Your experience with (cheaper) RF gear?

[gnashings]

One more vote for the Canonets - my wife and I have two: the QL17 and a Bell and Howell Canonet 19, both wonderful cameras in their own way. The QL17 is a truly capable, tiny little piture taker with a great fast lens, while the 19 is all quirky charm: from the backwards film loading, to the left handed, bottom mounted film winding lever and with the ring of photocells around the lens for good measure. Not as fast, super sharp, and definitely not compact like the QL17, but a great old camera with lots of character. I paid a little much for the 17 ($75 cdn), but its absolutely mint and came with the original case and a matching, functioning speedlite. The 19 cost me $12 CDN, and that's with shipping! Worth evey penny!

[Trond]

I have a Kiev-4 (acutually I have 3 of them...). It´s a rather big and heavy camera, and the controls are a bit cumbersome, but for some reason it´s still a joy to use. The best part of it is of course that it produces wonderful images. I have the 35, 50 and 85mm Jupiter lenses, which are all great.

Trond

[reellis67]

The only rangefinders that I have are the Argus C-3 and two Zorki-1s. The Argus is neat, but I don't use it often. The Zorki-1 on the other hand is a joy to use. I have the collapsable Elmar copy and this is the only 35mm camera that I still use on any kind of regular basis. It's easy to work on, works smoothly and quietly, and is just plain fun to use. $50 and it comes in the smelliest case you ever experienced. Part of the fun ya' know...

- Randy

[Martin Liew]

Seems like everyone is using rangefinders with familiar brand names like Canon, Yashica, Voightlander Bessa, Zorki, just to name a few.

Well the one and only rangefinder I own right now is a Seagull 205 with a fixated 50mm lens f/2.8. It's an old camera that was manufactured in the 70s and I got it very cheap at a Chinese website. As I'm more into street photography, this rangefinder is the ideal tool for me. It doesn't make loud click sound when you press that shutter release button.

See below for the camera pic reference and some street shots I did.



There's one disadvantage of this camera - the lens coating which unlike the branded ones, doesn't last long enuff. Well it's a 2nd hand stock and upon looking closer to the lens surface under bright light, I can see the coating is "thin" like starting to wear off. Until then I might get one Bessa R2A for better performance and good image quality.

[gnashings]

Well, you want obscure? I had a Canter Beauty - but unfortunately, its helical has somehow started grinding itself into metal shavings by the time I got it... so it was not much use, and I am not crafty enough to fix it. Wish I could have taken some shots with, just to see what gives.

[Woolliscroft]

By the way, are you sure you can't afford Leica? I got a perfect working IIIa in a junk shop in Perth about a years ago for 15 li'l ol' english pounds (no one hit me).

David.

[JeffGreene]

My favorite cheap rangefinder, and I have a few, is my Olympus XA. Razor sharp lens and aperture priority. Handy, it goes everywhere with me. Great inexpensive camera!

[gnashings]

By the way, are you sure you can't afford Leica? I got a perfect working IIIa in a junk shop in Perth about a years ago for 15 li'l ol' english pounds (no one hit me).

David.

You CAN'T JUST SAY STUFF LIKE THAT!!!! $*^(E^**@#$@#$@#$*(&(*)_+!~!!~!~!!!!!!

:

Not jelous at all...

Peter.

[narsuitus]

I'd like to hear some opinions on the (cheaper) RF gear you've used (35mm and medium format). Pros, cons, peculiarities, etc.

My first rangefinder, the inexpensive Argus C3, was built in the 1940s and 1950s in Detroit Michigan. It is a rugged and reliable rangefinder that collectors lovingly named “The Brick” because of its size, weight, shape, and durability.

There are 4 lenses available for it (35mm wide angle, 50mm normal, 100mm telephoto, and 135mm telephoto). I have 3 of the 4 (I do not have the 135mm). Even though the lenses are interchangeable, because bodies are so cheap, I can afford to keep each lens permanently mounted on its own body. This saves me the tedious task of unscrewing the lens, screwing in another lens, and realigning the mounted lens with the rangefinder.

I also have a 4th body that I converted to a pinhole camera.

I only use the Argus when I am shooting for myself. I find it very therapeutic to put the Argus with the 35mm lens on a tripod and wander around shooting landscapes. The slow operation of the manual/mechanical meterless Argus forces me to slow down. Manually cocking the shutter, focusing with its primitive rangefinder, using the Sunny 16 rule to determine the exposure, and using a knob to wind the film also forces me to concentrate on what I am doing.

[Sportera]

My road to Leica went like this:

Zorki 3m..... Focus? who needs focus?
Zorki 4k.......shutter speeds inaccurate
Bessa R.... well I didn't buy but I considered it for a while
Contax G1.... great camera and lenses, horrible squinty Viewfinder
Leica M6ttl... The perfect 35mm camera. I can't afford the lenses but its still a great camera.

I could have save a lot of time and money just buying a Leica to start with.

I use two CV lenses and they are wonderful, only my 50 is Leica glass.

Im not saying you should buy a Leica but consider this. If a Leica is what you want, you won't be happy with anything else.