My daughter needs a film rangefinder for School! Something tough and long lasting!

[rodt16s]

Hmm.. Paris, maybe the Hermes M7 would be appropriate..
I would suggest the lens needs to survive being cleaned with a T-shirt and perform with out a hood.. so I'd basically disregard a lot of the older Leica glass
and also sell the D700 to fund.

 

[BradM]

Sounds like a very minor part of the course.
Is it really going to see more than a couple of rolls of film?

Perhaps if she can't find something cheap in a thrift shop or from another student, maybe get a FED or a Zorki if she wants Leica and keep the change for yourself.

 

[segedi]

Final verdict?

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Hello, my daughter just finished her fashion studies and she is now entering a great photography school in France. It seems that for her course she will need to buy a film rangefinder.

As a professional photographer myself I have unfortunately not have had much experience with film or rangefinders, I always shot with digital SLRs ever since I started a few years back.

Now I have set a budget of no more than £700 for the body. My daughter wants a Leica but she doesn't seem to realise how expensive Leicas are, not to forget the lenses. Could anyone here please advise on what I should buy for her? She would prefer to buy a new camera rather than used (I think this may be due to OCD, she always sees mistakes and scratches on everything, a used camera would be the end of the world for her even though it would be much cheaper for me... Oh well.), she will use it for portraiture and street photography, she will mostly use black and white film. A friend of mine dropped me an e-mail telling me to look at Voigtlander's range, but he is on holiday so I won't be able to get ahold of him for a while. I didn't know they made cameras, those must be expensive though... Any suggestions? Thanks!

PS: Did I mention that it should be tough and long lasting? She is a little clumsy... Broke my Nikkor 70-200 the other day... 🙁

I've noticed that camera prices in general are more expensive in the UK than in France. I currently live in Paris, and let me tell you, it takes a lot of shopping around to find a good price.

What photography school is this? I don't know why she would want a rangefinder specifically, but I have noticed also that here in France Leica cameras are highly regarded.

I don't think that any rangefinder is "sturdy" enough --speaking strictly about the actual rangefinder mechanism--, so you have to weigh having to buy something "cheap" various times, versus something solid that you can repair or readjust easily (all things considered).

I know two photo shops here in Paris that sell used Leica rangefinders (both M and LTM), even the RD-1 used (they show up occasionally). But I'm guessing you want a film camera. One of the shops sell Voigtlaender stuff, so you may be able to find an Rx there. Let me know if you need info.

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

😱:bang:😉:angel:

This is a very weird thread and I'm simply having a very tough time believing any Photography course at any college or university would specifically require students to go out and buy a rangefinder. I had to learn about studio lighting set-ups and medium format cameras when I studied photography at Uni, none of which we had to buy, we just used the two sets of lights and the three or four Mamiya bodies that had obviously been bought second hand or donated from somewhere. We used a batch of old 35mm Pentax cameras if we didn't have our own 35mm SLR and we all left Uni with only a passing knowledge of RF cameras from books about Capa, Seymour, Arnold etc etc.

However, if its advice you want I think Jan has given the clearest, most concise and by far the most sensible...



...it may even save you the majority of that 700 quid😎

I do think that some hard-to-get-into schools look at how you produce your work. Like you, I also don't think a school would require the use of a film rangefinder, but I do know that some applicants state their projects and their tools (w/material) as part of their bid. I have a cousin who is trying to get into I-forget-the-name next year, and competition is fierce.