Another tiny bit of praise for the Bessa R

[rxmd]

Hi,

An hour ago I just found out the hard way that (a) the good old Bessa R takes L58-type 3V Lithium batteries in addition to SR44s and LR44s (hardly surprising) and (b), and that was the surprise for me, that it works without batteries as well.

So if you know your sunny 16, not only do you get a camera with built-in TTL metering, you even have a last resort when your battery does run out (that is, in the half hour that it should take you to get a pair of LR44s, at the most, almost anywhere on the planet with people nearby). In vain have I defended the lowly Bessa R against the I-insist-upon-a-mechanical-camera crowd. In your face, Leica 🙂

Philipp

 

[lZr]

Usually I do RTM before bying camera. Also, be ready to shoot in darkness, so the sunny 16 rule will go dead very soon. Keep the batteries close as possible. I use Energizer's 357/303 Silver Oxide batteries for my Bessa R

 

[peterc]

I usually carry an extra set ... LR44 cells are 5 for a dollar at the local discount store.
Also, I often take out the batteries when shooting at night (meter isn't of much use then and you get rid of the red glow in the VF).

Peter

 

[rxmd]

Usually I do RTM before bying camera.

Your Honour, obviously you are right. 🙂 May I nevertheless be so bold as to state, in my defense, that (a) I got my impressions largely from apparently semi-informed Krauts and only found the halls of enlightenment at RFF when my decision to get the Bessa was already mostly made, (b) I got it used, so no M to R and no necessity until now to try without batteries, and (c) sometimes I derive a little humble bit of enjoyment from finding out what others already know 😉

Also, be ready to shoot in darkness, so the sunny 16 rule will go dead very soon.

Well, you do develop certain habits if you shoot in some dark surroundings more often and/or if you use non-metered cameras, too. For example, I can guesstimate exposure for most Berlin subway stations from the lighting and the colour of the tiles. Not that this talent will be much of a bread earner, I'm afraid... And for everything else, there's still Rick's and Roman's mighty Tomsk-1 cut.out lightmeter.

Philipp

 

[pizzahut88]

R2 horay!

R2 horay!

Hi,

An hour ago I just found out the hard way that (a) the good old Bessa R . . . that it works without batteries as well.


Philipp

Hi Philipp,

That is also the reason I got an R2 instead of R3A, or R2A.
It simply just works without any batteries.

Aperture priority is a wonderful thing,
so is the knowledge of knowlege of knowing that your camera will work without batteries,
but an irony is that, I am not very good at guess metering yet.


Manfred

 

[clintock]

Is working without batteries really that huge of a deal? You gotta put film in every few dozen frames, maybe replace batteries every year or two?- batteries are common and cheap, require no tools to replace.

Sure there's that one time while hot air balooning across the polar ice cap that some guy's batteries died and he missed a shot of Santa, but he should have carried some batteries- he didn't have room for three asperin sized button cells?

The I'd still be happy with the R3a if I had to replace batteries every three months- AE is that good.
It's cool that the mechanical R variants are made now, and I a few myself, but I see precise electronic shutters as an advantage rather than a fault.

What does the R3 do when the batterys die anyway? It hasn't happened to me yet-
With no mirror to black out the finder like smacks you in the face on a Oly OM-2, how do you know?

 

[oscroft]

Is working without batteries really that huge of a deal?

I've always had a bit of a minor obsession with being able to shoot without batteries, and that's mainly because for the past 20 years I've been taking photos in far-flung Asian places where you definitely can't get batteries. So I've always used a camera that will still work without batteries.

But you know what? In all that time my batteries have never failed unexpectedly and have never run down when I did not have spares.