Dang prices for RDs & SPs

[raytoei@gmail.com]

After watching, bidding and resisting ridiculous RD and SP EBAY prices for one whole week, I am going take a deep breath and look at other options of shooting in low light:

* use faster film on my RC instead of machine wash C-41 B&W
* use Flash
* wait for the hysteria to subside
* look elsewhere to buy a RD or SP

any suggestions?

raytoei

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

You can get a NICE 35mm SLR and 50mm lens for less than people are paying for those crappy little fixed lens RFs these days, its crazy. I know the Olympus RD/RC and the Canonet and the Yashica GS cameras had really good lenses and are fun to use but hell they were the cheap crap cameras of their time and you can get something much nicer for the money these fools are paying for these things now.

 

[shadowfox]

Nothing wrong with wanting a 35 SP or RD. They are a fine way to experience RF cameras, especially when they have been serviced.

Be patient, one week is nothing in ebay's market movement time.

 

[kxl]

The RD's and SP's are nice, but I wouldn't pay their current going prices on ebay... In the meantime, the Konica Auto S2's seem to be going for quite a bit less.

Nothing wrong with wanting a 70's RF, but with the dim viewfinder it may sour you on the RF experience. IMHO, the best value right now for a cheap kit is an old manual-focus SLR and a fast 50mm.

Go to keh.com -- they have A LOT of the those old SLR's for sale. The ones in BGN condition are very good buys.

 

[scottwallick]

If you're jonesing for a Oly, consider a Trip.

 

[btgc]

I agree - is speed (or DOF?) is you only issue, look at possibility of SLR with 1.4 lens. If RF is what you want, there are loads of nice sub-f2 FL RF's. Yashica Lynx, 5000 or 14; Petri 7s - just a couple to mention (note, those all are without AE mechanism coupled to release thus having proper smooth release button. There's no fun to use cameras with stiff and long traveling release buttons).

 

[Mablo]

My suggestion is to get a small flash and use your RC with it. I'm using the Nikon SB-22. RC has a very clever flash automation system, you can read the instructions here:

http://www.ph.utexas.edu/~yue/misc/35RC.html

 

[Pickett Wilson]

I'm with Chris and others. An SLR is a much better value if you want a fast lens. I can't figure out why these old '70's RF's have become overpriced cult cameras. Back when they were new (yeah, I'm old and remember that time) no serious photographer would have been caught dead with one. Mom and pop snapshot cameras.

 

[btgc]

I can't figure out why these old '70's RF's have become overpriced cult cameras.

My guess is that people weren't happy with what P&S (film and digital) cameras had to offer. When they discovered better P&S cameras, and this rediscovered knowledge started to spread around, they became cult and prices started to rise. Simply because there's limited number of this cameras on earth.

And, there ARE certain differences between similarly sized SLR and RF with similar, say, 50/45mm f1.7/1.8 lens.

I may agree that RF's of pre-70's are more solid built, and thus more durable and nicer by feel. Say, Ricoh 500 and 500G are two completely different breeds. For Oly that would be like comparing 35S to later models.

 

[raytoei@gmail.com]

I like the compact size of my Trip and RC.

When I took street pictures, nobody felt threatened by it, it was as small as a large handphone. Carrying a SLR around made the target very self-conscious, the size and shape of the SLR meant serious photography to many of the folks being photographed. (see this for an example of my RC: http://retro.ms11.net/dome-parkway.jpg ).

In many establishments, there is some sort of policy that camera's aren't allowed, somehow the Oly 35xx are exempted while SLR tend to be picked on (of course, this is my opinion only 🙂)

Anyway, I'll add one more option to my first post, which is to look for a Sub-2 Rangefinder, of course the G-III comes to mind, and thanks for the suggestion, I will also check out the " Yashica Lynx, 5000 or 14 and the Petri 7s".

I took my Summicron / Leicaflex to mortons bar a month ago, the exposures were too dark, even at f2 and 15 seconds. So instead of C-41 ISO 400, I recently put in a kodak 3200 ISO film (t-max ?) into my Trip to test it out. Too early to tell when I'll use up the roll.

Any other comments on other Rangfinder (GIII ?) vs my precious RC ?

raytoei
(ps. i am a newbie, 3 months ago I thought Canon was a printer company that sold cameras, now I mess around with curtain pinhole tests with my FSU LTM, and my camera collection has ballooned)

 

[sevo]

I'm with Chris and others. An SLR is a much better value if you want a fast lens. I can't figure out why these old '70's RF's have become overpriced cult cameras.

