Rangefinders Everyone should have

[Roman]

Konica C35 - great lens & compact!
Olympus XA - VERY compact - yet still full control for the photographer!
FED 2, Zorki 6 or Kiev 4 - inexpensive; great exchangeable lenses, classic look!
Iskra - medium format, marvellous lens, great rangefinder, affordable (comapred to Super Ikontas et al.)!

 

[Sonnar Brian]

When I come across one of these "terrific" performers going for a few cents on the dollar of their original price, it is hard to pass them up. I enjoy cleaning them up, cleaning the finder, putting them back in working condition, then shooting a few rolls with them. I grew up reading Jason Schneider in Pop Photo; when he quit putting in monthly articles I let my subscription die. He wrote that he got as big of a kick finding an old Kodak box camera "new in the box" at some antique place. If guys like me passed on these cameras, they would be filling dumpsters. Last month I went to a yard sale. When asked by the couple, in their 60's, what I was looking for, I of course said "old Cameras". They had just thrown a box of them out on the prior "spring Cleaning". At least he saved his Bessamatic and I gave him some pointers on stuck compur shutters.

 

[JohnL]

Two questions, pardon my ignorance:
1 What sort of shutter does the Canonet GIII QL 17 have? - Focal plane or leaf? - Mechanical, I suppose.
2 What's all this cat business?

 

[Sonnar Brian]

The Canonet has a Mechanical Leaf Shutter, as do most fixed lens RF cameras of the '60s and '70s. The Yashica Electro and some of the Minolta Hi-Matics, the E and F, have electronically timed leaflet shutters.

I am afraid that Cats have taken the lead as House Pets. They are much more effective at stopping burglars than dogs. It appears that intruders lurking about in the dark trip right over them and break their own necks.

 

[wierdcollector]

If we're adding folding RF's to the mix, I'd second Bill's vote for the Agfa Karat. While I don't have one yet, (darn E**y) I think Karats, Retinas (these I have), Agfa/Anscos and Voigtlanders (My pre-war RF) are too cool not to mention. Oh yes, Andrew, I can't even begin to mention how many times I've enjoyed your site since I came across it one day.

 

[back alley]

You folks have mentioned many worthy rangefinders, but I can't buy into the notion that I should own one of each type. That seems like a collector's mentality to me. I think there is something to the old adage about the wisdom of gaining mastery over your tools. Having a multitude of different tools to do basically the same thing only complicates matters.

'beware of the man with one camera'

 

[RichardS]

The Yashica Lynx and the Yashica Minister. They let you control the aperture and shutter speed.

Dick

 

[pshinkaw]

I have to agree with Oldprof's sentiments. It seems that the more cameras I acquire to "try out" the more my photographic skills deteriorate. I think I was a much better photographer when I was struggling with one Exakta and one lens.

Nonetheless, it is fun!

-Paul

 

[JohnL]

Thanks, Brian!

 

[Solinar]

I think the intent of owning at least one Canonet (or which ever budget range finder camera floats or sinks your boat) is to have a take-anywhere camera with good optics, which can serve as a beater or underwater camera, if necessary.

Whether or not you need a whole plethora of small 35mm cameras at your disposal is another story. I believe I've already reach the point of become a prime candidate for "Pack Rats Anonymous" now that I'm up to five 35mm range finder and five medium format cameras .

 

[Kin Lau]

A camera is a photographic tool, and the analogy is sound. But the different RF's mentioned all have their own characteristics, as well as strength's and weaknesses. Also the fact they're all over 20 years old, some much older and many are quite cheap, make it possible and practical to have several. Unlike a high end piece of equipment (although many of these were at one time), where you could only afford one, these RF's have become more common tools. I don't know of too many craftsman who only have just 1 screwdriver, 1 hammer or 1 saw. Put a Mosvka 5, Konica S2, Canon GIII QL17 & a Olympus XA side by side and you can quickly see how they can be different tools for different purposes. They also all have focal lengths, metering systems (or none), fully manual to mostly automated w/ no override possible, and size.

