Good starter RangeFinder with a budget.

[fotch]

I dunno, if your budget is around $100, get a Minolta Hi-Matic (I got mine from the bay for $20) and spend the rest on film, development chemicals, tanks, binder for your negatives and anything else you might desire. The Rokkor lens is quite good and it can work without a battery.

Which Hi-Matic work without a battery? I have the F and is will not take a photo without a battery.

[Nick Merritt]

One drawback of the Canonet is that if you plan to shoot black & white film, and use filters, it takes a pretty hard to find screw-in filter size, 48mm. The Yashica, on the other hand, takes 55mm, which is easy to find.

[drumlin]

Or just find a stepup ring 48>49 and filters are much easier to find.

Another +1 to the canonets. I've got two and love using them.

[Uncle Brian]

Have you come up with any favorites? I like the Yashica GSN but if I was starting from scratch I would save for a Cosina Voigtlander Bessa R.

[rolleiman]

A word of caution, some older rangefinders use 1.3 mercury cell batteries, now banned in most countries and difficult to find. Make sure an alternative battery is available, and works.

[lensworker]

This is not within the $100 price range, but I will recommend that you take a look at the Leica CL and the 40mm f/2 Summicron lens that was designed for it. A more economical alternative would be the Minolta version of this camera.

Here's a good introduction to the Leica CL: http://www.cameraquest.com/leicacl.htm

[SafetyBob]

I was going to tell you that I love my old Yashica GSNs best for their big size and my Canonets are also fun little cameras mostly because they are small and handy to carry around...but I think everyone has given you lots to look at, no real camera recommendations here.

My two cents is as you are looking at these old cameras, keep looking here in the classified section for one of us selling our old rangefinders first. I would be willing to bet a nice sum of money that if you get one off the auction site that it would need a CLA sooner than later. I would bet you could have a lot of frustration with a poorly maintained used one. If you going to purchase a Yashica GSN that way(auction site), communicate with Mark Hama first, he will be able to give you a ball park CLA estimate first THEN you would have a first rate operating camera that will be useful for many, many years. Unless you get a fully functional rangefinder with someone who can tell you the pros and cons of a specific camera, I would expect to send anything off to get a CLA purchased from any auction site.

Example: I purchased a Mamiya Super Press 23 a couple of years ago from a "real" camera store that also has online store too. The camera was advertised as having a dim rangefinder. Up front I knew that most cameras from this era were heavily used, and most that had never been serviced would have dim rangefinder or worse. I got the camera because externally, it was in very, very good physical condition and knew once it got a CLA, it would be a keeper. Yes, the CLA was expensive (and are for this type of camera). I got back a camera that was in as close to as new condition as possible. It was in worse condition than "just" a dim viewfinder. The CLA fixed everything that was wrong....I cannot put into words the satisfaction of using an old rangefinder of this era. If you think you like photography, you owe yourself the rangefinder experience.

Long story short is that if you can find for example a Yashica GSN for $50 and have Mark Hama CLA it for $100, you would have a very, very nice camera that will last you forever AND you would not have to fight while using it.

While I am at it, using color film in these old cameras is OK, try using B&W......results can and will be stunning. They just seem to make B&W film magical....

Bob E.

[Klainmeister]

Which Hi-Matic work without a battery? I have the F and is will not take a photo without a battery.

I believe it's a Hi-Matic 9. Before I did the battery mod, I took a roll and shot it completely manual and the shutter and aperture work as they should. Just sunny-16ed the whole thing.

[fotch]

Thats good to know. I dislike battery dependent cameras. I can live without the meter, but not the whole camera. JMHO

[Klainmeister]

Obviously the A-A setting is unusable, but other than that, seems totally fine. I've had the new battery in there for about 2 years and it's still going strong. If you cover the lens and not let light in, it should last a long time. It's only off by a stop or so with the 1.5v, so I just set my ISO accordingly.