Most Reliable Rangefinder?

[raid]

M6 & Canon P. Once you use a different rewind crank, the M6 is more sturdy than any Leica before or after.

Roland,
Did you change the rewind crank on your M6?
Did DAG do it?

 

[Roger Hicks]

It *is* a rangefinder and don't let any camera snob tell you otherwise! 😉

Gosh! So my Nikon D70 is a rangefinder camera as well?

(I can always put a direct vision finder in the accessory shoe.)

Cheers,

R.

 

[NickTrop]

A better way to ask such a question might be what RF's might become less reliable. I say this because most of the 60's-mid 70's RFs are well built. However, the Oly RD (a fine camera) is known to have sticky shutter issues... The GSNs get the "pad of death"... The FSU's are an acquired taste and can develop issues, etc. As posed, it's a hard question to answer.

 

[Krosya]

I'm tempted to say that newer cameras will be more reliable. I have cameras that date back to 1930s - like Welta Weltur - which I love and it still functions great. I did need to CLA it but nothing had to be replaced. So to me it was a well made item. Yet still, I understand that old things just get old. Old Leicas get worse simply by being old. Technologies they used at the time were not as good as they are now. Mirrors, coatings, beamsplitters - all these start to go and will need to be replaced - if possible. Sutters/curtains wear out. etc. Newer cameras are better in those respects. Metal curtains, new coatings, etc will last longer. Also, as experience shows - plastic parts last for a long time now. Not always, but often. So, all in all, I'd have to say Bessa R3M and such would be a pretty good choice. But my Hexars seem to be going strong without need for any CLAs. Meanwhile 3 out of 4 Leicas needed CLAs and repairs. So there...😉

 

[Krosya]

PS. Konica AUTO S seems to be pretty good - best out ot all the fixed lens RFs of that kind I tried - Canonets, Yashicas, Olys, etc. Konica is a simple yet well and smart built camera with a superb lens.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Old thread, but makes sense even more now, I guess.

I was thinking about it since my M4-2 is in service for almost one year circle now...
Where will I service M3... just sending to USA is 100$.

My parents received FED-2 in sixties as the gift, used it, then I started to use it. Quit in nineties. Returned to it in 2012. It has shutter curtains and grease deteriorated. I did all of the CLA steps until shutter and body assembly. Stuck with it, send to Oleg. In 2016 I burned one curtain and ... did it all by myself.

Two CLA in fifty years. Nothing else broke, no RF separation, no Leica typical issues for lens of this age.

I guess, I could call this camera as... really proved to be reliable?

 

[Huss]

The Fuji Texas Leicas. GW690 I, II or III.
Designed purely as a pro camera to take lots of abuse and have film pumped through them all day long.

 

[ForestCap]

Those Canon V, VI series cameras are damn tough, especially the ones with metal curtains.

It's not uncommon they arrive in working condition, even without being CLA'ed for decades.

 

[giganova]

A pinhole camera 😀

 

[Peter_S]

Contax G2 - maybe not STRICTLY a rangefinder but I bought mine new 16 years ago and it's never so much as hinted at a repair, cla, problem etc.

+1 for the G2 system.

 

[Swift1]

Kodak Medalist...