1st Post & Vivitar 35ES

[martinsmith99]

Hi

This is my 1st post here. Just signed up as I've bought a Vivitar 35ES rangefinder which is in the postal system, on it's way to me.

I'm hoping to learn something about RF cameras from all you experts as I've never owned one and really know nothing about them. I've owned a couple of 35mm & digi P&S cameras and I'm currently shooting with a Canon 40D and a Pentax Spotmatic SPii.

Any help begged for and appreciated.😀

Martin

 

[zuikologist]

Welcome to the party. I have two 35ESs and love them: wonderful fast 40/1.7 lens, robust, small black stealth cam.

They usually come with a slightly fogged viewfinder and the rangefinder patch is sometimes fuzzy. A little practice and all is well. The camera was designed for older 1.35v mercury batteries: either use a cheap 1.4v hearing aid battery or buy a more expensive Wein cell. Either way, if you do not use the camera for a while, take the battery out and cover up the holes - this shold make it last longer.


Some folk here set the ASA setting to half a stop slower (ie 200ASA for 400ASA film) which gives a little more latitude to overexposure for negative film.

The camera is shutter priority, some prefer aperture priority or full manual - this has never bothered me.

 

[racoll]

I have a Vivitar 35ES that I absolutely love! I took a case for a Minolta Hi-Matic 7sII (the same basic camera minus the aperture ring) and put the Vivitar script (from the original Vivitar case that came with the camera) on it and now have a beautiful little kit. It's a great little camera that packs a powerful punch with its fast and sharp f/1.7 lens (again, the same as that on the 7sII). It's a superb camera!

Andy

 

[martinsmith99]

Thanks for the replies.

The Viv should be arriving today. I doubt I'll get a chance to use it until the weekend, but I'll study the instruction manual over over the next few days. I hate wasted shots with film.

 

[martinsmith99]

I have an old National PE-145 flash and love the simplicity and the accuracy of exposures. More accurate than TTL IMO