Bessa-R, problem with exposure meter

[Ilmarin]

Hello, All!

I've recently noticed that exposure meter on my Bessa-R doesn't function properly when I set exposure time to 1sec, regardless of the lighting condition I always get '-'. :bang:
I had this camera for slightly less then a year (got it from CameraQuest).

The question is : I am right now in a state of moving from Dayton,OH to Montreal,QC so I don't have to time to deal with repairments etc.. , and I am very rarely need 1sec exposure (using camera handheld most of the time). Do you think I should send the camera for repair, or just live with it? 😕

--
Best regards,
Vladimir S. Fonov

 

[tetrisattack]

This a common misunderstanding. The meter only works reliably within a certain EV range so if you try to set the camera below its minimum it will flatly indicate underexposure, rather than report potentially wrong information.

There's a good chart of the camera's behavior at various ISOs here:
http://www.usfca.edu/~fraley/r2meter.html -- written for the R2 but probably applies to the R, too.

 

[Ilmarin]

This a common misunderstanding. The meter only works reliably within a certain EV range so if you try to set the camera below its minimum it will flatly indicate underexposure, rather than report potentially wrong information.

:bang:
Unfortunately, it does so even at the daylight. For example, If the correct exposure is 1/30 at ISO 100. It correctly shows '+' at 1/2s, but switches to '-' if I set 1sec.

 

[tetrisattack]

I think you still might be okay, except that your example at ISO 100 really isn't supposed to occur (though it could at ISO 200, by the chart).

I've got a bessa-r that behaves like it's supposed to. I remember being confused about this when I first got it, so I just did a Totally Scientific Test to confirm this behavior.

There's a light beige apartment outside my window, and it's overcast this evening but there's still plenty of light. Using a digital sekonic spot meter, I can see that the right exposure for the apartment across the street is 1/1000th of a second at f/2.8, ISO 400.

If I hold the bessa up to my eye at those settings, it indicates that's about right (jumping between O and + depending on the angle). If I set it to 1/500th, it says solidly overexposed. It predictably continues to say overexposure for 1/250, 1/125, 1/60, 1/30, 1/15th, 1/8th, 1/4th...

But then when I get to 1/2 it suddenly, dumbly just indicates flat underexposure, which is logically impossible, because 1/4th is WAY overexposed.

If I change the camera to ISO 3200 and re-run the same test, it flips out at 1/30th. At ISO 200 the new threshhold becomes 1 second, where it suddenly indicates underexposure again.

The out-of-range indication (flat underexposure) appears to be hard wired into the meter and shows up even when there should be enough light for a decent reading. It's counter-intuitive but I've only experienced a real-life manifestation of this with slow film in a dark area with a colored filter.

So anyway, make of that what you will, and I hope your camera's not broken. 🙁

 

[Ilmarin]

If I change the camera to ISO 3200 and re-run the same test, it flips out at 1/30th. At ISO 200 the new threshhold becomes 1 second, where it suddenly indicates underexposure again.

The out-of-range indication (flat underexposure) appears to be hard wired into the meter and shows up even when there should be enough light for a decent reading. It's counter-intuitive but I've only experienced a real-life manifestation of this with slow film in a dark area with a colored filter.

So anyway, make of that what you will, and I hope your camera's not broken. 🙁

:angel:
Thank you, looks like this is the case. I retried from the beginning and it seems to behave like yours.

 

[the sloth]

mine does this as well...

crummy metering for a 400 dollar camera.

 

[Ilmarin]

mine does this as well...
crummy metering for a 400 dollar camera.

Do you know if R2A/R3A have the same construction?

 

[tetrisattack]

Just got an R2A (thx Terence_T!) and it appears to be smarter. Setting the camera to ISO 3200 and running through the available shutter speeds does what you'd expect.

The bessa R's got a dumb meter design that behaves counterintuitively at extreme light levels but the "blackhole" shutter speeds, if you were to encounter one in real life, would be beyond the meter's limit anyway. I mean, 1/30th at ISO 3200? God help you. 🙂

I can see how you're getting them though, Ilmarin - your (gorgeous) series of martial artists in movement is very well suited by slow shutters. The simplification of form is quite elegant. Any chance you're going to participate in the RFF print swap?

 

[Ilmarin]

Any chance you're going to participate in the RFF print swap?

May be, didn't really think about this.
Actually I am moving to Canada at the moment - already shipped my dark room equipment there.... 😱