RF versus Leica CM and Contax TIII

[jaykey]

Hello everyone,

I am new to the rangefinder forum and I just want to try rangefinder street photography (and have one BW project in buses and trains where available light is important to capture).
I am used to do photography with AF SLR camera with BW film in the street and DSLR in my work. But I have found I need something smaller and less spurious so people are not as afraid as I point Canon EOS 1 against them now. And I would love to have something more compact and lighter what I can still carry with me everywhere.

On the other hand I am afraid if I will be quick enough to capture the moment with manual RF?
Yes, my question is stupid maybe, but I don´t have experiences with RF cameras and have no possibility to try it before buying. And I remember ones at camera exhibition few years ago I tried Bessa R and it looked not easy to focus to me this time.
I almost all the time use 35 mm lens for the street and use aperture priority mode with exposure correction if needed.

Any camera recommendation? 😕

And one more question:
Is it worth to look for high end compact camera like Leica CM or Contax TIII?
I mean, they are small, have AF and aperture priority mode.
But I don´t know about viewfinders in those cameras.
Does anyone have some experiences with those high end compacts?

Thank you very much!

Julius

I like it:

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

I use my Leica Minilux (it's the former version of the Leica CM really) all the time. Wonderful and I often prefer it to my 35mm rangefinder.

The buttons are small and difficult so I set it up somewhere well lit in advance.

The viewfinder is small but I don't really use it much more that an approximation.

The focus is dead accurate but you must use the center of the viewfinder.

It's much smaller than a 35mm rangefinder and you easily carry it all day every day.

 

[jaykey]

Thank you Jon, do u have some examples from ur minilux?

Julius

 

[RObert Budding]

A manual rangefinder can be really fast to use - set the hyperfocal distance and fire away:

http://www.dofmaster.com/hyperfocal.html

As for cameras - you want a fast lens for available light. If you can live with a fixed lens, perhaps a compact Japanese rangefinder would work well. Canon, Olympus, Minolta, Yashica. There are many good choices. See the following link for a lot of very good info:

http://cameraquest.com/classics.htm

 

[stephen_lumsden]

Julius

I would try the CM before I bought it. I found its viewfinder rather small for the price. I got a Rollei AFM 35 instead, which I use increasingly more than my Canonet QL17 (which has a great viewfinder, is cheap and is a good start in RF BTW). I hear the Nikon Ti and Konica Hexar AF are also good and will set you back much less than an CM these days. Fixed lens RFs and 35mm point and shoots are not very popular anymore and one should be easy to pick up.

rgds

Stephen

 

[Avotius]

I highly suggest you go buy a yashica gsn before buying a cm or t3. The yashica is aperture priority shooting and is ridiculously cheap and amazing quality for a starter into range finder photography. I suggest you get one, run 10 rolls of film through it and see what you think.

 

[LKSC]

Julius

The CM has a great lens, is less obtrusive than a Leica M, and is great for available light work.

BUT, you must know that using it in autofocus mode in very low light situations automatically engages a pre-focus beam which can be very distracting to subjects and will give away your presence.

The beam is necessary because the camera uses passive autofocus. It cannot be turned off in auto mode. However, it does not activate in manual focus mode. The Leica Minilux uses active autofocus and does not emit this beam in similar situations, but the CM has a better viewfinder, and can "remember" to keep a flash-off mode setting after powering down.

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

Anything in my Edgy album. Most, all, is Xpro so color ie well distorted.

 

[mbisc]

Contax T-3

Contax T-3

Let me bat for the Contax T-3 here. It is a great little camera -- the f2.8 / 35mm Sonnar lens is a stellar performer, and if you set the camera up right (i.e. switch on pre-focussing etc.), it is about as fast as an AF camera will get. There are lots of "manual" options for creative control -- aperture-priority exposure, manual zone focusing etc.
The only down-side I would see in comparison to a "proper" RF camera is that you can't change the lenses. If you only want to use a 35mm lens, not a problem of course...
Mike

 

[jaykey]

And I forgot, for me is important to have speed under the control, so cameras which doesn´t indicate shutter speed are useless for me.

That is the case of yashica I think.

I like Rollei AFM and have had opportunity tu buy it for nice price, but then I was told id doesn´t indicate shutter speed so I didn´t buy it.
Thank you all for your recommendations!

Julius

 

[mbisc]

And I forgot, for me is important to have speed under the control, so cameras which doesn´t indicate shutter speed are useless for me.

That is the case of yashica I think.

I like Rollei AFM and have had opportunity tu buy it for nice price, but then I was told id doesn´t indicate shutter speed so I didn´t buy it.
Thank you all for your recommendations!

Julius

The Contax T-3 displays shutter speeds in 3 or 4 ranges (rather than the actual speed) in the view finder...
Mike