Any suggestions for a compact rangefinder?

[Tom Hoskinson]

Not that I've seen one in real life, but have you considered the Nikonos Calypso or the Nikonos III? They were available with a long 80mm lens, have an uncoupled? range finder, shutter speeds up to 1/500th, are/look sturdy enough to to handle some vibration and have a wire frame winder on top. It's maybe an odd suggestion, but why not? They come cheap these days on the second hand market places.

(And, please do correct me if this is nonsensical advice)

Cheers,
me-fo-no

Norm, I think the Nikonos IVa or the Nikonos V would meet most of the requirements. The Nikonos III does not have automated exposure so is not a good choice for this application.

The Nikonos V is currently selling on eBay in the $200 to $400 price range. I only saw one 80mm lens on eBay - $100 (currently).

[gnashings]

I think a compact SLR may be a better solution... just from what you're saying, the flexibility may be a big plus. There are some great tiny SLR's, like the Olympus cameras and even a Nikon FG. Not much bigger than a rangefinder and infinitely more flexible. Don't get me wrong - I love RF's dearly, and maybe my limited understanding of what you are after is mixing things up for me - if so, sorry for butting in.

[MattCarey]

Norm, I think the Nikonos IVa or the Nikonos V would meet most of the requirements. The Nikonos III does not have automated exposure so is not a good choice for this application.

The Nikonos V is currently selling on eBay in the $200 to $400 price range. I only saw one 80mm lens on eBay - $100 (currently).

You are correct--the Nik III is fully manual.

The NikV is much like the Nikon EM in the electronics.

It does *not* have a rangefinder at all, just a viewfinder. You set the focus distance on the lens, in this case infinity, and blast away. The OP would be limited to 35mm and 80mm for air-interface lenses.

Matt

[Woolliscroft]

I think a compact SLR may be a better solution... just from what you're saying, the flexibility may be a big plus. There are some great tiny SLR's, like the Olympus cameras and even a Nikon FG. Not much bigger than a rangefinder and infinitely more flexible. Don't get me wrong - I love RF's dearly, and maybe my limited understanding of what you are after is mixing things up for me - if so, sorry for butting in.

That would have been my preferred solution. I used OM2s myself until recently for the 35mm side of my air photography and have spare cameras he could have had. The pilot concerned seems against the idea, though. He is fairly determined that he wants something that will fit in the top pocket of a flight jacket like his digital, which does rather restrict me to compacts. Ho hum.

David.

[Tom Hoskinson]

Well, the Contax G2 meets the pilot's criteria.

[Lee L]

That would have been my preferred solution. I used OM2s myself until recently for the 35mm side of my air photography and have spare cameras he could have had. The pilot concerned seems against the idea, though. He is fairly determined that he wants something that will fit in the top pocket of a flight jacket like his digital, which does rather restrict me to compacts. Ho hum.

David.

Sounds like this restricts you to one of the compact auto-everything cameras. I only know the Olympus Stylus 35 (my son's, hardly every used) and Yashica T4 (my wife's), but those don't get you the focal length you want, and I don't know about max shutter speeds. You might look into the Olympus Stylus zoom models or similar, but I can't vouch for the lens performance on any of those, or the max shutter speed.

Earlier I was going to suggest the Bessa L, T, (both manual exposure) or R3A (aperture priority auto), with the 75 f:2.5 Color Heliar and the 1:1 finder for it on the L or T. But those don't fit the restrictions. That's a very fine lens, and the shutters all go to 1/2000. You can see the metering diodes on the L and T without an eye to a finder, and the operation is dead simple. The 1:1 finders would be great for a pilot doing aerial photography.

Get him a flight jacket with a bigger pocket and expand your options.

Lee

[Tom Hoskinson]

Sounds like this restricts you to one of the compact auto-everything cameras...

Lee

Yep, and the compact auto everything camera WITH INTERCHANGEABLE ZEISS LENSES and MANUAL FOCUS OPTION is the Contax G2.

[Lee L]

Yep, and the compact auto everything camera WITH INTERCHANGEABLE ZEISS LENSES and MANUAL FOCUS OPTION is the Contax G2.

And perhaps the Konica-Minolta Hexar RF, with a ton of lens options going back to about 1932, manually focused to infinity. This would include a number of lenses nearer the 75-80mm range.

G2 is aperture priority auto, right?

Lee

[Tom Hoskinson]

And perhaps the Konica-Minolta Hexar RF, with a ton of lens options going back to about 1932, manually focused to infinity. This would include a number of lenses nearer the 75-80mm range.

G2 is aperture priority auto, right?

Lee

Yes, you set the aperture and the G2 chooses the shutter speed. The longest lens for the Contax G2 is the 90mm Sonnar (an excellent performer).

[Woolliscroft]

I just wanted to thank everyone who contributed to this thread. After an unsuccessful hunt for a Canon GIII QL-19, which I am told has a 45mm lens, I got him an Olympus 35RC, with its 42mm, which is still a little bit longer than my QL-17's 40mm lens and the camera really is tiny. The down side is a slightly slower and simpler optic, but such is life, it's still going to have much better resolution than his digi.

David.