New lust: Littman 45 single - experience?

[Finder]

If you are going for wide-angle lenses, you could also think about the Cambo Wide. Not a rangefinder, but a holdable 4x5. I think Linholf and Sinar made one too. Fotoman is supposed to be coming out with a model as well and would be very affordable.

Problem with view camera lenses and particularly in short focal lengths is they are not very fast. With the short focal lengths you will need to stop down to f/11 to reduce vignetting. Although the Graflex Optars are very good wide open.

The nice thing about a Graflex is you can make a fairly inexpensive 6x12 rangefinder. That gives you the benefit of roll film plus the large negative.

 

[desmo]

I have the Cambo Wide and love it.
The lens is a Schneider 47mm f5.6 Super Angulon XL and I use a Graphloc back as well as a Chinese 6x12 Rollfilm back. The camera also has rise/fall for correcting verticals and with the grip/cable release setup; is a reasonably good street camera.
I usually shoot at hyperfocal distance for speed set at 1/250th sec and f11. That gives me 1.5metres to infinity focus. At f16 hyperfocal I get about 1m to infinity. Normally I use the Voigtlander 12mm viewfinder attached which is about the right view.
When needed, I also have a Russian rangefinder attached to the top and set the focus manually.

QUOTE=Finder]If you are going for wide-angle lenses, you could also think about the Cambo Wide. Not a rangefinder, but a holdable 4x5. I think Linholf and Sinar made one too. Fotoman is supposed to be coming out with a model as well and would be very affordable.

Problem with view camera lenses and particularly in short focal lengths is they are not very fast. With the short focal lengths you will need to stop down to f/11 to reduce vignetting. Although the Graflex Optars are very good wide open.

The nice thing about a Graflex is you can make a fairly inexpensive 6x12 rangefinder. That gives you the benefit of roll film plus the large negative.[/QUOTE]