Bessa Metering.

[ranger]

Well, scanned a few of my B/W of TMax 100 and find that the exposures look to be about 2 stops over! I had to bring the brightness down all the way with the coolscan software and back off the contrast a little. Is this typical for Bessa? Can it be recalibrated? I don't mind stopping down each time, or just setting the ISO to correct for it. Anyone else? Rob

 

[marknyc]

I don't have that problem. If you have not already, have a look at this thread.

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9858&highlight=meter

 

[kaiyen]

if it's too bright or too contrasty, I'd first look at possible overdevelopment. That looks like a pretty contrasty scene. Did you pull back on your development a bit? TMX is very sensitive to over development.

I'm trying to figure out how I can say "development" one more time in this post...oh. there it is. 🙂

repetitively yours,
allan

 

[ranger]

possibly overdeveloped....had it done....I'll do my own from now on.... thanks......
Develop..... There! I said develop again too!

 

[pvdhaar]

What Bessa do you have? The exposure metering on some models is not centre weighted: http://www.cameraquest.com/voigtbmeter.htm

This may develop into unintentional overexposure, aggravating overdevelopment issues. Now there, that's two times develop.. Hey, wait.. it's three times now 😉

 

[ranger]

Thanks. I have the Bessa R model. It supposedly has 'center weighted' although it does cover top to bottom.

 

[daveozzz]

One of my bessas arrived with the meter off by over a stop - I had to put it in for repair to recalibrate it... so definitely worth doing some checks.

 

[kevino]

The meter on my Bessa R appears to be off a little bit - half a stop to a stop or so, especially in low light situations.

I've compared the Bessa w/35mm lens to my M6 w/ 35mm lens and to my Gossen Luna Pro meter. The M6 matches the Gossen. The Bessa is a little off.

I mostly shoot B/W and adjust the ISO dial on the Bessa accordingly. Often times I take a reading from my handheld meter (no matter which camera I'm using) and just go with that reading unless the light changes.