marcus
Member
Hi all. First time poster here. I've been hanging around the same web haunts as most of you for quite a few years now, and have lurked the RF and CosVoigt lists forever. Being left-eyed and bespectacled, I'm a Goldilocks with VF/RF's and have tried and discarded a Canon IV; QL-GIII, Nicca III(?) (mostly due to it being pristine, and I couldn't stand being the the punk kid to actually use and scratch it); Retina IIIc and C; Canon P (loved 1:1 and that HUGE 100mm frame; pity it flared out of existence in use, I really wanted that body to work out); Kiev 4 still around not to use, but cause its fun to play with; Leica M2 (couldn't afford extra screw adapters and film loading is an ugh). I always default back to my Bessa R , Vitessa, or OM-1.
I finally took a chance on a poorly described Ebay Canon 7. It certainly isn't compact or lightweight. Cameraquest's description of build quality is also a little misleading, it's built like an older Moto Guzzi, tough in the mechanicals, maybe not quite so in the finish. The RF patch is also much nicer than I expected, given general net reading. Not "M" or Cosina level, but not bad at all. Unfortunately, my good luck on Ebay finally ran out. This one needs shutter work. Slow speeds spot on; high speeds the 2nd curtain isn't open at all. Generally, it seems like the shutter is the last to go on barely used old shelf queen Canons. This one looks (and smells) like it never left the case. No significant mushrooms in it or the lens, thank heaven. I dropped it off at Essex, and the first thing the gentleman who helped me said is " This is very good camera". I didn't feel so bad after that. I was hoping the surplus 1.4 it came with would offset the purchase price, not a repair job, but the kids will just have work hard for scholarship funding.
I guess I'll have more to report in a few weeks, and hopefully it will do some work on my trip abroad.
I finally took a chance on a poorly described Ebay Canon 7. It certainly isn't compact or lightweight. Cameraquest's description of build quality is also a little misleading, it's built like an older Moto Guzzi, tough in the mechanicals, maybe not quite so in the finish. The RF patch is also much nicer than I expected, given general net reading. Not "M" or Cosina level, but not bad at all. Unfortunately, my good luck on Ebay finally ran out. This one needs shutter work. Slow speeds spot on; high speeds the 2nd curtain isn't open at all. Generally, it seems like the shutter is the last to go on barely used old shelf queen Canons. This one looks (and smells) like it never left the case. No significant mushrooms in it or the lens, thank heaven. I dropped it off at Essex, and the first thing the gentleman who helped me said is " This is very good camera". I didn't feel so bad after that. I was hoping the surplus 1.4 it came with would offset the purchase price, not a repair job, but the kids will just have work hard for scholarship funding.
I guess I'll have more to report in a few weeks, and hopefully it will do some work on my trip abroad.
