Hid the Logo (Bessa R)

[tedwhite]

While I thoroughly like my Bessa R, I am not exactly enthralled by its name.

"Bessa" sounds like a girl's name, not a camera's name. (Let me clear up at once any notion a reader might have that I might be a misogynist. I am not, never have been, never will be). Obviously, we could all come up with camera names that have feminine-sounding names: Canonette (or is it Canonet? - I am not a Canon person) comes to mind.

People who know cameras, at least to some extent, look at my Bessa R and haven't a clue. However, when I tip the camera forward so they can see "Voigtlander" they say, "Oh, yeah, I've heard of those. Oh, yeah, good German camera." I dare not show them the bottom plate.

Anyway, I visualized how the front of the camera might look ALL BLACK! Five minutes later I had cut to size a small piece of black electrician's tape and placed it carefully over "Bessa R." I set the camera on the dining room table and sat back in my chair and regarded it.

The black tape literally disappears. It's amazing. It has exactly the same light reflectance as the semi-matte finish of the camera body.

Aesthetically, I see the all black front as an improvement. Probably someone else has also done this?

Ted

 

[Solinar]

I've been thinking of having an engraver make a plastic name plate for my Bessa R.

How does the name "KISS R" sound ?

 

[tedwhite]

Great! How about "Bessa me, bessa me mucho...?"

Anyway, I like it all black. Certainly qualifies as a stealth camera now.

Ted

 

[o0dano0o]

Aesthetically, I see the all black front as an improvement. Probably someone else has also done this?

Ted

I did this with my black leica m4-2. no lie. it's an invisible ninja street shooter now.

haha

 

[unsharp]

OK, "Bessa" may not sound like a camera, but that is a positive thing! You rather have people smiling into your lens about that, then being potentialy stiffened up by a respected Leica logo 😀. The less attention to the camera the better! I had pro Canon SLR before and it was very respected in the street. People even moved away when I swinged up the big white 70-200 2,8L zoom. Very respected indeed.

You do know that Mercedes is a girls name...

So spread some joy and leave the Bessa logo there! 🙂 🙂 🙂


Anders

 

[tedwhite]

Yes. I didn't remove it, I just covered it up. Probably a passing phase. Mexico is five miles away and it seems as if half the girls in the little border town are named Mercedes. Lourdes is another common name. I didn't cover the logo on the Bessa L.

 

[Scarpia]

Great! How about "Bessa me, bessa me mucho...?"



Ted

Might have unexpected results, from women I hope. 🙄
Kurt M.

 

[Roman]

You do know that Mercedes is a girls name...

Actually, the car was named after the daughter of the owner of a car-dealership tha sold them - really!

Roman

 

[SolaresLarrave]

Yep, Roman, you's right! It was the Paris-representative, who decided to sell it as Mercedez Benz, thus replacing the very germanic sounding Daimler. This was during the early 20th century, while France and Germany weren't quite at each other's throat but wanted it very badly.

Ted... It's odd but Canonet (only one t no e), Bessa and even Leica are pretty feminine sounding. The marketing people may not be too far from a subtle psychological trap; being men, we'd go more for something with a feminine name instead of an object called
Rebel." At least a feminine sounding name kinda makes sense because a camera, in Spanish, is a noun with a feminine gender. Nothing suits it better than Bessa, for instance.

Now... I've yet to see or hear from anyone that the red dot in a Leica alerts the world of the presence of a camera in the vicinity... but if you guys want to believe it, go ahead. That said, I do believe that a Bessa R all in black must look gorgeous.

But then, I also like my red-dotted black Leica... 🙂

 

[Marc Jutras]

Wasn't Leica (probably with a K) the first dog in space? Also female, btw. Would that turn certain cameras into b..... ? 😀 Bessa might not be so bad after all...

 

[DaShiv]

That would be Laika the dog, yes. 😀

 

[Roman]

I wonder why the original Voigtländer Bessa was named as it was - maybe because 'Bessa' is pronounced exactly like 'besser' by most speakers of German - the latter meaning 'better'?

Roman

 

[FrankS]

Good guess, Roman. Isn't camera a masculine German noun - der Kamera? I can't remember, but das or die doesn't sound right to my now Englesized ears.

 

[tedwhite]

Well, Solares is right. La cámara is indeed a feminine noun. Hadn't thought about that, because in English we've basically tossed out gender. It's all "the" house, "the" car, though in Spanish one is feminine, the other masculine. As I recall, la cámara oscura (dark chamber) was the original term for a camera. And "cámara de mano" (hand camera) is what most of us have. Although I suppose my Crown Graphic might be "cámara con frente de quita y pon" which is a camera with a removable front, as the lens board does indeed remove.

But maybe Frank is right. Could it have morped into a masculine noun?

However, right now I await my "lente" Jupiter 8 that I just bought on ebay for $23.05.

Ted

 

[back alley]

Actually, the car was named after the daughter of the owner of a car-dealership tha sold them - really!

Roman

mercedes sosa, great mexican folk singer

joe

 

[back alley]

canon, sounds pretty masculine to me.

almost phallic...
joe

 

[tedwhite]

Nikon sounds masculine, also. That hard 'K.' Nikonos, on the other hand, sounds like an island in the Greek Archipelago.

BTW, Joe, that 's a great quote from Eisenstaedt. Especially poignant for me as I am teaching those naive and humble folks.

Ted

 

[RML]

Bessa. Leica. Sounds all pretty good to me.

Who would buy a camera named "Butch"? 🙂

 

[richard_l]

Good guess, Roman. Isn't camera a masculine German noun - der Kamera? I can't remember, but das or die doesn't sound right to my now Englesized ears.

It's die Kamera according to my Langenscheidt's German-Enclish dictionary. It doesn't sound quite right to me either.

 

[Natalia]

That would be Laika the dog, yes. 😀

And Laika was a chihuahua 😉