Yashica T4, in addition to the three previously mentioned.
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Yashica T4, in addition to the three previously mentioned.
KEH have a Rollei 35 with excellent Triotar lens for 170 dollars. If it is working without any problem , its hard to beat with any Japanese camera.
I recently purchased an Olympus XA for £25, equivalent to $40
I can't think of anything more compact that has a rangfinder
The Yashica T4 is hard to beat. Razor sharp lens and an amazing auto-focus / auto-exposure system that rarely does anything wrong.
The only thing I'd be uneasy about with the Rollei is the fact that it's a viewfinder rather than rangefinder camera. I have used a 1930s Zeiss folding camera which lacked any means of measuring the distance to subject and found it frustrating. When I put it on a tripod and used an SLR to find the right focus (read off one camera's focus scale, transferred to the other) the resulting images were very sharp indeed, but if you shoot it hand-held without any guidance for focusing you quickly find why old photos tend to be soft!
Yes, if it was me, I'd want autofocus or a rangefinder. It doesn't really matter how good the lens is if everything is out of focus. Fine if you are shooting landscapes, or daylight outdoor scenes where you can zone focus or 'hyperfocal' focus. But portraits, or anything in lower light, or closer up, nope. The mju is good and cheap.
If it didn't have to be quite as cheap, my own personal favourite is the Rollei AFM/Fuji Klasse. Good size, lots of manual control, excellent lens, good flare resistance, and (in my experience) very accurate metering.
If you practice, you can become quite good at guessing distances -- for recommending the Rollei 35.
However, more details are needed from the original poster. What price range is "reasonable"? What features: Auto-everything?
A nice alternative is an Olympus 35 RC or perhaps a Konica C35 Automatic.
Otherwise, go to a thrift shop and get any point and shoot or $10 or less.
Also, Kodak Retinas can be pretty compact if you want an all-manual camera with a great lens. Heavy, though, and the ergonomics are idiosyncratic.
I have had good results with a Rollei Prego 90. Purchased several on the auction site for $20-$30. It is a compact plastic point and shoot 35mm camera with 28-90mm lens range, Schneider optics and auto everything. Here is a scan from a print from New Years.
Scan did not take? Another try: