Old dog, newish tricks

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payasam

a.k.a. Mukul Dube
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I've bought a Bessa R2 from another member. I have experience only of screw and M Leicas, of a Canon VT Deluxe, and of a Contax (the last for just a couple of days around forty-five years ago). Would someone please guide me? I mean, hold my paw and tell me where not to put my hoof.
 
No one willing to help an old dog? Well, here are three specific questions.

1. Is the 90mm frame usable, even though it is not a proper frame but only corner marks? Has anyone found it easy or difficult to get used to?

2. Is the metering centre weighted or bottom centre weighted?

3. It seems sensible to store the camera with shutter not cocked, but is that necessary to prevent drain on the battery?
 
I have an R2 as well. The 90 frame marks are good but take a bit getting used to. The meter is center weighted. I have not had a problem with battery drain and I keep mine with the shutter cocked.
 
Thank you, Joel. It always takes a couple of rolls to get to know an unfamiliar camera, but understanding the basics beforehand can be a great help.
 
Thank you, Hans. This is a relief, because silver oxide cells are for some reason not to be found in India.

Bingo! Frans de Gruijter is the man from whom I got adapters which turned the 1.55V of silver oxide cells into the 1.35V of mercury cells. I knew I had seen his name somewhere in connection with the CV Bessa's metering pattern. Well, here it is, on the Bessa L page of the Cameraquest web site. Much the same thing is repeated on the Bessa R page.
 

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I use the R3A and R4A. My batteries last over twelve months. In fact I've never had one give up on me - I give my cameras a "birthday present" each year of a new battery each on the date of my own birthday, so I don't forget! I'm really surprised that you can't get the 1.5v batteries. Mine take LR44 Alkaline (or A76 substitute) or SR44 silver oxide - those sizes are almost universal in electronic gear. And that's what the camera manual specifies - not sure where the reference to mercury type comes from unless it's in the compound in the SR44.
I understand the meter on my Bessas takes a reflected reading from the grey surface of the shutter, though the spec sheet says it's TTL, Centre Weighted, Averaged. So I don't see it as really being "centre weighted". Just a reflected reading of the light coming through the lens off what is essentially a grey card.
I leave the camera as it was when I last shot with it - cocked or not. As long as i use the shutter lock it turns off the meter and so there's no battery drain.
 
If the CV Bessa can use LR44 (alkaline) cells, Leigh, I am a happy man: because those are freely available in India. Not so with SR44 cells. The reference to mercury cells had nothing to do with Bessas. I needed the adapters when I still had my 1970s SLRs, which were designed to take mercury cells. The diagram shows which parts of the grey shutter reflect how much light on to the sensitive cell. I'd call it middle bottom weighted.
 
payasam said:
If the CV Bessa can use LR44 (alkaline) cells, Leigh, I am a happy man: because those are freely available in India.

Well, that's what the book says and that's all I use!


The diagram shows which parts of the grey shutter reflect how much light on to the sensitive cell. I'd call it middle bottom weighted.
Click to expand...

Yep. Understand. I don't think it will make a pinch of curry powder's difference in actual use. I've found the Bessa meter to be pretty accurate - more accurate than when I try to outguess it! I mostly use the AE facility.
 
In most use, all metering patterns give pretty much the same result: but it could make a whole Tandoori Wallaby worth of difference if there's a light coloured subject off centre against a dark background.
 
Would someone please tell me if the R2, though a mechanical camera, reacts badly to a flash-gun with a high trigger voltage? Over the years I have used any available flash with sundry film SLRs and film RFDR cameras, and with my digital SLRs I use only a flash made for them by the same manufacturer; but nowadays I keep reading of electronics being fried or toasted or otherwise rendered edible.
 
A lot of OLD units had a hi-voltage trigger circuit, including the early Vivitars like the 283 and 285. Supposedly more recent 283 and 285 units are safe to use. I'd guess that any flash made in the past ten years or so wouldn't be a problem.

The R2 should handle even the old hi-voltage trigger circuits. I don't imagine that the flash triggering circuit would need any "electronics". It would be a mechanical off-on switch.
 
That's a relief, Al. Thank you.

Another question. Is there a noticeable delay between pressing the shutter release and the actual exposure? I ask because the secondary shutter must open fully before the primary one begins to open, and close only after the primary one has closed.
 
there is no discernible delay that I can think of on my Bessa R. I think both shutters move at the same time. It does not feel like two distinct sounds.
 
I bought the R2 becuase I Like the design of the r and wanted to have one made out of metal.
Both my R and R2 had the same quirk: Either I could not transport or I had to do it in double strokes (R2). When I rewouldn the film and took it out the next film was OK. There seem s to be an easy remedy when you take of the baseplate. Once the rewind button of my R stuck so I had to pull it up gently with a tweezer.
So the little weakness seems to be the same in my cams.
So you loose half a film, but that's it. Anyway it made me think of getting an M.
 
I don't understand. You seem to be saying that the rewind button sticks when pressed in, which means that film must be advanced in multiple strokes, which means wasting half a roll.
 
payasam said:
No one willing to help an old dog? Well, here are three specific questions.

1. Is the 90mm frame usable, even though it is not a proper frame but only corner marks? Has anyone found it easy or difficult to get used to?

2. Is the metering centre weighted or bottom centre weighted?

3. It seems sensible to store the camera with shutter not cocked, but is that necessary to prevent drain on the battery?
Click to expand...

Hi Payasan, I have a Bessa R, that's very similar to your R2: my only tip is to underexpose half stop when shooting with slide film and uniform light, and not to underexpose if in the frame there is a bright sky .

I hate the 90 mm frame: too small and distracting, I find much more useful an external russian finder

About the storage, I don't think if the shutter is cocked you can drain the battery
 
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