Re: [Leica] Bessa-T - reliability? longevity?

[TTAbrahams@aol.com]

John, I thought that you would go for the Bessa T. It justified keeping all 
of these old finders around! I have had Bessa-L and Bessa-R's longer than 
just about anyone in the US/Canada. I am not a "gentle" shooter, equipment 
gets beaten up and I go through a fair bit of film annually. Neither the 
Bessa-L nor the Bessa-R has given me a days grief. The L was a bit "rough" in 
the advance when I got it, but as it was an early production model that could 
have been the cause. It is now very smooth, only thing that I need to do to 
that one is adjust the sprocket. It keeps putting the frame right on a 
sprocket hole. Drives me nuts when you are trying to feed the film into the 
storage sheets!
 The Bessa-R has performed without a hitch since I got it in 1999. It shows 
wear on the top and base, but the infamous rangefinder alignment problems 
that other had never occurred on that one and it has seen a lot of 
"air-miles". Battery consumption on both cameras is negligible, at lest by 
M6TTL standards. I think I am on my 2nd set of batteries on the Bessa-R and 
possibly the third set on the L (I change batteries on every camera January 
1st and July 1st, whether they need it or not. Neither the L or R or T is as 
quiet as the M-camera. The Copal shutter is metal and it has a more distinct 
sound. The advance on the L/R is a bit "chrunchy" compared to the M, but the 
one on the T is much improved.
 Ok. so after 10 or 15 years, your Leica M is run in and still going strong 
and possibly the Bessa-T is at the end of its life. One cost you $2000 and 
the other $450
 - not a bad deal at that price, either way.
Tom A