best manual fixed lens RF? Do they come wider?

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Overconfidence

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So I borrowed a Fujica 35-SE from a friend and I enjoyed it a fair bit, and I think I've sorta narrowed down the criteria for what I would like to get myself. Here are the things I am interested in:

1. Wide lens. Most seem to be 40-50mm, are there any at 28 or 35mm? I could make do at 40, but then prefocusing is harder.
2. Quiet. I think most of these cameras have leaf shutters, right?
3. Manual controls. I like to be able to set my exposure.
4. A meter. Mostly just for low(er) light stuff.
5. Depth of field scale on lens/focus ring/whatever. I guess I could carve something into a focusing scale but it would be much nicer just to be able to prefocus accurately.

Does anything fit most of these criteria, if not all? I've been looking around but most stuff is missing some of these. I really like the canonet but it looks like it'd be a pain to prefocus.
 
Only FL RF wider than 40mm I'm aware is Yashica Electro 35 CC/CCN with it's 35mm f1.8 lens. No manual control usual to Electro RF series Av complemented with stepless shutter. No DOF scale on lens barrel. Otherwise should be very good candidate.
 
I lack a comprehensive knowledge of fixed lens RFs, However, based on my own experience I would highly recommend you check out a Fujica Compact Deluxe, especially if you liked the 35-SE. While, at 45mm, the lens is not as wide as you would like, it is still worth a look. Do a quick search here on RFF and I believe you will only read good things about it. Quick rundown:

Leaf Shutter, Off the top of my head I think from 1/30 to 1/500 plus B
Aperture all the way from 1.8 to 22
Cds meter which takes readily available batteries
Shutter Priority of full manual, with a meter readout on top for manual use, and provision for film speed up to 400 although you can work around this for faster film.
 
I think I remember mentione a couple of years ago of a 28mm fixed lens rf, but I don't remember anything else about it.

There are enough fixed lens afficionados in here that soon someone will come up and give you more information. The only two I really like are the Canonet QL17 III and the Olympus SP. At that, I am more likely to grab the Canonet if I want to carry a fixed lens non-foldng rf. Just me. Be patient.

Someone will give you the info you want.
 
If you insist on a wider focal length:

Yashica CC (35)
Hexar AF (35)
Konica Auto S3 (38mm)
Yashica GX (40 - good luck finding one)
Canon Canonette QLIII (40 + manual. Might be your best bet)
Olympus RD (40)

I think there are others that are 40mm, but drawing a blank. These are all fine cameras...
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Olympus SP is totally manual, with shutter priority as well, has a light meter, very quiet leaf shutter. It sports a very very sharp 42mm 1.7 lens. No depth of field scale.
 
Olympus XA should meet the criteria, too, if you can live with that dim focusing patch.
By the way, the 35/2.8 lens on mine does vignette, even when not shooting wide open.
 
It's not fully manual or an RF, but an Olympus XA-4 has (I think, I'm someone can correct me if I'm wrong) a 28mm lens. As Daniel said, the XA is 35mm.
 
Welsh_Italian said:
It's not fully manual or an RF, but an Olympus XA-4 has (I think, I'm someone can correct me if I'm wrong) a 28mm lens. As Daniel said, the XA is 35mm.
Click to expand...

The XA-4 does indeed have a 28mm/3.5 lens - true it is not a rangefinder as such, but it has one heck of a lens in it, it´s quiet, small and can close focus down to 12"

I really really regret selling mine.

Cheers,

Meakin
 
Meakin said:
The XA-4 does indeed have a 28mm/3.5 lens - true it is not a rangefinder as such, but it has one heck of a lens in it, it´s quiet, small and can close focus down to 12"
Click to expand...



with 28mm lens it hardly needs rangefinder.

All in all, such a small cameras are just fine with scale focusing. Especially if used for candids like on street or some scenery. I find myself focusing with RF only when going wide open.
 
If you want to forget about focusing and exposure, there is the current cult favorite: Vivitar Ultra Wide and Slim.

Load it with some 400 speed film and you'll be astounded at how good it is. It can vignette, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. And you have to be careful not to photograph your knuckles.

The lens is 22mm. I read that the specs are a fixed f/16 aperture with a shutter speed of 1/125. Seems to work best with 400 speed film.

This little camera puts much more expensive cameras to shame.

I paid $1.95 for mine at a thrift shop.
 
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