Dez
Bodger Extraordinaire
I recently bought a very nice Bessa R2M from a fellow RFFer at a very good price, in part because the seller indicated that the frame counter was unreliable. Last night I got around to setting the frame counter right.
I looked around on the Internet for any available info on taking the top off the camera, and there really wasn't any to be found, so I thought I'd share my experiences here.
It's not particularly hard to do, but there are some unexpected challenges.
The winder comes off after you undo the two screws on the bottom side of the lever.
The shutter speed dial requires only the removal of the central screw. Make careful note of the order of the stackup.
The rewind unscrews, then you need to remove a circlip holding the back release lever in place. NOTE: as soon as you remove the knob, the spindle will take every opportunity to drop into the camera, and then you need to make a little hook out of coat hanger wire to lift up the mechanism to get the back open. It may be better to just leave the back open to avoid panic.
One screw in the centre of the back surface of the top needs to come out.
The flash terminal, eyepiece, and flash shoe do not need to be removed. There is a wire that connects the terminal to the camera body shell. A terminal at the body end can be unscrewed.
The two black screws above the lens mount need to come out.
And now the tricky bit: you have to peel the rubber covers off the front of the camera to get at two silver coloured screws that are the last things holding the top on. If you are very careful peeling this material, you will not need glue to put them back.
With the top off, the rather fragile frame counter can be sorted, and the VF/RF bits can be cleaned. Canned air is very helpful.
I once did this with a Bessa R, and as I recall, there were no screws under the rubber bits, but possibly I forget.
So there you go, not so bad at all.
Cheers,
Dez
I looked around on the Internet for any available info on taking the top off the camera, and there really wasn't any to be found, so I thought I'd share my experiences here.
It's not particularly hard to do, but there are some unexpected challenges.
The winder comes off after you undo the two screws on the bottom side of the lever.
The shutter speed dial requires only the removal of the central screw. Make careful note of the order of the stackup.
The rewind unscrews, then you need to remove a circlip holding the back release lever in place. NOTE: as soon as you remove the knob, the spindle will take every opportunity to drop into the camera, and then you need to make a little hook out of coat hanger wire to lift up the mechanism to get the back open. It may be better to just leave the back open to avoid panic.
One screw in the centre of the back surface of the top needs to come out.
The flash terminal, eyepiece, and flash shoe do not need to be removed. There is a wire that connects the terminal to the camera body shell. A terminal at the body end can be unscrewed.
The two black screws above the lens mount need to come out.
And now the tricky bit: you have to peel the rubber covers off the front of the camera to get at two silver coloured screws that are the last things holding the top on. If you are very careful peeling this material, you will not need glue to put them back.
With the top off, the rather fragile frame counter can be sorted, and the VF/RF bits can be cleaned. Canned air is very helpful.
I once did this with a Bessa R, and as I recall, there were no screws under the rubber bits, but possibly I forget.
So there you go, not so bad at all.
Cheers,
Dez
FrankS
Registered User
A few drinks help too.
Courage!
Courage!