Bessa III has arrived!

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terrycioni

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I just received a Bessa III from Stephen Gandy @ CameraQuest. What a beauty, the shutter release is amazingly quiet and the construction is first rate all the way. The service from CameraQuest as always was top-notch.

Attached is a very quick picture of the BESSA III...

Best to all, Terry.
 

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I would be so tempted, if I hadn't had the mother of all struggles to load a 120 film into a reel inside the changing bag last weekend - eventually I gave up and sacrificed the film after about an hour's struggle to load the wretched thing. Has put me off 120 for now, but I expect the Hasselblad will tempt me back 'ere long.
 
Easyload

Easyload

Austerby said:
I would be so tempted, if I hadn't had the mother of all struggles to load a 120 film into a reel inside the changing bag last weekend - eventually I gave up and sacrificed the film after about an hour's struggle to load the wretched thing. Has put me off 120 for now, but I expect the Hasselblad will tempt me back 'ere long.
Click to expand...

I have loaded the BESSA III and it is no more difficult than loading a 35mm film SLR. The Bessa III also supports "EL" (Easyload) 120 if that helps.

Best regards, Terry.
 
Austerby, having been away from 120 for a while (1998) - i did remember what a pain it is to try to load the Paterson reels with 120. Of course, this memory was brought to bear in total darkness with 1/2 dozen rolls on the desk. The Neopan 400 loads easily - the Efke 50 was a royal pain. I did persevere and the negs looks great from the Bessa III. Souped them in Pyrocat HD.
The Bessa III is eerily quiet! Any ambient sound and you rea;;y have to check in the finder if it went off The meter reading turns off after exposure.
Showed the camera to someone else today - he instantly asked for Stephens phone-number and is ordering one! Perfect finder, AE systems works very well and that Heliar is sharp!
 
Austerby said:
I would be so tempted, if I hadn't had the mother of all struggles to load a 120 film into a reel inside the changing bag last weekend - eventually I gave up and sacrificed the film after about an hour's struggle to load the wretched thing. Has put me off 120 for now, but I expect the Hasselblad will tempt me back 'ere long.
Click to expand...

Look for an old Nikor stainless reel with the clip/spike in the center. They are very easy to load.
 
I let Fuji or Duanes load the reels....

I let Fuji or Duanes load the reels....

via Walmart. Costs of processing and prints from $2 to $6. I don't understand the problem?
 
Austerby said:
I would be so tempted, if I hadn't had the mother of all struggles to load a 120 film into a reel inside the changing bag last weekend - eventually I gave up and sacrificed the film after about an hour's struggle to load the wretched thing. Has put me off 120 for now, but I expect the Hasselblad will tempt me back 'ere long.
Click to expand...

I agree it can be a pain. I do have a changing bag but I load my reels in a closet that I can close off and so have a shelf and a bit more elbow room.
I did two 120 films this week - one went in easily and the other took me 15 minutes to get loaded.
The main problem seems to be the stiffness of the base film and the curl that it takes up on the reel. This varies and some film types are better than others in this respect. Kodak seems to me to be the worst. I normally use Ilford or Fuji Neopan and these two Kodak rolls were done for the local Camera shop that can't do B&W any more.
Film with less "spring" is more easily inserted and kept in the grooves in the reel. I've never used Nikkor reels but have heard they are good, but that was in reference to problems with moisture.
I'd recommend persevering, maybe with another make of film. The quality of the 120 images makes it worthwhile.
 
I'm now seriously considering selling all my Hasselblad stuff and going with the BESSA III. Looks so great.

Terry(or anyone else), you would do me great favour if you could put a roll of Portra NC through the camera and post the results 🙂
 
I just did a couple of "quick" scans from the Bessa III - they are up on our Flickr site now. These are just "through" the Print file pages (dust and all) - it is still damned good! Very sharp, even at f3.5. The AE works extremely well and the film advance is like and old Leica IIIf - you can advance with the finger - just pull the finger along the wheel!
Cant wait to see Terry's stuff up here - he is a master with color.
 
Jamie123 said:
I'm now seriously considering selling all my Hasselblad stuff and going with the BESSA III. Looks so great.

Terry(or anyone else), you would do me great favour if you could put a roll of Portra NC through the camera and post the results 🙂
Click to expand...

I think I have some Portra NC and will certainly do that for you - if indeed I do. Any specific ISO?

Best regards, Terry
 
Tom A said:
I just did a couple of "quick" scans from the Bessa III - they are up on our Flickr site now. These are just "through" the Print file pages (dust and all) - it is still damned good! Very sharp, even at f3.5. The AE works extremely well and the film advance is like and old Leica IIIf - you can advance with the finger - just pull the finger along the wheel!
Cant wait to see Terry's stuff up here - he is a master with color.
Click to expand...

I will get busy this weekend for sure! I really like the camera my test subject Herbert says he couldn't hear the shutter release and was only a few feet away.

I need a wet darkroom! Waiting for processing will kill me.

Best regards, Terry.
 
MacDaddy said:
Now, if that lens was just a 2.8...8o)
Click to expand...
The III is so smooth to release that the extra speed from 3.5 to 2.8 would really serve no purpose - except for limiting the depth of field.
I do have some 100 Ektar (and one lonely roll of Ektar 25). I might wait for the Steamworks Concour d'Elegance in September to shoot those.
 
Or shooting something that is moving, even slightly. The difference between 1/15th & 1/8th of a second, for example, can be significant when shooting people in conversation.

Tom A said:
The III is so smooth to release that the extra speed from 3.5 to 2.8 would really serve no purpose - except for limiting the depth of field.
Click to expand...
 
terrycioni said:
I think I have some Portra NC and will certainly do that for you - if indeed I do. Any specific ISO?

Best regards, Terry
Click to expand...

Thanks, that would be great! My general film with medium format is Portra 400NC but it all depends on how sunny it is in your region of the world 🙂 .

I'm really fascinated by this camera. I've been tempted a few times in the past to sell all my Hasselblad gear and get a Mamiya 7 (prefer 6x7 to 6x6) but have always been put off by the brutal sharpness of the Mamiya glass and the fact that it seems to render colors a bit differently on my favourite film (Portra). This Bessa seems to be much closer to the Zeiss glass in regard to the overall "look".
 
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