NickTrop
Veteran
My facination with Japanese fixed lens rangefinders went back a few years ago when I wanted to get a Canonette G-III QL for my father for his birthday. I never understood why he stuck with the fixed lens camera for so many years, when interchangable lens SLRs "seemingly" offered so much more. I bought him an SLR when his Canonette died one day. He used it a few times, but he seemed to lose interest in photography, so I picked up a Canonette off eBay to surprise him a couple years ago on his b-day. I ran a roll of film through it to check it out before I gave it to him - and as a lifelong SLR (and digital) user, it was an instant epiphany.
Since then I have acquired a bunch of these cameras - the Yashica GSN, Fujica Compact Deluxe, the Lynx 14, a Yashica CC... All are really wonderful cameras. I have no quibble with any of them and each has its own strengths, and they all have top-notch image quality. The Yashica does the best with color imo and has a pleasing signature, the Fujica is a recent one - an "unheralded" classic, the Lynx is big but is the best in low light... etc.
I have often thought about "stepping up" to a Hexar or a Contax or a Leica. These are wonderful cameras, I'm sure, but they're simply more than I'm willing to spend.
Well, I just got my first two rolls of XP2 Super back from the lab taken with a recently purchased Konica Auto S3 ($83 + shipping. A bit pricey for an old rangefiner but this was CLA'd, new light seals, and battery voltage adjusted). I'm blown away. The images have a quality that's difficult to describe. To me, it has that high quality optic look that I "think" prints from a Leica might have. Or, to put it another way, if someone handed me the prints taken with this camera and said they were from a Leica or a Hexar or a Contax, I would "get it" and notice the difference. (Does that make sense?) While I wouldn't say, subjectively, that the resolution or "fine detail" is noticeably better than any of the others, these pictures just have more "pop" and more of a three dimensional quality or more depth or sophistication (hope I don't sound like a loon...) or something. I don't know, it's hard to describe. There's just something about them, a quality that's absent in the others.
The fill flash system, if you've ever read up on this thing, is another fantastic bonus... It's simple to use and it just works. Perfect exposures with backlighting and daylight flash everytime. I made sure I tested this out and it delivered the goods.
This camera completely erased any desire I might have had for stepping up. I know giving up interchangable lenses is a minus, and the camera doesn't have a manual mode, but I have my SLR for that. In terms of the end product - pictures, I don't see how any camera in 135 can have an appreciable improvement in quality over this camera - at any price.
Anyway, my vote - in a tough genre with many excellent cameras, goes to the Konica Auto S3.
Since then I have acquired a bunch of these cameras - the Yashica GSN, Fujica Compact Deluxe, the Lynx 14, a Yashica CC... All are really wonderful cameras. I have no quibble with any of them and each has its own strengths, and they all have top-notch image quality. The Yashica does the best with color imo and has a pleasing signature, the Fujica is a recent one - an "unheralded" classic, the Lynx is big but is the best in low light... etc.
I have often thought about "stepping up" to a Hexar or a Contax or a Leica. These are wonderful cameras, I'm sure, but they're simply more than I'm willing to spend.
Well, I just got my first two rolls of XP2 Super back from the lab taken with a recently purchased Konica Auto S3 ($83 + shipping. A bit pricey for an old rangefiner but this was CLA'd, new light seals, and battery voltage adjusted). I'm blown away. The images have a quality that's difficult to describe. To me, it has that high quality optic look that I "think" prints from a Leica might have. Or, to put it another way, if someone handed me the prints taken with this camera and said they were from a Leica or a Hexar or a Contax, I would "get it" and notice the difference. (Does that make sense?) While I wouldn't say, subjectively, that the resolution or "fine detail" is noticeably better than any of the others, these pictures just have more "pop" and more of a three dimensional quality or more depth or sophistication (hope I don't sound like a loon...) or something. I don't know, it's hard to describe. There's just something about them, a quality that's absent in the others.
The fill flash system, if you've ever read up on this thing, is another fantastic bonus... It's simple to use and it just works. Perfect exposures with backlighting and daylight flash everytime. I made sure I tested this out and it delivered the goods.
This camera completely erased any desire I might have had for stepping up. I know giving up interchangable lenses is a minus, and the camera doesn't have a manual mode, but I have my SLR for that. In terms of the end product - pictures, I don't see how any camera in 135 can have an appreciable improvement in quality over this camera - at any price.
Anyway, my vote - in a tough genre with many excellent cameras, goes to the Konica Auto S3.
