things you'd like to see in the bessa r4

[VinceC]

>>1:1 finder with 28mm framelines <<

It actually can be done. The Nikon S3's very large 1:1 viewfinder is big enough to accommodate 28mm frames and it's full frame view is on the order to 25mm. However, no one with eyeglasses could see them, and even the 35mm frames are tough with glasses.

 

[chug]

Id like to see a custom paint job of your own choice. Id like British Racing green on a Bessa R4. Battleship Grey is nice, but a custom job would be nice. Sometimes black and chrome get boring. 🙂 Oh and a larger RF patch, if possible, would be nice! 🙂

 

[rover]

The shutter may sound loud in your den when you load a film, or in a silent church, but it's fine in day to day real life. If you want really quiet you could look into leaf shutter cameras.

Amen!!!!!

I love my Leicas, but I would be lying if I said they are silent.

Bringing a camera to your eye is more disturbing to those around you than the noise your camera makes.

 

[cbass]

A price tag of $179 (US) 🙂

Perhaps Mr. Kobayashi could create an LTM Bessa AE body using the innards of the Voigtlander VSL 43 SLR chassis? That would be cool.

 

[Sparrow]

A three frames per second clockwork motor-drive, practical, dependable (no batteries), environmentally friendly (no batteries), and very very cool to wind up every 12-14 frames.

 

[rxmd]

Hi Sparrow,

get a Leningrad 🙂

Philipp

 

[Sparrow]

Yes Philipp just like that but detachable, so it fits the whole range

 

[Bob B]

I've been shooting my daughters ballet rehearsals and the shutter clunk seems a bit obvious. I know my Canonet is almost silent.

(But I think I have to switch to my DSLR (20d) anyway -- I just can't focus my Bessa fast enought at the larger apertures I need to use indoors.)

Amen!!!!!

I love my Leicas, but I would be lying if I said they are silent.

Bringing a camera to your eye is more disturbing to those around you than the noise your camera makes.

 

[sockeyed]

Sounds like a lot of you guys are asking for a Hexar RF.

After shooting several thousand frames in my R3A over the last year+, There are four things I'd like in an R4:
28mm framelines
Complete framelines, not just two dashes like the 40mm and 50mm framelines of the R3A
AE lock in the shutter release (not a separate button)
A more constrained metering pattern - the current one goes too high in the frame, IMO, and picks up too much sky.

These changes could me made while still allowing the camera to be produced at its current price. Longer RF, motors, spot metering, etc. = $$$

I believe that they're addressing the loudish shutter in the R3M.

 

[ch1]

Before getting to the R4, I'd rather see them made a R2B/R3B which would be the same camera but a bit more robustly built.

I have the R2S (Nikonian, here) and love it - but I don't think it has the same durability of my SP or, in the SLR world, my F3.

Not saying they should make a new interation really heavier - but a bit more roubustness (espescially the rewind crank) would be nice! 😀

 

[Sparrow]

I've been shooting my daughters ballet rehearsals and the shutter clunk seems a bit obvious. I know my Canonet is almost silent.

(But I think I have to switch to my DSLR (20d) anyway -- I just can't focus my Bessa fast enought at the larger apertures I need to use indoors.)

You can hear the shutter over the piano and noise of the dancers!!!!! What ever are they rehearsing?

 

[f/stopblues]

Those things are nice and all, but it sounds like a complete overhaul of the camera. I like mine just fine 🙂

There are a couple little refinement details I could deal with though..

- A smoother film advance. Even my Canonet feels more smooth and solid I think.
- I'd like it if the shutter speed wheel wasn't quite so stiff. I usually have to use my whole hand to spin it instead of just a finger. Something like the aperture clicks on my Ultron 35mm lens would be wunderbar 😀
- This is picking nits, but I don't like the button on top of the shutter speed wheel that you have to hold to change from AE to the manual shutter speeds. I'd like to just spin it.

That's about it!

 

[Bob B]

Okay, maybe I'm a little sensitive cause I'm trying to crawl a bit onto the rehearsal dance floor to get shots. (they're doing Mongo Jerry's In the Summertime (British skiffle band I believe) and Summertime, which has some slow quiet passages.) There are dancers from age 4-17 in the production. While I suppose some of the dads will pull out the big, white Canon lenses on their SLRs for the production next week, I thought some "behind the scenes shots" of the rehearsals might make for a good project/documentary. I still think it's a good idea, I just haven't snagged any real keepers yet.

And yes, I know the slightly noisy shutter is not what the problem is, my lack of talent/experience/vision is generally the problem, rarely the equipment.

You can hear the shutter over the piano and noise of the dancers!!!!! What ever are they rehearsing?

 

[VinceC]

>>You can hear the shutter over the piano and noise of the dancers!!!!! What ever are they rehearsing?<<

I shot a classical music/dance performance a couple of months ago with Nikon S3s, which are fairly quiet but not silent. I felt like they were making too much noise at 1/8 and 1/15 but were less distracting at 1/30 and 1/60. One of the issues is, musicians and dancers sometimes freeze for a moment ... making for a great photograph, because these are well-studied, well-rehearsed positions, but at that moment they freeze, it's also often silent, even if just for a moment.

Also, with the digital era, I think the sounds of mechanical cameras have become a bit more noticeable, just because so many amateur point and shoots are now silent. Remember, not long ago, movie Foley artists dubbed whirring motordrives whenever a camera appeared onscreen, even if it had no motordrive, because the audience had come to expect that sound when seeing a camera. Those days are now gone.

 

[Palaeoboy]

"It actually can be done. The Nikon S3's very large 1:1 viewfinder is big enough to accommodate 28mm frames and it's full frame view is on the order to 25mm"

I couldnt disagree more with this statement, the framlines on the S3 for 35mm are really close to the edge that even full frame you couldnt call close to 28mm let alone 25mm, no way in the world!! Put a 28mm finder on top of your S3 and check it out.

 

[Ukko Heikkinen]

IMCO:

The exposure value will be locked until the AE Lock Button is pressed again.

Ukko Heikkinen

 

[Will]

1.) longer base lenght (70mm x 0.85?)

2.) motor

3.) keep the price low...

 

[Sparrow]

Bob, I’ll find out tomorrow, I’m doing a similar thing but my worries are film speed and DOF related I hadn’t thought of the noise being a problem I don't think the dancers (a classical grade five class) will be able to hear it, close up they sound like a herd of buffalos.
One thing I did notice if it’s any help is that most dance seems to work to an eight beat so hopefully the step, music and pose will all come together predictably, that’s the plan anyway, well that and Delta 3200

 

[PetarDima]

Only one thing:

quiet, quiet shutter with soft realise.

 

[Sonnar2]

Keep it simple and straight. Longer baselength. Add a 100mm frame for the 1:1 version, a 28mm for the 0,8-finder.