I need a rugged compact RF !

H

haslar

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Hello,

First post here.

I'm off to the Venezuela jungle at the beginning of November, and will be living outside for 15 days - no electricity (no internet!), no shower, and the like.
We are a small group of people, and will be living amongst the Waraos Indians.
We also plan to go down the Orenoque river for the first few days, onboard a little wooden boat.

I need the right tool for the job. There is no way I'm bringing my EOS400D over there. Too cumbersome, too fragile, dependant on batteries, and not exactly the epitome of discretion.

Here's what (I think) I need:
- A fixed lens (around 35 mm would be nice)
- manual focus
- must resist the jungle treatment!
- rangefinder
- must be equally at ease for taking pictures in available light at night around the fire, as well as be adapted for full-sunlight mid-day landscape pictures.
- As compact & light as possible (I'll have to lug it around for a couple of weeks!)
- must be secondhand, and rather cheap as it could well end up at the bottom of the Orenoque River (so no Leica!)


Any suggestions are welcome.

Regards

Richard
 
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Oly XA, smallest RF around, the only problem is lens 2.8, Lens is small enough to cover it with your sunglasses /makeshift ND filter ;-] /
 
Minolta 7SII...or the Canonet.

My only other suggestion would to be to take more than 1 camera. Two Minoltas or two Canonets.
The environment sounds to be harsh on a camera and you don't want to end up with something dead in 3 days and no other options.
Oh...and lots of zip lok plastic bags...good ones.
 
Of course there is always the Yashica Lynx 14e with it's f1.4 lens but it is a bit heavy if that is a concern.
 
Yashica Lynx 5000 or
Oly 35RC/Ricoh 500G[GX] if small size outweights brighter lens

If python swallows it, no big financial loss.
 
If you can give up the manual focus thing, get a Yashica t-4 super. It's water resistant, has a nice 35mm lens and is pretty reliable. I've treked around Peru and Ecuador with one as my only camera and it worked out well. The lens is a bit slow at 3.5 but I shot a bunch of stuff in lowish light with Velvia 50 and it worked out OK. You also have the built in flash option which I usually turn off. Sometimes it does miss focus it's rare. The lens is truly a gem. Sharp and color as befits it's Zeiss heritage but not too harsh for people.

Another choice if you want a marginally useful rangefinder is the Olympus XA. Scale focusing with a 35mm or wider lens is usually accurate enough. If you can live with that an XA 2 will work. I think the lens on these is step or two down from the Yashica but many people love them.

A lot of the 1970's compact RFs so beloved by people on this forum have a little narrower lens (40mm) and are heavy little bricks (I'm talking about you Canonet). They do have good lenses though.

Personally, I'd grab two t4s, one with color, one with some high speed black and white (Neopan 1600) and shoot away with no worries about the humidity. Both of them together will weight less than a 1970s rangefinder. I'd get one black and one in the silverish color so you can easily distinguish.

Not sure what the market is like for them now but there are a ton on ebay though they cost as much or more than they did new. Probably you can get them for $150-$200 each.
 
My vote goes to taking two cameras.....

A Canonet 17 or an Oly XA for reasonable conditions, and

A Nikon Action Touch (submersable to 10 ft indefinately, heavy duty construction & a cracking sharp 35mm lens). It's AF, which is not on your list, but trust me in that heading down a river you are sometimes so busy surviving there's no time to focus. It'll live on your shoulder through the worst jungle conditions.

Jo
 
I'd second the GL17.
Get a couple of handheld lightmeters too. The old Russian Leningrads can be picked up quite cheap.
 
btgc said:
Yashica Lynx 5000 or
Oly 35RC/Ricoh 500G[GX] if small size outweights brighter lens

If python swallows it, no big financial loss.
Click to expand...


I second the possibility of a Ricoh 500G/Sears 35|RF. Cheap...smaller than the faster lens'd cameras. Darn near disposable.

I actually have the two cameras I think I'd take on that trip...If I were worried about taking only cheap cameras.
The Minolta 7sII would be loaded with Tri-x and the Sears 35|RF with FP4+.

Honestly though, that would be the trip of a lifetime and, even being decidedly "not rich," I'd take my R3A w/21mm skopar and 40mm Nokton. I'd also take the Minolta as a back up.
If the cameras die...they die. I'd shed a tear and save for the replacements, but I would not do a trip like that compromising on the gear I wanted to use.
 
Oops. Lynx5000 doesn't fit 35mm lens req.

I'll second P&S thing - Stylus Epic with f2.8 35mm lens (also splashproof) is damn good camera.
 
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Tom I think you need to change your avatar ;)
 
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Whatever you decide with a “one chance only” event like that I would/do take a Oly mju/stylus, the early fixed FL f2.8 one, as insurance.

Fast’ish, light, cheap, tough, almost waterproof, splendid lens, very capable in low light, and the battery lasts forever; just a bit of a pain constantly having to switch off the flash
 
Olympus 35SP? Excellent 40mm 1.7 lens, RF, not battery dependent (except for the meter, but this gives a very useful choice of average or spot measurement), metal construction and altogether pretty robust. Not the smallest camera, but not large either: easily portable for hours and hours.

The only real negatives, for me, are the heavy shutter release and the absence of depth of field scale.

Regards,
D.
 
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Lots of good suggestions so far, but no one has suggested the obvious/best choice IMO for the Amozon rainforest: a Nikonos.

Everyone needs one. ;)
 
FrankS said:
Lots of good suggestions so far, but no one has suggested the obvious/best choice IMO for the Amozon rainforest: a Nikonos.

Everyone needs one. ;)
Click to expand...

Dear Frank,

I had thought of saying something similar, but the manual advance models invite appalling camera shake, which is why I lent my II to a friend who dropped it over the side in the Caribbean...

Cheers,

R.
 
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