Doing the unthinkable with a Bessa L

[gb hill]

I thought I would do the unthinkable with my Bessa L and try a 135mm lens. Today I took my Bessa L (don't have film in camera yet) and screwed on a Canon 135/3.5 lens to check if the lens would block the cameras ttl meter. I played with the shutter speeds and the f/stops and the meter seemed to work perfect with the lens. I also have a 135mm finder that happens to have parallex compensation. I think thats what it's called, not for sure. But what the finder has is a dial with feet/meters that you dial in, I assume to match the distance scale on the lens, therefore almost like giving a true reading like a slr. In other words the finder & lens should be matched together. Now for the focusing part. I have a rangefinder. It's a handheld stick like device with a eye piece on one side and a wheel on the other side with measurement in feet. So I'll use this handy gadget to determine my distance, scale in the lens accordingly + finder, set my f stop to determine DOF, set shutter speed according to ttl metering and see how it comes out. I think it will work. Has any one else tried this approach? Any sugestions welcome.

 

[FrankS]

gb, before putting film in the camera, it would be interesting to see how close the external viewfinder and the actual image are. With the camera/lens on a tripod, use the ext. viewfinder and focus on a scene with reference points around the frame. Open the camera back, set it on B, and hold/tape a piece of blank film across the film gate, to compare.

 

[gb hill]

hold/tape a piece of blank film across the film gate, to compare.

Frank you kind of lost me on this part. What does the blank film do or what exactly would I look for?

 

[FrankS]

The blank film or cello-tape, acts as a screen for the aerial image formed by the lens to fall onto, so it can be visible.

 

[gb hill]

OK, I'll try that tomorrow and see what happens. Learn something new all the time on here.🙂

 

[RML]

Never tried it but things could work. But it's a lot of preparation, and probably even more trial and error. Enjoy it. 🙂

 

[pvdhaar]

You don't need to muck about with sellotape in the L, if you have an SLR and a 135mm lens (either fixed focal or a zoom set to 135).. You can just look through the SLR's finder.. and compare the view with that of the external finder in the flash shoe..

 

[Ash]

If you wanted to be adventurous, go and find the old 200 and 300mm lenses. I'd like to see that 😀

 

[Kim Coxon]

Unless you know the "crop" factor of the SLR you are using, it still be worthwhile using a grond glass screen/tape to compare the finder view and the actual image.

Kim

You don't need to muck about with sellotape in the L, if you have an SLR and a 135mm lens (either fixed focal or a zoom set to 135).. You can just look through the SLR's finder.. and compare the view with that of the external finder in the flash shoe..

 

[Kin Lau]

You don't need to muck about with sellotape in the L, if you have an SLR and a 135mm lens (either fixed focal or a zoom set to 135).. You can just look through the SLR's finder.. and compare the view with that of the external finder in the flash shoe..

It's best to test the actual lens itself. A lens marked as 135 isn't always 135. The parallax error is also greater due to the height of the pentaprism of an SLR.

Then you also have to keep in mind that 135 FOV is only at infinity. The closer you focus, the narrower the FOV gets.