Smashed Bessa R2

[matti]

Well. My Green Bessa R2 was smashed under a tree. :bang: About 200 kg made the attatched 35/2.5 cv-lens crooked and the interior of the camera unrepairable.
Fortunately it was my fathers fault so with the help of the insurance company a used Leica M6 with a color skopar 35/2.5 (the same lens) is on the way 🙂 Just a little money in between I thought this was a better deal than buying a new R2A. I am a bit afraid of my lazyness that I will start to use all these automatic features of the A-variant and stop having fun.
So, a question I have is if anyone have an idea if it is possible to do something with the smashed body?

Hi everyone, by the way, as this is my first post here but have been lurkin a while. I also have two other rangefinders, a fed2 that I have been using trying to adapt the sunny 16 rule to dark and cloudy Winter Sweden... I found out that short speeds doesnt like the cold. I also have an Iskra II that I use in the summer. I uploaded one picture in the gallery

/matti

 

[Avotius]

fire and lots of it

congrats on the M6 btw, I hope to add one of those to my bag too soon

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

Paperweight or doorstop?

That's what i did with a chunk of my old Porsche engine that blew up.

 

[former member]

Put it up on Ebay for parts.

You can't believe what a burned out M4 went for last year!

 

[SolaresLarrave]

Ditto on the sale for parts proposal. You'll help someone! 🙂

BTW, Welcome and congratulations on making lemonade when life gave you a big lemon! 🙂

Two questions: how did you manage to get a camera wrecked by a tree? And, what kind of insurance did you have to cover an accident like this one?

Just wondering...

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

Did the insurance company for a new tree too?

 

[matti]

Two questions: how did you manage to get a camera wrecked by a tree? And, what kind of insurance did you have to cover an accident like this one?

Well, it was actually an unstayed junkmast to be. A bit off topic but here is pics of the event: www.sylinnea.com My father put the camera under the tree/mast and when we got some heavy swell from a passing passanger ferry the tree moved so it crushed the camera.

The insurance was an ordinary (Swedish) home insurance. Probably with some extra clumsyness agreement that my father had. The Bessas cost quite a lot in Sweden and as the lens was less than a year old, I got 100% of the value back from the insurance company. The used M6 (in box etc) with Color Skopar 35 cost about $1000. If it is in as good shape as the seller said I suppose it is a good deal, even though my experience with Color Skopar 35mm and BW is a bit high contrast. I can not seem to get ennough details in the dark parts of the picture with that lens. (Or maybe I need to experiment with films etc.)

/matti

 

[dcsang]

A few things:
1) Welcome to RFF 🙂
2) Sorry to hear about the R2 🙁
3) Good to hear about the M6 😀

So I think you're doing ok so far - and I concur with Francisco and Brian - Ebay it for parts 🙂

Cheers
Dave

 

[gbb]

Matti,

To get detail in the dark areas, you need more exposure, nothing else will affect that. Either rate your film at a lower speed (in your built in meter) or meter for the shadows. Good luckk w the M6,

GBB

 

[Gerry M]

Hi Matti, Welcome to RFF. Sorry about the R2, but it sounds like you may have come out ahead. I'm lazy and have an R2a/35-2.5. That is a stout looking sailboat (to be). My wife and I went thru a 5 year fitting out of our boat, before leaving on a 5000 mile cruise, from British Columbia, Canada to southern Mexico. We "swallowed the hook" about 18 months ago. Good luck on the M6 and the boat.
Regards, Gerry

 

[matti]

Matti,

To get detail in the dark areas, you need more exposure, nothing else will affect that. Either rate your film at a lower speed (in your built in meter) or meter for the shadows. Good luckk w the M6,

GBB

Yes, maybe you are right that the metering on the R2 was different then what I was used to on my old Nikon FM2 (that often seemed to overexpose). And that it wasn't the lens. I didn't have a chanse to really get used to my Bessa R2 🙁

/matti

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Put it up on Ebay for parts.

You can't believe what a burned out M4 went for last year!

Excellent suggestion. There are always people/technicians looking for parts. M4 parts are another story; I've seen wind levers get bid on for $200+ I guess once you build them to last...

 

[aizan]

post some photos of it! there has to be something to offset all this camera pr0n. 😀