Lot’s of interesting suggestions here and good links too.
Like the original poster, about 18 months ago I too decided to pick up a 35mm rangefinder as part of a desire to go back to shooting film and a general dissatisfaction with the “ease” of digital. Interchangeable lenses were out of my reach, so I concentrated on fixed lens cameras.
My main aim was to get back to taking photographs, thinking about composition and light, and away from the snap-snap-snap that I feel I’d drifted into with digital. When you’ve only 36 shots – or 8 if using a medium format folder with 120 film – you tend to think a bit more about what you’re doing (never mind the costs of film and processing compared to digital).
What attracted me about RFs is the ability to focus on a subject with one eye while viewing the scene with the other. Another advantage is the lack of a mirror, coupled with the leaf shutter in most fixed lens RFs, giving the ability to take handheld shots at relatively low shutter speeds. Add to that the fast and wide lens on some of these classic RFs, and the fact you can shoot indoors, without flash, on fairly slow film and still produce decent results.
Of the classic fixed lens RFs I considered, the top of my list is the Canonet QL17 GIII. Fast wide(-ish) lens and very easy to use (just remember not to wind on at the end of a roll to try to squeeze in an extra shot – ripped my first roll right out of the canister!).
The only drawback with mine I feel is the fact that, off the “automatic” setting, you need a handheld meter as the in-built meter just shows the aperture you’ve selected. I wanted to slow down my picture taking – but I don’t want to have to use the automatic setting first to get a meter reading before every picture.
One camera that does allow metered-manual use (in fact, one of the very few) is the Ricoh 500G. With a 40mm, f2.8 lens, this was actually my first RF. It is so small and compact, it really is a pocket camera. It gives surprisingly good results. And it is available for stupidly low money through online auctions.
I have also tried the Olympus 35RD which is a joy to use and gives just as good results as the GIII. Mine needs new light seals (a common problem) but the camera hasn’t (so far) succumbed to the infamous “sticky shutter syndrome”.
Finally, I have an Olympus XA, with a 35mm, f2.8 lens, aperture priority only (so not fully manual). It too needs new light seals but – my God! – for such a small camera, it gives great results. And I feel it is great for street shooting, being so small and unobtrusive. I tend to keep it in a pocket, where you can wind on between shots with the thumb wheel, and then whip it out and take a picture pretty quickly.
Those are the ones I’ve tried (so far). The other cameras I considered were the Olympus 35SP (but the meter cell isn’t mounted near the lens and so using filters requires you to compensate accordingly); the Minolta Hi-matic 7s ii (and “clones”, like the Vivitar 35 ES); and the Yashica Lynx 14e (40mm, f1.4). But all three models go for silly money!
Good hunting and good luck!
