jsrockit
Moderator
Since when is the Nikonos a rangefinder? And yeah, sign me up for 90 nickel Leica IIIs for 90 euros each.
Inexpensive, sturdy, mechanical rangefinder?
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Muggins
Proprietor of Orphanage for Lost Cameras
You do, of course, have to be an advanced masochist to actually *want* to shoot a C3!
Erik van Straten
Veteran
This is with the same camera as above, but then with a Summar.
gelatine silver print (summar 50mm f2) leica III
Erik.
Bob Michaels
nobody special
The fully mechanical Nikonos III is one step more rugged than that. Mine looks like it spent a year bouncing around in the bed of a construction worker's pickup truck but works like a charm. No problem metering using "sunny 16". Now it has no rangefinder but estimating distance is no problem so long as you don't believe you can't do it.
Bolo Kukus
en vacances...
My current favorite is the beaut 1954 Leica iif (with an Elmar 50/3.5) I bought this week, not cheap but at a reasonable price.
Anyone who believes Leicas aren't "sturdy" has never worked with one of these beasts - a 67 year old camera that still functions 99.whatever% as it did, surely redefines the meaning of the word "tough"!!
It came with a small, select box of accessories I may or may not be making good use of (I'm not a close-up or filters person) - I took this new baby yesterday with a test roll and the RASAL sports finder I got with the kit, set on the '50' mark.
Surely, I must be the luckiest person I know - one of my neighbors, a retired academic, saw me with the iif and came out to chat. It turns out he too was a Leica (M3) person in his day, but sold his kit when he retired. To my utter amazement, he asked me to wait a moment, went indoors - and came out with an as new Summitar 50/2 which he presented to me as a gift!!
It hasn't been used for a decade or longer and needs a good dust, clean and spit-polish. I will be doing all that today and testing it tomorrow.
All this by the way. I have, somewhere in my many storage cartons hidden in the garage, an Olympus 35 RC I bought four or five years ago in a charity shop, for (as I recall) A$25. It seemed to me at the time to be one of the best (of many) of the small rangefinder 35s around. On Ebay Australia these sell for A$200-$300 so not cheap, nothing is now in the land of oz anyway...
This thread and especially charjohncarter's gorgeous color images taken with his $12 camera (#10), motivated me to go forth when I've done with the Summitar spit-polish, and look for it. Good cameras deserve to be used.
Anyone who believes Leicas aren't "sturdy" has never worked with one of these beasts - a 67 year old camera that still functions 99.whatever% as it did, surely redefines the meaning of the word "tough"!!
It came with a small, select box of accessories I may or may not be making good use of (I'm not a close-up or filters person) - I took this new baby yesterday with a test roll and the RASAL sports finder I got with the kit, set on the '50' mark.
Surely, I must be the luckiest person I know - one of my neighbors, a retired academic, saw me with the iif and came out to chat. It turns out he too was a Leica (M3) person in his day, but sold his kit when he retired. To my utter amazement, he asked me to wait a moment, went indoors - and came out with an as new Summitar 50/2 which he presented to me as a gift!!
It hasn't been used for a decade or longer and needs a good dust, clean and spit-polish. I will be doing all that today and testing it tomorrow.
All this by the way. I have, somewhere in my many storage cartons hidden in the garage, an Olympus 35 RC I bought four or five years ago in a charity shop, for (as I recall) A$25. It seemed to me at the time to be one of the best (of many) of the small rangefinder 35s around. On Ebay Australia these sell for A$200-$300 so not cheap, nothing is now in the land of oz anyway...
This thread and especially charjohncarter's gorgeous color images taken with his $12 camera (#10), motivated me to go forth when I've done with the Summitar spit-polish, and look for it. Good cameras deserve to be used.
cboy
Well-known
Olympus 35RC is sturdy imho. For a inexpensive body then a bessa L or T you can probably suit.
charjohncarter
Veteran
I have a 35RC also. And for portability it is the best. You hardly know you have with you. The only problem and this goes for the Petri 7s too, if it needs to be repaired the available repair persons is limited.
Thanks for the compliment.
David Hughes
David Hughes
Hmmm, to me "mechanical" means not electronic and that means no batteries. It also means we control the settings completely. Both knock out a lot of suggestions. And reliable ought to have the addition of "when regularly serviced" as that alone explains so many 1930's cameras still in regular use.
And sturdy means nothing to drop off easily; so what do we do about lens caps and hoods? Both essential but rather vulnerable, imo.
Regards, David
And sturdy means nothing to drop off easily; so what do we do about lens caps and hoods? Both essential but rather vulnerable, imo.
Regards, David
Erik van Straten
Veteran
I always try to find screw-in hoods; otherwise hoods with a clamp-screw. I use plastic lens caps that are connected to the camera with a string.
gelatine silver print (summar) leica III
Erik.
charjohncarter
Veteran
Nice shot, Erik!
Erik van Straten
Veteran
Thank you, charjohncarter!
Erik.
Erik.
maigo
Well-known
Inexpensive, sturdy, mechanical rangefinder?
