Please check your Voigtlander R3A or R2A Meter's centering

[carson wilson]

I recently acquired a Voigtlander R3A, with which I'm quite happy

other than what may be a glaring defect: the built-in "centerweighted"

light meter seems to be very off center!

 

Background: the meter is a silicon cell mounted behind the lens mount

flange and aimed backward at a grey shutter curtain inside the camera.

The cell is at about the 1 O'Clock position of the lens opening when

viewed from the back of the camera. As such, it aims down toward the

grey shutter curtain, and reads light from the parts of the curtain

it's aimed at.

 

Frans de Gruijter has tested his Bessa R metering pattern; you can

view it at http://cameraquest.com/voigrf.htm under "Voigtlander

Metering Pattern." As you can see from Frans' findings, the meter

picks up more light toward the center of the image area, as one would

expect of a centerweighted meter.

 

Granted, the R's cell is situated at the base rather than the top of

the lens flange, so we should not expect identical results. However,

every test I've run on my R3A shows that its pattern is far from

centered. I've attached an image of my findings to this message.

 

I'm pretty certain my meter is not calibrated properly, and this is

resulting in misexposed photos when I assume that I can aim the

viewfinder at my primary subject and have the camera adjust exposure

based mainly on what the viewfinder is centered on.

 

However, with a sample of one, I'm not certain whether this is a

manufacturing defect, a design flaw, or just something I don't

understand yet. As such, I would be grateful if any R2A and R3A

owners reading this would check their meter pattern and post the

results here.

 

The methodology is fairly simple:

 

1. Set ISO to 3200 and aperture as wide as possible;

 

2. Set speed control on top of camera to A for automatic exposure;

 

3. In a darkened room, aim a powered on flashlight toward yourself

from about 10 feet away. An LED penlight is a good choice as it has a

small, bright, narrow beam;

 

4. Stand or sit facing the penlight so that you can look straight at

it through your viewfinder;

 

5. Press the shutter button lightly to activate the camera's meter;

 

6. Move the camera so the light from the flashlight tracks around the

camera's meter until the highest speed reading appears at the bottom

of your viewfinder and note the location. Is the flashlight centered

in your viewfinder? If not, what area gives the highest speed

reading?

 

If you don't want to go to all of the trouble above, you can certainly

just set it to A, focus on at any small, bright light source and see

if the shutter speeds maximize when the light is centered.

 

If you want to go a step further and generate a metering pattern like

those mentioned above, start with a sketch of the viewfinder on a

piece of paper. Move the flashlight around the viewfinder to

determine the borders of various speed readings, from highest to

lowest, and map them out using the framelines as your landmarks.

 

Thanks in advance,

Carson Wilson<div></div>

[ronald_moravec1]

I question CV`s quality control. I bought a 75mm brightline where the frames were not horizontal when the camea was. I saw a new R3a at a camera show and the RF was not centered vertically, a common problem. One wrote about loose elements in his new 40 1.4.

 

The engineerings seems adequate, not great but adequate. It is the quality of assembly one must consider.

[danny_liao]

Thanks for pointing this out. I've had my R2A for a few months now and is barely getting to understand how the meter works. At first I was confused at why all my images were not exposed properly, now I know. I just did the test you recommended and mine shows the sweet spot is off to the right of center. Going off your diagram, it's off by one stop.

[andrew_touchon]

I checked my R3A and it is centered.

[peter_hjortzberg1]

I tested my R2A last night and got the same result (it is one of the early once). It is sad that Cosinas quality control have this sort of problems. This is my first Bessa camera but I have used there lenses for some years and they have works perfectly.

 

I have contacted Stephen Gandy at CameraQuest and I hope his answer is positive regarding a warranty repair. I really like the camera so I hope the quality is better in the later cameras.

 

Putte (Sweden)

[jeremy_tok]

Putte, did you send Mr. Gandy the link to this page?

[peter_hjortzberg1]

Yes Jeremy!

 

Good ide! I will send him the link as soon as possible.

 

Best regards

 

Putte

[carson wilson]

Thanks to all who have responded so far!

 

Reading over my original post I realize I need to clarify a few things:

 

1. Because the frame lines are our only point of reference, it's CRUCIAL to focus the rangefinder on your light source before testing. I'm sorry I didn't mention this earlier.

 

2. The image I posted is from my tests with a 40mm Summicron-C lens. If you use a shorter focal length, you should keep this in mind, as whatever metering pattern your camera has will shrink proportionally with a longer lens.

 

3. If you tested your R2A and R3A and found it WAS centered, please post that result here - it's a VERY significant finding. So far out of three respondents, 2 have defective cameras; including mine that makes 3 out of 4. If this does NOT represent the actual failure rate it's very important that owners of nondefective cameras let the rest of us know!

 

Thanks again,

Carson

[rich815]

Mine's fine. Tested with a 40 Nokton.

[peter_hjortzberg1]

My R2A is on the way to Mr Gandy!

 

Regards

 

Putte