G'Evning, Captain,
I have a 7 and love it. There are real foibles about it and they may or may not have an impact on your decision. I'll try to be as objective as possible.
1) The meter is a selenium meter. If it is good, it will be as accurate as any is, but below EV 6 or 7, your Mk1 Eyeball Meter will be more accurate. I do use the meter on mine, but usually also have a hand held along. I had, until recently, a VC Meter II for my classics and now have a Sekonic L-28c that I'll throw in my pocket. In the end though, if you do available light much, you'll need a handheld that can get down to EV 1 & 2 ... or learn that level the old way...
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2) The VF is fine for me. The .8 that I hear quoted sounds about right. I am not someone who tries to keep both eyes open much, but when I do there isn't that great a difference. YMWillV. If I am wearing my glasses, I can use the 35 finder just fine, though I don't always have mine on for various reasons. It is a real glasses scratcher though. Just out of paranoia that I was giving good info, I recently set my finder to 35, put on my glasses and could see all four sides lines - not as clearly as I remembered, but well within my idea of easy use. Once again, YMWillV. One other thing - if you buy one made after 1958, the Jupiter 12 will fit the Canon 7, despite what you may hear. My avatar picture has my J-12 mounted ... It is possibly the best FSU lens made and will give you excellent results even though it is extreamly cheap for a LTM 35/2.8 lens
3) It's my primary camera and I really prefer it to anything else I've used, including a couple of Leicas. That gets into personal preferences, but I like the finder and far prefer a swing open back. The labeled finder lines and the shutter lock are also very big pluses for me. I consider the build quality to be as good as anything in that era - which is to say superior to any (yes, _any_) currently made camera. One thing you don't mention is what size camera you like. No one will _ever_ call the 7 small (even compared to a handful of SLR's...
😱 ). For me, this is a plus. I really don't like little cameras - they feel awkward in my hands. I am seriously considering selling my CL because of this. My 7 with the Luigi case and it's built in grip just feels so much nicer to me that it's very hard to explain.
4) Now, none of the meter information is displayed in the finder. It's kind of a poor mans aperture priority system. Set your aperture to, say 16, and then move the shutter speed dial until the meter needle lines up with the appropriate aperture - at least that's the best way I've found to use the meter. I like using hyperfocal technique, so that may be why it works well for me - I set my aperture, set my focus with infinity on that f-stop on the DOF scale and then adjust shutter speed as necessary.
5) I like KEH alot. I got my 7 from them - bargain grade for $190. I also picked up a Canon 50/1.8 from another RFF member for ~$100. I really beleive that a person just can not get a cheaper high quality introduction to the golden age of rangefinders. OTOH, there were 137K of them made. This tends to keep today's prices reasonable. And, yes, that is a very good thing...
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6) Major negative - and this one is a real feeping deal killer for many people - there is no accessory shoe built in. There is a 35 frameline and the whole of the finder does a really good approximation of the 28 FOV. But anything wider, or for that matter, anything needing the accessory shoe (flash, secondary meter, etc.) can't be used without an obscenly over priced accessory that clips onto the PC connection bayonette on the left side of the camera. The only accessory shoe I've seen recently is at
www.kevincameras.com for $150... (!) Scariest part is that's a cheap price historically for that little piece of bent metal... :bang:
I chose the 7 over the 7s or 7sz as I actually like selenium meters and don't use really wide lenses. Your needs may differ. I hope this post is of some help to you. In the end, all of this is driven by preferences. What I like is not necessarily what you like...
Good luck & good light,
William