I know you said RF but what about the Rollei 35? Yes, it is zone focus but this means less to be broken when it is knocked about.
I know you said RF but what about the Rollei 35? Yes, it is zone focus but this means less to be broken when it is knocked about.
ChrisPlatt
Thread Killer
There are many well-made Japanese fixed-lens 35 models from the late 1950's.
If you must have an interchangeable lens model I suggest a Canon P.
Look for something working 100% as repairs might be uneconomical to impossible.
Chris
If you must have an interchangeable lens model I suggest a Canon P.
Look for something working 100% as repairs might be uneconomical to impossible.
Chris
analogpics
Well-known
Wow, thank you guys for all the replies! I do have an olympus 35 rc which a few have recommended and it's a fantastic cam! Though there are some pretty sturdy RF's, it sounds like i probably won't find anything quite like a nikon f2, though the canon 7s, canon P or nikon s2 may get me pretty close? I noticed some recommend the leica ii/iiis which ive considered in the past as well 🙂 As of now, i am leaning to the 7s or P so will let you guys know what i end up with. Thank you!
David Hughes
David Hughes
So do I and I use lurid coloured ones to show what focal length they are; yellow for 28mm f'instance.
And I lock the original lens cap in the safe in a plastic bag with a label on it; try buying a replacement cap for a CZ Planar to see why. Original lens caps are like original boxes; they add so much more than they are worth to the resale price...
Regards, David
Erik van Straten
Veteran
O, yes, I collect Leica lenscaps since 1979. I have one from before 1930 with an eye for a strap soldered on, obviously original, although I've never seen another one, not even in pictures.
Erik.
David Hughes
David Hughes
I can believe it. I think they would have an idea and make a few and sell them to see what happened.
Someone ought to write a book about all the oddities.
Years ago when any film camera was dirt cheap or else given away because "no one uses film" I bought anything that took my fancy. Later on when I began to thin out the heap and consolidate things I found that - even - a Leica lens cap could cost me more than the camera. And that was only the correct vintage front lens cap; the blackened brass rear lens caps' prices were even worse. Given time FED and Zorki will go down that road too...
Regards, David
Someone ought to write a book about all the oddities.
Years ago when any film camera was dirt cheap or else given away because "no one uses film" I bought anything that took my fancy. Later on when I began to thin out the heap and consolidate things I found that - even - a Leica lens cap could cost me more than the camera. And that was only the correct vintage front lens cap; the blackened brass rear lens caps' prices were even worse. Given time FED and Zorki will go down that road too...
Regards, David
Jean-Paul
Newbie
Got a Kodak Retina IIIs complete restored from nuts n bolts. Awesome camera with the 50mm 1.9 lens.
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Bolo Kukus
en vacances...
If we extend the term "mechanical" to include cameras needing a battery/batteries for their metering systems but still able to function without them (the batteries), then we extend the list by a fair few.
Like my two Nikkormat FT2s, which live in a padded carton with several Nikon F mount lenses and get taken out on aged care outings every now and then.
But then they have interchangeable lenses, so to some purists they may not qualify for inclusion in a more exclusive club. (Yes, I wrote that, didn't I?)
So the Agfa Optima, that Plaubel Makina lookalike from the 1970s, will technically not qualify as it won't do anything without the juice for its (I've forgotten how many, being German I recall it did need several) batteries.
Or those lovely old Canonets and the more upmarket Qs - I had one, a Q17 I think it was, long ago, with the 1.7 lens, so a fixed lens which took beautiful images on B&W film, I don't recall if they worked or not without batteries. So they may or may not fit into all this. Being me, I unwisely traded off that Canon Q when I got seriously into Nikkormats, which I've long regretted.
But then I did write (in an earlier post in this thread) about my new to me Leica iif, and the two lenses I now have with it. So where does this leave me in the scheme of all this?
Golly gee, this camera thing can be so complicated...
Like my two Nikkormat FT2s, which live in a padded carton with several Nikon F mount lenses and get taken out on aged care outings every now and then.
But then they have interchangeable lenses, so to some purists they may not qualify for inclusion in a more exclusive club. (Yes, I wrote that, didn't I?)
So the Agfa Optima, that Plaubel Makina lookalike from the 1970s, will technically not qualify as it won't do anything without the juice for its (I've forgotten how many, being German I recall it did need several) batteries.
Or those lovely old Canonets and the more upmarket Qs - I had one, a Q17 I think it was, long ago, with the 1.7 lens, so a fixed lens which took beautiful images on B&W film, I don't recall if they worked or not without batteries. So they may or may not fit into all this. Being me, I unwisely traded off that Canon Q when I got seriously into Nikkormats, which I've long regretted.
But then I did write (in an earlier post in this thread) about my new to me Leica iif, and the two lenses I now have with it. So where does this leave me in the scheme of all this?
Golly gee, this camera thing can be so complicated...
BigSteveG
Well-known
Yashica Lyn Permanent 50mm 1.4 Yashinon w/ shutter in lens (Copal), In camera meter! Run a few rolls of Tri - X through it and marvel at the "Poor Man's Leica".
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