Dechert's Favorites?

[CameraQuest]

Peter,

With your landmark series on Canon Rangefinders published by Shutterbug in the mid 1970's, followed up by your Canon Rangefinder book published by Hove, for all practical purposes you single handedly established Canon RF collecting in the English language.

With that unique perspective, what are your own favorite Canon rangefinders from both a using and collecting standpoint?

Stephen

 

[erikhaugsby]

I didn't know that a guy I didn't know had his own subforum in a forum I didn't know existed.

 

[pdek]

Doesnt seem like Peter is with us......

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REPLY: Actually, I kind of half-way am. We'll see how it goes. Peter

 

[back alley]

it's a test!

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REPLY: I have been a Zeiss lens admirer ever since 1940, and often praised them in general in my SHUTTERBUG writing days. All the ZM lenses I've had an opportunity to test have been superior with one exception, the recenly issued 50mm f/1.5 recreation. On my M8, it gave unusually lousy results for a Zeiss lens. I know that today many many plants are using Zeiss-originated designs under license, supposedly also under Zeiss supervision, and you can't really expect the old-time perfection still to be there. But I wish it were!
The CosineVoigtlander 35mm f/1.2 is an amazing lens. Look it up sometime, to go with your others.
Peter

 

[pdek]

I didn't know that a guy I didn't know had his own subforum in a forum I didn't know existed.

I don't know you either, but maybe we'll get to do so in time. Peter

 

[pdek]

Peter,

With your landmark series on Canon Rangefinders published by Shutterbug in the mid 1970's, followed up by your Canon Rangefinder book published by Hove, for all practical purposes you single handedly established Canon RF collecting in the English language.

With that unique perspective, what are your own favorite Canon rangefinders from both a using and collecting standpoint?

Stephen

For using, I used to like the VL, VIL, and 7sZ (now I use digital, but let's not get into that yet).
My good old collection (sold about 1990) had everything, or almost everything, that Canon had made by way of RFs with exchangeable lenses. Now I only collect the occasional mid-time-range RF, and have only one unique example of a Canon at hand. Also collect other items which we may get into down the line.
Thanks for your tutelage.
Peter

 

[pdek]

what's the frequency, Kenneth?

No frequency. Actually, I played clarinets (from bass on up) and saxes (from baritone on up). Jazz almost entirely. What do you play, and how did you happen to get on this site?
Peter

 

[rover]

Peter, thank you for joining us here at RFF. I had the pleasure of sharing a short email exchange with you following the article in Shutterbug updating your book regarding the 1950. Thank you for sending me the revised chapter.

So, based on your description and discussions about the L1 I did find one to my liking and have to say it is my favorite Canon RF.

And Jazz Clarinet... a Benny Goodman fan I am sure. I dabble (not well) with a trombone.

Welcome to RFF!!!

 

[pdek]

Peter, thank you for joining us here at RFF. I had the pleasure of sharing a short email exchange with you following the article in Shutterbug updating your book regarding the 1950. Thank you for sending me the revised chapter.

So, based on your description and discussions about the L1 I did find one to my liking and have to say it is my favorite Canon RF.

And Jazz Clarinet... a Benny Goodman fan I am sure. I dabble (not well) with a trombone.

Welcome to RFF!!!

Thanks! And I'm glad the L1 suits. Actually I liked Goodman, but my favorite growing up was Artie Shaw, and later on Buddy deFranco. Peter

 

[Todd.Hanz]

No frequency. Actually, I played clarinets (from bass on up) and saxes (from baritone on up). Jazz almost entirely. What do you play, and how did you happen to get on this site?
Peter

ever heard of REM or Dan Rather?

http://ask.yahoo.com/20010619.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fxfDRYGtjw

sorry, it appears that there are no clarinets or sax 😉



welcome to the forum Pete, looking forward to your input.

Todd

 

[KoNickon]

welcome to the forum Peter, I really like your Canon Rangefinder Camera book.
any chance for a new edition of this fantastic book?

REPLY: Hove has gone bankrupt under very suspicious circumstances; no one I know is very happy. I am not the only "Hove author" who hasn't been paid royalties in years (10 for me). I did update the chapter on the 1950 Canons in SHUTTERBUG last year, but really have no plans to do a complete update of the book after finding a putative new publisher. Perhaps, though, as this site develops, I can interject some updates here -- I may establish a "Canon RF" thread if that seems appropriate. Meanwhile, just for kicks, you can count it as fact that the "Kwanon" (not so marked) that was auctioned by Skinner in Boston recently is absolutely authentic. It was the second prototype, incorporated a few parts borrowed from a Leica, and was only partly functional, but it is absolutely and beyond question real. The European who bought it was later dismayed by the number of folk who have attacked it as a fake without knowing any better, and I've tried to reassure him, but have not recently heard from him and can only assume that I succeeded. OK?
Peter

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QUERY: Regarding Hove, seems to me that Robert Rotoloni was encountering great difficulty in getting his new edition of the Nikon rangefinders book finally put to bed -- this would explain why. It would be a huge shame if it never saw the light of day.

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REPLY: Bob was experiencing Hove problems, just like the rest of us. He has, however, gotten his manuscript back, found a new publisher, and the book is expected to be in print by the end of this year. Perseverance personified! And it's going to pay off for us all.
Peter

 

[planetjoe]

Peter:

I just wanted to share my pleasure at finding you part of our "little" community. My copy of your text is well-used - although not dog-eared, that would be a crime - and well-liked.