Mine cost a fraction of the price of a corresponding SLR or Leica lens, at current low used prices - and there is nothing wrong with a cheap, limited but optically uncompromised camera. At current high prices, matters are of course different - anybody who needs a camera (rather than the umpteenth toy) and buys a Olympus SP at full current rate rather than a F4, RB67 or any other of the serious pro cameras you can now get for the same budget has either been talked into something stupid or is none too smart!

Back when they were new (yeah, I'm old and remember that time) no serious photographer would have been caught dead with one. Mom and pop snapshot cameras.

That was in the days when the cult of the SLR was as much a religious belief as digital is right now, and when even carrying a Leica would make you the butt end of many jokes. By the eighties, many pros were toying around in public with XA's or Rollei 35's, and the mju generation of AF compacts pretty much put an end to compacts being associated with retards.

 

[raytoei@gmail.com]

Thanks for all the useful suggestions. This is what I did in the past 48 hours.

a. I looked at the various options of Canonet, Yashica Lynx, Minolta Hi-matic and Petri. The Lynx 14 was great at f1.4 but too large, 7SII was highly desirable but again was being bidded up unrealistically, and Petri didn't appeal to me and the Canonet G-III prices was bubble-like. I bidded on a less popular Minolta Hi-matic 9 with a fast 1.7 lens. And I closed the bid at $15 + $6 for SH.

c. I wasn't done yet. ClassicCamera listed a Olympus 35 SP that was selling for $20 + $10 S&H but was "not working properly", I called them up and they told me that the spot meter didn't work but the shutter was okay. I grabbed that too.

So,I am holding my breath waiting for USPS to deliver my fast cameras.

cheers!

raytoei

 

[btgc]

The Lynx 14 was great at f1.4 but too large

cheers, Lynx 5000 is the Lynx to carry around.

Petri 7s looks and feels cheap and yet it has BEST shutter release, it's literally feather-like. Yes, better than Lynx has, not mentioning cameras with heavy-and-slow-moving releases to engage AE levers.

Just use what you have got and they will be good picture takers.

 

[Gary E]

Did you look at the Minolta 7s ? It is bigger than it's successor, but the 45mm lens on it is quite good; though I'd suggest a hood as it can flare a little. The chrome ones usually go for cheap on the Bay, but they use the old mercury batteries and the meter has to be adjusted for the new 1.5v ones.

 

[Mablo]

Congrats on your Hi-Matic and SP. Both were bargains. Noone ever uses the spotmeter on SP anyway.

 

[ColinW]

Noone ever uses the spotmeter on SP anyway.

I think Earl will have something to say about that! 😀

 

[nikku]

The Konica Auto S16 is another good one. Talk of the lens being "inferior" to its slower brother, the Auto S2, is just that--talk. They're kinda hard to find, but they aren't that expensive.

The Auto S3, however, is mentally disabled expensive.

 

[btgc]

The Konica Auto S16 is another good one. Talk of the lens being "inferior" to its slower brother, the Auto S2, is just that--talk. They're kinda hard to find, but they aren't that expensive.

Don't know if 1.6 makes any difference to 1.8 lens, though 1.6 versions has hot shoe, if flash is often mounted on.

 

[raytoei@gmail.com]

Here's an arbitrage idea:

* Sell your 35RD for $150+ (see this listing)
* Buy a LEICA LTM cheap (see here )

Wait a few months, enjoy the pictures.

Hopefully by then, the the RD Craze will subside OR when Leica LTMs becomes Crazy again and then sell. Rinse and Repeat. 🙂

raytoei

 

[Solinar]

Here's an arbitrage idea:

* Sell your 35RD for $150+ (see this listing)
* Buy a LEICA LTM cheap (see here )


raytoei

I did that back in 2004 to finance a Leica IIIf - which I still use. In my case I sold an Olympus 35SP, which I miss and a 35RD.

With regards to fixed lens RF's - you are essentially buying a lens that happens to have a body attached.

With regards to the Oly 35SP - you are buying an outstanding lens that puts most older Leitz and Zeiss glass to shame with regards to resolution and contrast - which is great for color. In fact, the negs can have too much contrast for my taste. You really have to be aware of the lighting.

For B/W prints - I definitely prefer the older Leitz, Zeiss and Rodenstock lenses.

If you are counting dollars and nothing else - a friend purchased a Nikon FE2 with a so, so AI 50/1.8 for a $150 last summer.