mike goldberg
The Peaceful Pacific
Bessa T Impressions II
Installing the two LR 44 batteries in the bottom plate of the camera is routine. The little spring a few millimeters into the battery chamber, is engraved with a + for placing them correctly. I carry an Israeli 10 Agora coin which is a perfect fit for the slot in those little battery covers. That coin is worth about 2.2 cents, so I don’t use it for
much else.
Stephen Gandy’s CQ site is a treasure trove of information. You can refer to the
Bessa T Link here.
http://www.cameraquest.com/VCBT.htm
BTW, the only thing the battery does is operate the meter. This is an all-mechanical camera. When I was setting up the picture in the attachment, the battery in my digicam quit after 8 shots. I neglected to charge it last night… out of action; that’s it.
Better photos of the T will follow ;-)
Going from right to left, the large black wheel around the rewind crank is the film speed dial, with ISO at 1/3 click stop increments
from 25 to 1600.
The two round “eyes” on either side of the lens are part of the range finder mechanism. From the rear, there is only one “eye” or window for the RF. Lining up the verticals in the small, round RF window works well. One reason the Cosina engineers may have chosen the round RF window shape is, so that the user will not mistake it for a VF window. There is NO view finder on a T.
In my photo below, I’m using the Helios universal finder with 35, 85, and 135 frame lines. Let’s eliminate 135; I’m not going to use a tele longer than 75mm with this camera… 90 in a pinch. I read somewhere [possibly in CQ] that Mr. Kobayashi, President of Cosina, believes that longer lenses belong on an SLR.
The large, black, metal shutter speed knob with speeds up to 1/2000, is easy to read, and flash sync is 1/125. Since the profile of the shutter button is higher than that of my M2, I don’t feel the need for a soft release with the T. I do use a small, Tom Abrahamsson soft release on the M2.
The thumb wind advances firmly, than eases up and sort of slips into its place at the end of the stroke. As I wrote in Impressions I, I won’t be ramming the T’s thumb wind home 10,000 or more times, as I’ve done with my M2.
The round RF window has its own diopter adjustment, and I have never seen this on any other camera! I’m a bit far sighted, thus I have it adjusted all the way towards +. A half press on the shutter button activates the meter, and the meter readout is via two red Leds and one green Led for correct exposure.
The Leds are just to the right of the RF window at the rear, top deck.
For me, this is an exceptional innovation, well worth the need for an external shoe finder. I am left-eye dominant, thus, I raise the camera to focus the RF… taking in the meter readout on the way… and move my eye to the VF for framing, atop the Bessa T.
What is the shutter like? No, it is not the “phsst” of a Leica M, nor is it the “thunk” of a Kiev. It's more like the sound of my OM-1’s, and I found the shutter harmonics somewhat pleasant, and not at all tinny.
Of course, I’ll have more to say when I’ve gone through a roll of film.
Thanks for listening. Feedback welcome.
Ciao, mike
Installing the two LR 44 batteries in the bottom plate of the camera is routine. The little spring a few millimeters into the battery chamber, is engraved with a + for placing them correctly. I carry an Israeli 10 Agora coin which is a perfect fit for the slot in those little battery covers. That coin is worth about 2.2 cents, so I don’t use it for
much else.
Stephen Gandy’s CQ site is a treasure trove of information. You can refer to the
Bessa T Link here.
http://www.cameraquest.com/VCBT.htm
BTW, the only thing the battery does is operate the meter. This is an all-mechanical camera. When I was setting up the picture in the attachment, the battery in my digicam quit after 8 shots. I neglected to charge it last night… out of action; that’s it.
Better photos of the T will follow ;-)
Going from right to left, the large black wheel around the rewind crank is the film speed dial, with ISO at 1/3 click stop increments
from 25 to 1600.
The two round “eyes” on either side of the lens are part of the range finder mechanism. From the rear, there is only one “eye” or window for the RF. Lining up the verticals in the small, round RF window works well. One reason the Cosina engineers may have chosen the round RF window shape is, so that the user will not mistake it for a VF window. There is NO view finder on a T.
In my photo below, I’m using the Helios universal finder with 35, 85, and 135 frame lines. Let’s eliminate 135; I’m not going to use a tele longer than 75mm with this camera… 90 in a pinch. I read somewhere [possibly in CQ] that Mr. Kobayashi, President of Cosina, believes that longer lenses belong on an SLR.
The large, black, metal shutter speed knob with speeds up to 1/2000, is easy to read, and flash sync is 1/125. Since the profile of the shutter button is higher than that of my M2, I don’t feel the need for a soft release with the T. I do use a small, Tom Abrahamsson soft release on the M2.
The thumb wind advances firmly, than eases up and sort of slips into its place at the end of the stroke. As I wrote in Impressions I, I won’t be ramming the T’s thumb wind home 10,000 or more times, as I’ve done with my M2.
The round RF window has its own diopter adjustment, and I have never seen this on any other camera! I’m a bit far sighted, thus I have it adjusted all the way towards +. A half press on the shutter button activates the meter, and the meter readout is via two red Leds and one green Led for correct exposure.
The Leds are just to the right of the RF window at the rear, top deck.
For me, this is an exceptional innovation, well worth the need for an external shoe finder. I am left-eye dominant, thus, I raise the camera to focus the RF… taking in the meter readout on the way… and move my eye to the VF for framing, atop the Bessa T.
What is the shutter like? No, it is not the “phsst” of a Leica M, nor is it the “thunk” of a Kiev. It's more like the sound of my OM-1’s, and I found the shutter harmonics somewhat pleasant, and not at all tinny.
Of course, I’ll have more to say when I’ve gone through a roll of film.
Thanks for listening. Feedback welcome.
Ciao, mike
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