Bessa R2M / R3M
Cosina Voigtländer · Leica M mount · 24×36mm on 35mm film, hinged back · 2006
Also known as: Bessa R2M · Bessa R3M · Bessa-R2M · Bessa-R3M · Bessa R2-M · Bessa R3-M · Voigtländer Bessa R2M · Voigtländer Bessa R3M · Voigtlander Bessa R2M · Voigtlander Bessa R3M · ベッサR2M · ベッサR3M
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bessa R2M 250th Anniversary set (June 2006) | Leica M | 2006 | — | 1,000 sets: 700 black, 300 silver (Cosina). camera-wiki and English Wikipedia give 500 black and 300 silver — see the disputed entry |
| Bessa R3M 250th Anniversary set (July 2006) | Leica M | 2006 | — | 1,500 sets: 1,000 black, 500 silver (Cosina). camera-wiki gives 1,000 black and 700 silver |
| Bessa R2M (2007–15) | Leica M | 2007–2015 | — | Unpublished |
| Bessa R3M (2007–15) | Leica M | 2007–2015 | — | Unpublished |
- The anniversary quantities are disputed, and Cosina's own pages win: 700 black and 300 silver R2M, 1,000 black and 500 silver R3M. camera-wiki's 500/300 and 1,000/700 are repeated by English Wikipedia and were written before the sets shipped.
- Cosina's pages call the plain 2007 cameras 'classic black' and give the same 85,000-yen price as the second-model R2A and R3A; the M bodies outlived the A bodies by two years and were the last Bessas made when they went in September 2015.
- Reviewers reach for the M6 as the comparison and land in the same place: better meter display, shorter base, louder shutter, a third of the price.
How to tell them apart
- An M on the top plate and no A on the dial: a mechanical shutter that fires without batteries, the meter being the only thing they power
- Nine LEDs across the bottom of the finder, −2 to +2 EV in half stops — the most informative manual display on any M-mount camera, by the reviewers' common consent
- The 250th sets carry the anniversary engraving and came only with the collapsible Heliar
Bessa R2M 250th Anniversary set (June 2006):
- Silver or black paint, Voigtländer 250th anniversary engraving, with the Heliar 50mm f/2 Classic collapsible; 138,000 yen the set
Bessa R3M 250th Anniversary set (July 2006):
- The 1.0× body in the same two finishes with the same lens, 138,000 yen
Bessa R2M (2007–15):
- Classic black; 0.7× finder, 35/50/75/90 frames; 85,000 yen; February 2007 to September 2015
Bessa R3M (2007–15):
- Classic black; 1.0× finder, 40/50/75/90 frames; 85,000 yen; February 2007 to September 2015
Specifications
- Format
- 24×36mm on 35mm film, hinged back
- Finder (main)
- R2M: 0.7× combined finder and coupled rangefinder, 35/50/75/90 frames, 87% coverage at 3 m · 0.7× magnification · 35mm, 50mm, 75mm, 90mm framelines · selectable by lever · automatic parallax correction
- Finder (R3M)
- 1.0× life-size finder, 40/50/75/90 frames; effective base 37 mm (Macfilos) · 1× magnification · 40mm, 50mm, 75mm, 90mm framelines · selectable by lever · automatic parallax correction
- Shutter
- Mechanical vertical-travel metal focal-plane, working without batteries · 1 s – 1/2000 and B · flash sync X at 1/125 and slower, hot shoe and PC
- Film advance
- Single-stroke lever; trigger winder optional
- Back
- Hinged
- Meter
- TTL centre-weighted off the shutter blades, EV 1–19 at ISO 100; nine-LED display, ±2 EV in half stops; ISO 25–3200 in thirds. Two LR44 / SR44, for the meter only.
- Weight
- 430 g
- Dimensions
- 135.5 × 81 × 33.5 mm
- Country
- Japan
- Original price
- 138,000 yen before tax for each 250th Anniversary set with the Heliar 50mm f/2; 85,000 yen for the plain cameras from 2007 (Cosina).
Where sources disagree
- 250th Anniversary quantities
- R2M 700 black / 300 silver; R3M 1,000 black / 500 silver (Cosina's archive pages for each set)
- R2M 500 black / 300 silver; R3M 1,000 black / 700 silver (camera-wiki, English Wikipedia)
Better supported: Cosina's
The wiki figures date from the 2006 announcement; Cosina's pages are the maker's record of what it sold.
What reviewers say
- Jörg-Peter Rau (Macfilos), 'The M Files' — R3M with the Heliar 40mm f/2.8 (blog) — "The Voigtländer Bessa R3M is a joy to use": a metering display better than any M6's and a rangefinder accurate enough for a 40 despite its 37 mm base, against the M6's 49.9. The metal shutter is noisier and shakier than Leica's, and the life-size finder shuts out anything wider than 40mm.
- Jaakko Saari, R3M in depth (blog) — "Mostly made of metal" and built like a professional camera, with loading that needs no baseplate off and a finder "bright and very easy to use." The shutter "sounds like SLR shutter," and the strap lugs let the lens hang skyward at 45°, which the double blades exist to survive.
History
Voigtländer turned 250 in 2006, and Cosina marked it by putting a mechanical shutter back into the Bessa. The R2M and R3M are the R2A and R3A — the same 0.7× and 1.0× finders, the same 430-gram magnesium-clad body — with a shutter that fires from 1 second to 1/2000 whether or not the two button cells are in, and a new meter display of nine LEDs across the finder’s foot reading from two stops under to two over in halves. They appeared first as numbered anniversary sets, silver or black with a collapsible Heliar 50mm f/2 Classic, at 138,000 yen: a thousand R2M sets and fifteen hundred R3M by Cosina’s count, though the wikis have carried smaller numbers since the announcement. From February 2007 both were sold plain in black at 85,000 yen.
They outlasted everything else. The A series was discontinued in June 2013; the R2M and R3M ran until September 2015, and with them the Bessa line ended. Reviewers hold them against the Leica M6 and describe the same trade: a better exposure display and a third of the price, against a shorter rangefinder base, a louder metal shutter, and — on the R3M — a finder that cannot show a 35.
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.
Live listings
Asking price, USD: a median of $2,200 across 9 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-09 (middle half $2,000–$2,600). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 2 days: up 10% from $2,000.
By day
| Date | Median | Middle half | Listings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-09 | $2,200 | $2,000–$2,600 | 9 |
| 2026-09-06 | $2,000 | $2,000–$2,600 | 10 |
Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.
- Voigtlander Bessa R3M 35mm Rangefinder Film Camera Body #2073
- [ NEAR MINT ] Voigtlander BESSA R2M 250 Jahre HELIAR classic 50mm F/2 from Japan
- [Unused in Box] Voigtlander Bessa R3M Black 35mm Rangefinder Camera Body Japan
- Ultra Rare [Almost Unused] Voigtlander BESSA-R3M 250th Anniversary Black JAPAN
- [Top MINT /w BOX] Voigtlander BESSA-R3M Body Black Leica M From JAPAN
- [Top MINT] Voigtlander BESSA-R3M 50mm f/2 250th Anniversary Set Black From Japan
- ⏯️ Rare R2M 250 Jahre 【MINT】 Voigtlander Bessa R2M Film Camera + 50mm Lens JPN
- Rare 250 Jahre [Almost Unused In Box] Voigtlander Bessa R2M Heliar 50mm f2 JAPAN
- 【 MINT+++ 】Voigtlander Bessa R3M Black Camera w/ 50mm f2 VM 250 Jahre From JAPAN
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Listings updated 2026-09-09. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.