Thanks for joining, and thanks to the Head Bartender for bringing you into the fold. Looking forward to more talk of Canon RFs.


Cheers,
--joe.

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Reply: My copy IS dog-eared. Thanks! Peter

 

[raid]

Welcome to RFF Peter.

I used to read the extensive articles in Shutterbug when Bob Shell was Editor. Those articles opened the world of cameras and lenses to my eyes.

I may have made a huge error when I traded off a mint Canon VI-L, but this is now history. Did you view the VI-L as one of Canon's best RF camera and how do you view the Canon P relative to the VI-L?


Raid
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REPLY: There's already an answer to this posted somewhere on this thread, but here goes: as a user, the VI-L was one of my three favorites; the P was a camera I used a fair amount of time, but preferred the VI-L.
Peter.

 

[shadowfox]

Hi Peter,

Just want to do a virtual shake-hand with an established photography historian... who happens to like one of my favorite cameras ever, the Olympus Pen-F series.

*shake* 🙂

Sooo, what draws you into the Pen-F series? any of your articles on this camera available online?

Will

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REPLY: I still own a bunch of my old Pen Fs, mostly ones I've modified. I'm also delighted that the general physical structure has been echoed in recent Olympus Evolts (awful name for a camera family) except for the mirrors being to the right of the lens (as you look from in front) where they were on the leFt in the Pen Fs. So far as I know, none of the articles is hidden away somewhere online -- sorry!
Peter

 

[oftheherd]

I would just like to add my own welcome. Hope you enjoy it here as much as I know all of us will enjoy having you here. I look forward to learning a lot.

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REPLY: Thanks. I have a natural inclination toward teaching, but at my age who knows whether or not it all makes sense? We'll find out.
Peter

 

[Trius]

Peter: I add my welcome to RFF. I have no intention of getting into Canon RF (even as a "user",) simply because I can't spread myself that thin. However, I have a real respect for Canon RFs, primarily through the posts here, and am always impressed by the results of the vintage LTM Canon lenses ... many of them at least.

My main reason for posting though, is the fact that you play(ed) bass clarinet. As a student in primary school, I started out with clarinet and migrated to bass clarinet in secondary school. I absolutely loved it, though I don't have one haven't picked one up in years. It is a very under-appreciated instrument, and anyone who has learned to play it I consider a "comrade"!

Earl

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REPLY: Glad to find a comrade! Actually, though I palyed them all from bass to high E-flat horns, I've got to admit that the good old standard B-flat was my favorite, though I also kept a C and an A around for emergencies. Sold the last ones about 6 months ago, though: I'm too old and beat-up, I guess,
Peter

 

[Bill58]

Welcome from me too! Although I haven't read your book, I'm a real user of Canon RFs and appreciate the publicity the book brought to a fine, but maybe previously underappreciated, line of vintage products.

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REPLY: I enjoyed writing the book. Maybe you'll read it sometime. And you certainly have some great lenses! Peter

 

[wlewisiii]

I'll add my welcome as well. I've learned much from your book & articles and though I had to sell my Canon RFs I do still have Canon glass for my Bessa R - 28/3.5, 35/1.8, 50/1.8, 85/2, 135/3.5. Marvellous quality at a price that doesn't thrash my budget 😉

Thank you, very much,

William

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REPLY: I'm really not very fond of the Bessa's short-base rangefinder: I don't think I'd trust it with a 135mm lens, even the Canon. But I'm glad you're still using the good old glass!
Peter

 

[VinceC]

Peter,

I'll add my "welcome" to the many listed above. I'm a longtime Nikon RF user. I was at a photo swap meet in Germany in the early 1990s and had a very nice Canon IV with 50/1.8 in my hands, having researched them through your book. I told my wife it was a good price. She replied, "Are you going to own your collection, or is your collection going to own you?" It was sound advice. I ended up not buying the camera and not branching into the Canon and Leica systems. But I've still derived hours of pleasure leafing through your book to learn more about the early history of Japanese cameras.

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REPLY: Thanks for the welcome! In my professional days, I also used the S2 (my favorite), S3, and SP for a while, but was constantly annoyed by the fact that the back-bottom part of the camera (the one you remove for loading, that is) felt unnecessarily flimsy. It wasn't that it ever caused real trouble: this was simply an esthetic reaction, I guess. The rest of the camera was (and is) really nicely engineered, and I support your enthusiasm.
Peter

 

[pdek]

If you want to locate my out-of-print stuff

If you want to locate my out-of-print stuff

Some of you may be interested in reading the monographs that I wrote for John Baird's Historical Camera Publications. They were issued in small printings, and his business was terminated by unrelated events in his life before he could get around to reprinting them. The titles were:
Canon Single Lens Reflex Cameras 1959-1991
Olympus Pen Single Lens Reflex Cameras
The Contax Connection
The Contax S Camera Family
In addition, on the "SONGOFSNOW.COM" website you will find reprints of some of the articles I wrote for SHUTTERBUG and other outlets, under the general title I used during my many years of being a monthly contributor:
The Dekkam Files
The address for all these reissues is:
http://www.songofsnow.com/Peter-Dechert-Articles-s/156.htm
More, including brand-new musings, will be added as we go along: I'm working right now on a new monograph about the very early development of the Canon Hansa cameras.
Enjoy!
Peter