Cheap film rangefinder for street photography

Toby: I think you'll be very happy. I find the SP does very well with long exposures when handheld. I've been able to get "decent" results at 1/8 or even 1/4s. Not dead sharp of course, but surprisingly good. 1/15 and 1/30 are dead easy unless I've had one too many Guinness.

f1.7 @ 1/4s

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Very nice. Have fun with your SP. Warning, though, these things are addictive. Butchya know what? There's worse vices and worse addictions than old futzing with old fixed-lens rangefinders ; )
 
A few weeks ago I posted a similar question, (you might be able to find it,) and got a very large array of suggestions fine-tuned to my needs. I followed up by buying a Fed-3 soon after, and I must say I'm very happy with its quality. I just uploaded four pictures today shot with it. It's not a Leica, definitely, but for its price it's very much worth buying either as a spare rangefinder, or even a regular one. A Yashica Lynx 14E is on its way to me at the moment, in two weeks I'll hopefully be able to post some pictures with that.

Best regards, and happy hunting 🙂
 
Hi... Here's a shot made with my Oly 35 RC. Though it cost around $70-,
I had to replace the front lens element. There was a spot at the edge
I couldn't live with. Cheers, mike
 

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Mike: Nice!

Funny you should mention the RC ... I got mine out of the storage box the other day, the first time I've had it since I bought it what, 2+ years ago?

I have some Kodak 400BW loaded right now, I'm anxious to finish that off and see how it worked. This RC has a dented filter ring, needs a CLA and I'm thinking the meter is off. We'll see. But I do like the VF. Not the best in the world, but the patch is contrasty and I like having the shutter and aperture info right there.

Earl
 
Hi Earl & all,

The focusing patch in the 35 RC is in no way comparable to an M2 or Bessa T.
Still and all, it IS accurate. It's been on the shelf for months, and now I want to put in a roll of Kodak 400 B/W C41 and carry it along with the Bessa T.
That 42mm focal length in the RC is great. Cheers, mike
 
Here's one that's not been mentioned so far:

No battery, a meter, RF coupled interchangeable lenses, made in Germany and pretty cheap.

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A Braun Paxette Super II BL.

Lenses range from 35mm to 135mm. Cheaper than a Russian RF, pretty well built.

The RF patch is circular, but it has good contrast and the viewfinder is nice and bright. Framelines for 50mm, 85mm and 135mm, plus whole of viewfinder for 35mm.

yiy4cd.jpg
 
Cheap being the watch word, my personal cheap favorite for "street" photography is a Fed 2. With a collapsible lens it slips into a coat pocket. Works even better with a wide angle. Focus and then shift to a nice bright viewfinder. Needs a slightly bigger pocket. Add a tiny strobe and yer ready for anything (stuff can happen when you duck indoors. I carry an old flash cube adapter, but then I have a carton of flash cubes...)

You don't need to meter every shot. A cheap hand held like a Gossen pilot is just fine. Some one you know doubtless has a meter laying around. Eventually you will use it less and less. Becomes a dapper cane instead of a crutch. Sunny 16 rule and all that.

I have a GSN and several other fixed lens marvels. Every one of them needed work, at least light seals. Study reveals that they all have "weaknesses" that go wrong. Old sticky fish paste lubricants, the Pad of Death, the bent Lynx aperture tab, finding mercury battery substitutes, and the universal gooey Japanese light seals. Buying from someone they recommend here solves that problem. They've done the work.

Not to say that the FSU jobs are without fault. Just easier to fix, easier to find a good one on ebay, and more bang for the buck (or Quid). And you can replace the Yak hair light seals with string.

IMHO the finest camera for informal "street photography" generating snapshot size prints and web post ables is the Minox. Leica quality (literally!) and less conspicuous than a cell phone cam. Even less with the famous right angle secret agent viewfinder. Not that cheap,($75-100 for a EC, $400 new) but talk about bang for your buck! A model C is a better deal ($100-175) with the very similar newest model going for $1495. Hello my name is Tom and I'm a.......never mind. That mania off topic.

You might cruise the flea markets and invest a couple bucks each on likely looking aged cameras that still go 'click". Sort out the battery (and swab the green gunk out of the battery box with a bit of vinegar on a qtip swab) and shoot a roll of Lucky film to see if they work. This gamble pays off for many folks and has an excitement all it's own. The ones that don't work become a "collection" to impress your date. And disintegrating light seals don't always actually leak light.
 
ZorkiKat said:
I do street photography 96% of the time with Zorki and FED. I would say that they are user friendly and can be considered for serious work. It's the adjustment part which may turn off some people, but once these machines are
set, they can do work as good as any other camera.

The functions may not be as easy, but then again, any camera requires some form of learning curve.

In as far as cheap goes, the Russian and Ukrainian rangefinders are hard to beat. Just yesterday, our group went on a street shoot. Three of us shot with
Russian rangefinders. One dropped his FED-2 on the pavement. Nothing happened to it. Nothing happened to the owner as well. Just imagine if this FED-2's owner had dropped a Leica, a Bessa, or an R-D1 instead. He may have suffered more trauma than his camera did. 😀

I also had an R-D1 in tow. In as far as responsiveness goes, the Zorki fired and shot when it was commanded to. Film cameras still win in this category. 🙂

Jay
Click to expand...

I agree with Jay, russian rangefinder are piece of Art, but Yashica/Oly fixed RFs
are good & cheap solution ... I would like to try some of these fast/sharp/quiet cameras too ...
 
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