amin_sabet
Established
I have been shooting digital for a number of years. Recently I wanted to try film and bought a Canonet G-III QL17. I shot Ilford XP2 and preferred the look I got from this C41 B&W film to any B&W I've been able to do with digital. Loved the color stocks I tried as well. However, the two Canonets I picked up each had problems. The first had a stuck shutter release, and the second was scratching the film pretty badly. Both were bought at relatively high prices from reliable sellers who are refunding my money, so no big loss, but I think I'm done with buying 1970s used cameras. Also, the rangefinder patch wasn't super crisp on those, so hopefully I can do better. What I want is a current or recent production 35mm film rangefinder that is relatively compact and reliable. Ideally it should have aperture-priority metering, though shutter priority similar to the Canonet would also work for me. Compact size is a plus. My ideal focal length to start with would be 40mm, though 35mm and 50mm would also be okay. Budget is about $1000 for body and lens. I can stretch it but would prefer not to do so. I was thinking the Minolta CLE would be perfect, but I'm worried about buying one and having the electronics fail shortly after purchase. This happened to me with the Leica Digilux 2, and it was a real bummer. Is the Bessa R2A or R3A a reasonable pick? The CV 40/1.4 bokeh isn't very appealing to me. Would a Rokkor 40/2 from the CL/CLE work okay with the Bessa R3A? Is the Bessa very large? Thanks for any answers. I've been reading up, but I'm a beginner with film.
