small, light, cheap, fast lens, best IQ

[kuuan]

yes, yes, I am asking the impossible..
anyway, I am researching which will be my first rangefinder.

small, light, fast lens: I want to use it at low light 'street shooting' style

I want it's picture quality to be tops! nice, interesting colors, good 3 dimensionality,

cheap..well, right now I am in Japan and there are so many models available which maybe outside are rare, in bad condition but hopefully working they are very cheap, there are also serviced or good condition models but they aren't..but if it's the one I want and in good dondition then 100 USD tops, but why not one for just 20?

the Konica auto S2 seems to be avaiable for little...


I am also drawn towards half frames, there are quite a few on sale here, Olympus Pen, even Ricoh Caddy
or would they be too much of a compromise on image quality?

thank you for any input,
Andreas

no rangefinder yet,
right now enjoying a range of Takumar and other M42 lenses on a Pentax *istDs,
and 'my' Minolta A2

my photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuuan/

 

[pesphoto]

YAshica GSN would be my choice. And is, it's my favorite Fixed lens camera

 

[hans voralberg]

J-3 if you can find one, or J-8, tick all the right boxes.

 

[mfunnell]

Personally, if looking at a fixed-lens RF, my favourite is the Konica Auto S3. No manual operation and perhaps needing a CLA and/or battery voltage adjustment, but its smaller than the Auto S2, has a very nice viewfinder and a top-class lens.

(Me, I replaced the light seals on mine myself and have worked out a cordial relationship between the ISO settings on the camera and the box-speed of my film, which has worked for me so far.)

But if spending some more money than that, I'd probably go for a Canon P and Canon 50mm/f1.8 LTM lens. Larger camera, with no meter, but its a common combination purchase with a small-enough, and very good, lens and offers lots of flexibility (I have a number of other LTM lenses I use on my P). And the P-and-50 is no larger (but somewhat heavier) than my Yashica GSN (which is also a very nice camera, BTW, and my 2nd-favourite fixed-lens RF, after my Auto S3).

...Mike

 

[Roger Hicks]

Any fixed-lens Konica. Silly-cheap, excellent quality. You can buy the whole camera for less than a 50/2 Jupiter, and the Jupiter is (to be generous) variable. You also get a near-silent shutter, a pretty good rangefinder and parallax-compensated brightlines. My SIII has a 47/1.9 lens and speeds from 1 to 1/500 + B, though the slow-speed train is sticky (1 second to 1/8) but it could be cleaned. And amazingly, the meter is still pretty good.

For a little more money, ultra-compact, no meter, I'd back my Retina IIa. On that one, the counter doesn't work any more, but I can live with that in return for the quality and size.

With fixed-lens RFs, it comes down ultimately to egonomics: for example, I have one fixed-lens RF that is double-stroke and it drives me crazy.

Cheers,

Roger

 

[D.O'K.]

How about the Olympus 35SP? An excellent f1.7 lens, big viewfinder, spot (or centreweighted) metering, fully manual or auto exposure, solidly built but not (too) big or heavy. Fast and accurate short throw focusing via a tab on the lens. Works without batteries (except for the meter).

Only negatives (to me) are the absence of a depth of field scale and its rather ponderous and unquiet shutter release. Although it takes mercury batteries a Criscam adapter or weincell is a good substitute. Prices seem to vary widely. I got mine (in superb condiion) for £40 (c.$80).

Alternatively, the Olympus 35RC is cheaper, smaller and also very good; but if speed is a major criterion you may find its f2.8 lens inadequate.

Regards,
D.O'K.

 

[Windscale]

The cheapest Fixed lens RF with very good lenses are Konica S2 and Minolta 7S. I have test these along many other cameras shooting the same object at the same time. These can be fully manual cameras so you won't be stood up even your battery failed. With older cameras I would never trust their metereing as the values of resistors and capacitors may have been displaced over the years whereas good mechanical shutters rarely go wrong. Always use a handheld meter.

 

[stuken]

Another vote for the 35SP. Super sharp lens, meter is very almost always spot on, and the viewfinder is quite nice. sutter speeds from b-500 in leaf shutter lens, and aperture from 1.7-16. takes 49mm filters, but i just step up to 52 which works fine with no vignetting.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

The Konica S2, Olympus SP, and Minolta Hi-Matic 9 have very sharp lenses and are all inexpensive. The Yashica Lynx 14 has an F1.4 lens and is quite nice. None of them are small and light, run the same size as a small SLR. I'd go with the Lynx 14e for night shots: it uses lamps for the meter so it is easy to read in the dark.

