländer name back. Cosina’s first Bessa, on sale in February 1999 at ¥33,000, is a Leica-thread body with a mechanical 1–1/2000 metal shutter, a TTL meter read on three LEDs at the back edge of the top plate, and nothing to look through: no finder, no rangefinder. It was built for the 15mm f/4.5 and 25mm f/4 launched with it and the 12mm that followed, lenses so wide that scale focus is enough and an accessory finder in the shoe frames better than any window could. 320 grams, the lightest Bessa. In Asia it was also sold as the Cosina 107-SW with the 25.

Hamish Gill has owned two — “simplicity in design and function is a big draw to a camera for me” — and calls it low cost but functional, excellently suited to zone-focused wide-angle street work; Matt Osborne keeps one for the 15. It was discontinued in May 2003, by which time the Bessa R had a finder and the T a rangefinder.

Expand Collapse

This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Photographs

Bessa L
Bessa L with the Snapshot-Skopar 25mm f/4 and its finder — Zokyo Labs, via Openverse (flickr) (BY-SA 2.0)

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $240 across 34 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half $200–$500). Tracked since 2026-09-10, 2 days: unchanged from $240.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11$240$200–$50034
2026-09-10$240$200–$50034

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

Show 71 more listings

Listings updated 2026-09-11. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Bessa R · Bessa T

Lenses for this body: Super Wide-Heliar 15mm f/4.5 SL Aspherical · Ultra Wide-Heliar 12mm f/5.6 SL Aspherical

Sources (4)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this camera, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.