A light rangefinder-to-go: suggestions?

Raid -- Yes, if the glass is in good shape and the meter works, that's an excellent price! It may need new seals, but you can DIY w/ a kit that's available on the web. I paid around $76 for mine two years ago on the 'bay; came w/ the flash attachment, new seals, and the previous owner had kept a filter on the lens so the glass was/is very clean.
 
david.elliott said:
A note on the canonet - it is pretty damn heavy.
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Well, I think of it as being solid, but, yes, it's heavier than other fixed lens rfs of the same era. Feels well made. I can still carry one easily in a jacket pocket.

One other possibility for a compact rf: the Bessa T. Small, light, nice meter, interchangeable lenses (M-mount or LTM w/ adapter). They're not expensive these days, although you have to get an auxiliary finder for them. Advantage is that you have a lot of options to choose a small, sharp lens to go w/ it. Shutter is not as quiet as the Canonet or Oly XA, but it's a v. discreet cam.
 
QL-17 is a good choice; if you can find a working Kodak Retina with a clean lens, it's a small and optically outstanding camera that fits in a pocket and looks sufficiently antique to be easily dismissed by concert staff.
 
An M6 with a 35 summicron and a coat with bigger pockets ;) (or an M2 with a collapsible 50 mm) tell them it's an antique film camera that shoots artsy photos

Leica iiif camera with a collapsible elmar and a 50 viewfinder are remarkable compact, or a newer voightlander lens if you don't want the older optics signature

Note if you're shoot people on stage, it will hard to get close enough to the performers with the wider lenses.
 
How about Half-frame, the Olympus pens are tiny and manual (on the original, D & S models)but w/ scale focus. Original Pen has no meter. The Pen D has a selenium meter, so no batts. the D2, D3 have cds meter which require a mercury cell at 1.35v but the 625 will fit at 1.5v( don't know yet how much that affects the meter) nicely built, w/ great glass, f1.9 32mm (about 45mm equiv.) on the D, D2 series.
http://www.biofos.com/coll/subcoll/vfpen.html
 
Oly 35 RC is my suggestion. It is ve-ry small and unobtrusive. It has both manual and semi-automatic modes and the lens is really good. You can buy one for a very small amount of money.
 
There also is the Konica C35 Automatic, which is a small rangefinder camera that can still be bought for a reasonable amount of money.

In addition to the aforementioned Voigtlander, you can also find the Rollei XF 35. And if you want really small, there is the Kodak Signet 35 (the original model), which isn't too heavy but also isn't plastic.

The Olympus XA is often mentioned, and it's a tiny camera.
 
sirius said:
An M6 with a 35 summicron and a coat with bigger pockets ;) (or an M2 with a collapsible 50 mm) tell them it's an antique film camera that shoots artsy photos

Leica iiif camera with a collapsible elmar and a 50 viewfinder are remarkable compact, or a newer voightlander lens if you don't want the older optics signature
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Whateverist said:
I have a Zorki with an I-22, but it's a bit too precious to me to bring along.

...

Right now I'm looking for something closer to $50, maybe $100 tops.
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Sirius,
I will take either the M6 with a 35 Cron or the IIIf with the coll. Elmar for $100 - even $150! :D:D:D

Cheers,
Uwe
 
Yeah, I'm on a budget here. Leicas and Bessas sure look tasty but they're so far out of my price range I can probably just afford the lens cap. If that.

Is there much difference between the Ql17 and QL19 apart from the lens? The latter seems to be a bit cheaper and easier to find.
 
Whateverist said:
Is there much difference between the Ql17 and QL19 apart from the lens? The latter seems to be a bit cheaper and easier to find.
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19 has a bit simpler lens - one element less than 17 has, if memory serves me well. Do 19 comes in smaller GIII body? And 28 is auto-exposure only. I hope I'm not terribly wrong, though.
 
Maybe I'm spoiled but I won't go to a concert where I have to pay to get in. Isn't there a local publication that'll get you a press pass in exchange for using a photo or two? They'll be getting a bargain, you can probably sell some pix elsewhere, and you can take a full size camera.
 
Whateverist said:
Yeah, I'm on a budget here. Leicas and Bessas sure look tasty but they're so far out of my price range I can probably just afford the lens cap. If that.

Is there much difference between the Ql17 and QL19 apart from the lens? The latter seems to be a bit cheaper and easier to find.
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Battery test (external lamp vs. in finder mark), the cocked shutter indicator and the lens seem to be the only difference. The optical quality is not visibly different, and 1/3 stop is a pretty small difference, so there is no need to prefer one over the other.

Sevo
 
I haven't seen the neatest pocket camera I've used mentioned. No meter, but a fast, excellent f2 lens, and it fold into a solid pocket piece.

My choice is the Kodak Retina II, which I've carried on occasion since the '70's. One with some cosmetic flaws will cost not a lot, and it's a superb picture machine.

Harry
 
Whateverist said:
EDIT: I'm having some trouble finding Ricoh 500GX's online - are they hard to find, or am I doing it wrong?
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If you search you-know-where for "Ricoh 500" (you need the quotes - trust me!) the odd one should turn up - currently ebay.co.uk has a 500G and a 500ME on it. I've got an ME - and it's a much better camera than the rather plasticky looks suggest. It's good enough that I'm hanging on to it despite finding it very fiddly for the first couple of rolls.

Like the idea of taking a Retina - but then I'm a reactionary old fart...

Adrian
 
I would (and I actually do) go with Konica-Minolta AF. It has a beautiful lens and small enough, perfect camera, can be bought used for $400-500. It maybe costs more than Canonet, but it's a real camera, with lenses that compete with the best, rather than 5-leaves brick like Canonet... :)
 
The Canonet is not a real camera? Bull hockey! And it is not all that heavy. It's as reliable as hell if you get a good one, and the lens will provide shockingly beautiful images. It's not for nothing that it was dubbed the poor man's Leica.

Outdoors



or Indoors
 
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In the end it came down to either an XA, a Hi-Matic 7 or a 35RC, and the chance find of a cheap RC clinched it. I'm shooting my first test roll now (half the shots without the battery, I'm doing the other half when I find a zinc/air) and so far I'm absolutely loving it.

Thanks for all the replies.
 
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