---a competent uncoated triplet with all the virtues and vices thereunto appertaining, as it were----NT
Summs it up pretty well, but I have an affinity for uncoated triplets.
Many of these older soldiers have only small apertures and slow shutters like these Bessas, while the uncoated triplets generally have low contrast.
But I find this a match made in heaven for film like Ilford PanF. Everyone complains bitterly about how contrasty the film is, but when you put it together with a soulmate like an old Bessa the two really, truly shine for one another.
but the light-tightness of the body is a little dubious
....
I don't have mine at hand to check, but to my recollection it does have a (coarse) numeric distance scale along with the "Landschaft, Gruppe, Portrait" indicators. Realistically, this is a camera where depth of field is your friend.
-NT
I have two, both with the the cheap Vario shutter and Voigtar lens. One is marked in meters and labeled in Deutsch while the other is marked in feet and labeled in English. The only difference I can find between the two is the paint for the markings and labels.
I find both are light tight through judicious use of metal light traps built into the clam shell as it closes. The light leak I did find in one was a result of a very small tear in the bellows at the front standard. A small dab of liquid electrical tape and I've never had any more problems.
DOF is truly your friend here, but the cameras themselves are little jewels in my mind. OK, maybe they're aquamarines instead of diamonds. But they're cute, pocket-able, and fun.
Take it out and use it. It deserves the exercise.