WARNING: Bessa bodies w/ camera back window

[DaveSee]

Golly... there I was, enjoying a beautiful day with the family, and my Bessa-T, when I
felt something give way under *the slightest pressure* of my left thumb... and I heard
it too: the small window in the camera back came free from the door! 6 shots left on the
roll, 30 I'd like to preserve, or maybe 4 of those.

Now home, I've "welded" it back, and painted it black. Instincts... I remember inspectiing
this little piece of plastic, and its foam collar when I got the Bessa in April this year.
Remember thinking that the foam probably has 5 years before it off-gasses its last
and no longer light-safe. Warranty? It would cost more to ship it back and forth
than merely render this "feature" useless, and paint it black.

Watch your, ah, back... especially that little window!

rgds,
Dave

 

[taffer]

Woops ! Thanks for the heads-up Dave ! I've worked pretty well without film window for some years so I'll have no problem in blacking the one on my T if necessary...

 

[pvdhaar]

Thanks for the warning Dave, I'll keep an eye on the back window of my Bessa-T, though it didn't strike me as especially flimsy..

What strikes me as odd though, is that the window is there at all.. The ISO dial appears to be a clear sign of the sensitivity of the film that's been loaded.

 

[bmattock]

Thanks for the warning Dave, I'll keep an eye on the back window of my Bessa-T, though it didn't strike me as especially flimsy..

What strikes me as odd though, is that the window is there at all.. The ISO dial appears to be a clear sign of the sensitivity of the film that's been loaded.

Some of us old farts sometimes forget to set the ISO - nice to be able to refer back to the film itself and maybe correct before we blow the entire roll.

However, I believe that the window is there to help ascertain that film is indeed loaded. This may strike some as strange, but there are those who do not watch the rewind knob turn when they wind on, so when you get to frame 37...you start to wonder...and the traditional 'knob' is missing from the Bessa R - you kinda have to look down inside from the top to see the collar turn when you wind on. Or do what I do, which is to rest my pinky on the rewind release on the bottom of the camera. When I wind on, I can feel it turn. It can't turn unless film is going past it. Simple proof to me that yes, there is film in the camera.

When the window was introduced on the Canon T60 (made by Cosina) these twenty years ago, it was derided as something horrible - potential light-leak, who would want such a thing? The basic camera body was reused by Cosina to make the Bessa series, and they kept the window - and it was greeted as a fantastic idea and why didn't anybody think of it sooner? People are weird.

I like having the window there, I'm not fashed. And I don't press there with my thumb, seems a strange place to put it - just me, I guess.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[BJ Bignell]

And I don't press there with my thumb, seems a strange place to put it - just me, I guess.

It's not a strange place if you're reaching into your camera bag (or even just picking it up off the table) with your left hand, 'cause you're still drinking a beer with your right hand. 😀

While taking photographs, I don't see myself putting a thumb through the back of the camera, but I can see it happening when I'm digging it out the bottom of my backpack...

 

[bmattock]

It's not a strange place if you're reaching into your camera bag (or even just picking it up off the table) with your left hand, 'cause you're still drinking a beer with your right hand. 😀

While taking photographs, I don't see myself putting a thumb through the back of the camera, but I can see it happening when I'm digging it out the bottom of my backpack...

Well, alrighty then! Makes perfect sense now!

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[DaveSee]

It wasn't the beer in the other hand, nor digging it out of a bag, it just so happened that I
grasped the body, and my thumb was on this little window... and I'm not against the window
as a design feature, but that I've got along without this on my other cameras: it's only marginally
helpful--to me--and now that I've discovered how poorly it is attached to the body, I felt it
important to share this "added feature"(that it's removable 😉 )with folks in this forum.

For the price, and the quality of its use as a rangefinder I am most pleased. I have no concerns
about the use of plastic in a camera as well... it is a swell little--and light!--body.

Sometimes a person hasn't the opportunity to grasp the camera "just so." If you're an active
photog, mind that you adequately protect this weak link in *all* Bessas with this window.

rgs,
Dave

 

[back alley]

It's not a strange place if you're reaching into your camera bag (or even just picking it up off the table) with your left hand, 'cause you're still drinking a beer with your right hand. 😀

While taking photographs, I don't see myself putting a thumb through the back of the camera, but I can see it happening when I'm digging it out the bottom of my backpack...

reaching into a camera bag and pushing in a window?
really?
not likely....oh de doe de doe...

joe

 

[sychan]

The window can also tell you how many shots total are available on the roll.

I've loaded a camera and stashed it in the glove compartment and then come back to the camera weeks later and forgotten what I had loaded it with. Color me stupid, but I like the little windows.

 

[gabrielelopez]

Thanks for the advice, my T is coming...and I never watch for that window, so is totally useless to me..

 

[SteveM_NJ]

Thanks for the head up. ( ill put my 10 thumbs on alert)

 

[ch1]

Thanks for the HU. I like the window on my R2S because of reasons cited above - espescially to remind me there IS film in the camera when I haven't used it in a while.

I keep the R2S in a half case bottom so just have to remember to be cautions when I slip it off to rewind. But if it "goes" while I'm shooting I should be okay if I'm careful on the "rewind". 😉

 

[ChrisPlatt]

Don't get your hair caught in the self-timer, either.

Hurts worse than a Slinky! 😉

"Excelsior, you fathead!"
-Chris-

 

[tedwhite]

After Spotmatics (no window) I was pleasantly surprised that the R had the window. I have a tendency to shoot both B&W and color, then forget which is in the windowless camera - I know what you're going to say if you have/had a Spotmatic. "Hey, Ted, there's a little reminder wheel under the rewind knob with the words Empty, Color, Panchro. This is not rocket science. You line the appropriate word up with the black pointer."

Certainly. But who remembers?