I Shoot With Rangefinders

I Shoot With Rangefinders

  • Shoot rangefinders nearly exclusively

    Votes: 203 31.7%

  • Shoot with rangefinders along with other kinds of cameras

    Votes: 398 62.2%

  • Only use rangefinders occasionally

    Votes: 29 4.5%

  • Never use 'em

    Votes: 10 1.6%
  • Total voters
    640
The only reason I use a rangefinder is that I want a smallish, well built 35mm camera so I have a Canonet QL17GIII that I carry around. If it wasn't small, I wouldn't use it.
 
The majority of the time I use a small compact P&S contax t3 or a ricoh gr1v.
I occasionally still use either my Minolta cle or cl.
For me it’s about an 80-20 split between the RF’s and the others.
 
varjag said:
With all recent mudslinging to Leica and increasingly low regard of rangefinder cameras here in general
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Increasingly low regard of rangefinders in general?

What are you talking about? I see no evidence of this whatsoever -- at least, not since, say, the introduction* of the Nikon F!

And how can something be "increasingly low," anyway? :bang:

*1959.
 
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The majority of my shooting right now is w/ my leicas, but if it's a camera, I'll shoot it! In my cabinet I have everything from minox to 5x7, some RF, some SLR, some view cameras, TLR, scale focus, pinhole boxes, you name it.

FWIW, currently loaded with film are my rollei 35T, Holga, and some 4x5 and 5x7 film holders.

The Leicas get the most use because of the combination of size, speed, and quality, and my ability to wrangle camera and toddler at the same time.

(the 5x7 is tough to manage while chasing a two-year-old whose version of the 'pitter patter of little feet' sounds like an over-caffeinated elephant in tap-shoes)

-Brian
 
semilog said:
And how can something be "increasingly low," anyway?
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Isn't that the role of the negative number?

Re: the poll... I use any camera that give me the best chance of getting the image I want. About 25% or less is rangefinder. Why hang out here... some of hte folks are interesting, as are some of the discussions. Some even are about photography versus the religion of equipment(s). :D
 
semilog said:
I'd say no. You can't get lower (smaller in amplitude) than zero, even if you can get increasingly negative.

Yes, I'm a pedant.
Click to expand...

I would have understood your answer better if you said you were a mathematician rather than a pedant. :rolleyes:


But, OK... whatever you say, boss. :)
 
I was an SLR man for most of my career and then discovered rangefinders, and Leicas, about four years ago. Since then I have slowly shifted away from SLRs and am 100% rangefinder with the recent acquisition of an M8!
 
I use my ZM a lot more than any other camera, but it's really nice to get the Rolleiflex out once in a while too, and even digital has its uses sometimes.
 
rangefinders just are what works best for me, simple convenience.
I'm not as fast / comfortable / good with other cameras, that's why the few SLRs that I have left are collecting dust on the shelves (the 20D gets pulled out every now and then for a gear or simple ebay shot, but that's about it, it hasn't really left home for months or years even). I do take a TLR with me at times, for the change of perspective and confrontation of the subject it offers, but really not often.

I say 96% rangefinders or more.
 
Dunno the percentage but it's been mostly RF (and mostly Leica at that) for over two decades. Also everything from sub-min to 12x15 inch.

Cheers,

R.
 
Different tools for different applications. I use a DSLR for when I need speed and quick distribution. Most of my kit is Nikon F-mount. Canon HDSLR for video. Leica for film, when I want the special look of film and the character of the Leica lenses. The M6 also forces me to slow down and think about what I'm doing!
 
I guess I am a weirdo...I have a bunch of SLR's and lenses and just a couple of weeks ago I bought a rangefinder in my eternal quest to find something that I can focus better! That is why I am now a member of RFF.

I would like to add I am a very new to the film game and photography in general and as such have been trawling the net for camera forums. What I have discovered is the heavy hitters are here in this forum and all of the other forums are mediocre IMO with the possible exception of the Zeiss forum - which counts many RFF heavy hitters amongst it's members.

Has anyone else noticed how the Nikon forums seem to suck or is it just me?
 
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Started using a Leica M4-P in January 2010 and have since been gradually building the lens kit (21mm 4.5 Biogon, 50 ver.2 Summilux, and 35 2.8 Biogon arriving in the mail) and have pretty much abandoned my Nikon kit.

That said, I would like to find a digital body for my Nikkor lenses, but this will have to wait as I'm thoughly enjoying the rangefinder.
 
I'm like David Jenkins. I love rangefinder cameras, the look, the feel, the smallness, and so I got a few (M6, Bessa R, Oly XA) because I thought it would be easier to focus with an RF rather than with an SLR. Turned out not to be the case, for me anyway. Lining up the two heads is, in my opinion, too fiddly and thus takes longer than focusing an SLR lens. Your mileage certainly may vary in this regard, as it's clear from spending several years on this forum that the opposite is true for many of you. (I sold the M6 because it didn't seem to do anything more than the Bessa (using the same lenses on each camera), and the Bessa was much cheaper. Also, I found myself worrying about the Leica - that it would get stolen, dented, banged up, etc. Whereas if that happened with the Bessa I'd just go buy another

I use a DSLR when turn-around time is critical; otherwise I use film cameras.
 
I shoot with RF, film SLR, DSLR, m4/3, and I am waiting to get my GA645.

Am I considered a hipster now? :D:D
 
Almost exclusively RF cameras for me since more than three years ... From time to time I use also TLR and SLR but prefer RF cameras.
 
Even in the thick of my SLR days, RFs figured somewhat in the mix: a black Canon GIII here, a Leica CL there, an Olympus XA somewhere else. But it was living with a Konica Hexar autofocus for five years that got me thinking about making the jump, which I finally did in February 2002. Since then, I'd say a good 90% of my camera work is with non-SLR, 35mm cameras (mostly my Hexar RF kit, followed close by my Contax Tvs, and not-so-close by my Konica Auto S3, and Holga 135). That leaves just my Olympus OM-2n for SLR stuff, and tiny-but-nice Casio EX-875 for the digital stuff at the moment. I wouldn't want to be without any of this gear, but shifting to RFs for virtually all my "serious" work has been a happy revelation.


- Barrett
 
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