Funny how no one's mentioned an Argus C2 or C3 yet.

 

[pshinkaw]

The analogy I like is paintbrushes. Surely Pablo Picasso had several paintbrushes. We know he he had a Fed-2 as well.

-Paul

 

[Oldprof]

'beware of the man with one camera'

Actually I have more than one camera. Between my rangefinders and SLRs I have about a dozen, plus a rather large array of lenses. I have much more than I really need. I've reached my personal saturation point so I'm not planning to purchase any more cameras.

 

[P C Headland]

Well, everyone needs a MF folding rangefinder - smaller than many 35mm SLRs and not much (if any) bigger or heavier than many 35mm RFs.

My vote would be for the Iskra in 6x6 size. Not too big, nice bright RF, not too expensive and great lens. A Mamiya 6 (new version) wouldn't be too bad either.

 

[nwcanonman]

Paul,
Didn't Picasso also say something like, "Now that I've discovered photography, I can kill myself"?? Strange, but interesting man ~ ; - )

 

[tedwhite]

Old Prof: You touched chord. Working as photojournalists during the San Francisco State police riots in 1968, my friend, Roy Shigley and I were standing about waiting form more police clubbing of students. We both were using at the time Pentax Spotmatics. A seemingly friendly cop came up to Roy. "Gee, is that a good camera?"
"Pretty good, yes," said Roy. "We'll see," said the cop and brought his billy club crashing down on the camera.

The camera lens (Super Takumar f:2.5/135) wouldn't unscrew, and the aperture was stuck at f:8. The shutter speed dial was bent and cracked and also stuck at 125th. But the camera worked. Apparently unconcerned, Roy kept on taking pictures. F:8, 125th. He became an adept at Rodinal. He also continuted to make a living.

I saw him a year later. He'd picked up another Spotmatic body and a 28/3.5. But he still had the above described wreck. Last time I saw him was in 1985. He still had both cameras and saw no reason to change.

In terms of gaining mastery over his tools, I think he has.

 

[Oldprof]

... Roy kept on taking pictures. F:8, 125th. He became an adept at Rodinal. He also continued to make a living ...

Great story Ted, but I think I would have trouble if all of my exposures were limited to f/8 at 125th of a second!

 

[Natalia]

I think there is something to the old adage about the wisdom of gaining mastery over your tools. Having a multitude of different tools to do basically the same thing only complicates matters.

My mind fully agrees with that, and I have to remind myself about this simple truth from time to time. Although different tools that I posses seem to serve different purposes well. Then again, I got only, let's se....1,2,3,4 working and 1 non-working cams

 

[jlw]

I think there is something to the old adage about the wisdom of gaining mastery over your tools. Having a multitude of different tools to do basically the same thing only complicates matters.

Back when I was a newspaper reporter, I once interviewed a concert violinist. Half expecting to get an answer somewhat like the above, I asked him what kind of violin he played.

He replied that he toured with about six different violins -- and for each concert would choose the one that was best suited to the program of music he planned to play, the acoustics of the hall, and to some extent how he felt that particular evening!

There was no question that he had mastery over his tools. In fact, his level of mastery was such that subtle differences in the tools made a significant difference!


[This may not apply exactly to camera accumulation, but feel free to use it as an excuse...]



Incidentally, during this same interview, this same violinist said something else that I've always thought very apt to digital imaging... even though this was during the pre-digital-photography era! We had gone on to discussing electronic music, and I repeated a statement I had heard from an electronic-musician friend to the effect that "in 10 years nobody will study the violin, because you can program a synthesizer to get exactly the same sound."

The violinist thought for a moment and said: "You can program a synthesizer to sound like a violin -- but you can't play one the same way you can play a violin!"

 

[Russ]

Steve Morse can make a $50.00 K-Mart guitar sound like a Strat. And Salgado could do just as well with a GIII QL-17, instead of his Leica's...



Russ