 

[Roger Hicks]

The Konica S2, Olympus SP, and Minolta Hi-Matic 9 have very sharp lenses and are all inexpensive. The Yashica Lynx 14 has an F1.4 lens and is quite nice. None of them are small and light, run the same size as a small SLR. I'd go with the Lynx 14e for night shots: it uses lamps for the meter so it is easy to read in the dark.

Dear Brian,

Great camera BUT (as with any old RF, and I've not had much luck with Yashicas) watch out for very dim RF patches.

Cheers,

R.

 

[kuuan]

thank you everybody for your suggestions.

I had lost bids on a Konica S2 and Olympus SP becasue I was not online when the auction ended and had put too little as max. price, so when I saw a Yashica CCN wide I put my max. bid high, and won!

The camera has not arrived yet, but I could not help to notice that here in Japan black body Yashicas, including supposedly rare ones like the CCN, are - kind of - readily available.
Which makes me wonder for how much an operating CCN wide would sell in Europw or the US, or e.g. a good condition Electro 35 GNT including both the wide and tele adapters, it's extra viewfinder and their cases? - It is so tempting to get this as well!

thank you,
Andreas

 

[sepiareverb]

Minolta Hi-Matic 9, or one of the Yashicas. But then there is the Minolta CLE, which opens up way more possibilites for glass...

 

[btgc]

If talking about small, cheap and light, here's very special Yashica - MC. Av only, but it's really (really) portable camera if only you can live with "slow f2.8" lens. Scale focus only I see rather as advantage on such a small camera. Only drawback is that as first RF or RF-like camera it doesn't look like BIG SMELLY SERIOUS VINTAGE RF 🙂

For night shots it offers exposure up to 4sec. at lower ISOs, not all one could want but also not 1/30 seen on 35RC - but again, RC has Bulb mode.

Excluding Minolta 7s all other mentioned cameras can match any other requirement, except "small". MC is what I call small camera, and 35RC next to it. Even Lynx 5000 is big compared to them, but again, bigger cameras have something more to offer, right?

 

[daniel~]

Congrats on the Yashica CCN! It's often described as rare model on *bay, but as you've mentioned, it doesn't seem that hard to find in Japan.

I'm a happy owner of Konica Auto S3 myself. Since you're now in Japan, maybe you can also look for Konica C35 FD, which is S3's twin in the domestic market.

 

[kuuan]

Congrats on the Yashica CCN! It's often described as rare model on *bay, but as you've mentioned, it doesn't seem that hard to find in Japan.

thank you very much for the congrats!
The camera just came in and I am pleasantly surprised how small it is, specially after having seen earlier Electro models, Canon 7s and the like in some shops. It looks cool, cute, I like it, it will be my 'Leica'!

The lens looks clean, the viewfinder very dirty, the light seals are gone, but generally it does seem to work. The shutter releases but only in a fast speed, seemingly unchanged after changing aperture or ISO settings. Arghh..I sure hope that this simply is becasue of an empty battery...can anybody confirm?

...now I first must read up on the model, see how to check the battery ( what should happen when pressing the battery check button? ), resp. to get the right battery to see if it is working alright.

I remember having seen some instructions on how to repair an Electro somewhere on the net. That was for GS derivates, not for the CCN, but nevertheless I hope that it will help. Anyway, to put this camera in a beautiful working condition is my project now! It will be the first camera I shall open, but I want to give it a go!

Do you/anybody have any hint which material I could get in the japanese market for replacing the light seals?

I'm a happy owner of Konica Auto S3 myself. Since you're now in Japan, maybe you can also look for Konica C35 FD, which is S3's twin in the domestic market.

wow, thank's a lot for that! I have been wondering why there are so many S2s, but not even one S3!

 

[myoptic3]

I am pretty sure that you are getting only one speed because of no battery. Putting one in should (hopefully) fix that.

 

[kuuan]

I am pretty sure that you are getting only one speed because of no battery. Putting one in should (hopefully) fix that.

thank's for the reassurance myoptic, according to this site: http://www.cameraquest.com/yash35cc.htm shutter speed will be 1/30th if there is no battery.

 

[Bill58]

Konica C-35 Auto--awesome lens, light and small.

 

[btgc]

Do you/anybody have any hint which material I could get in the japanese market for replacing the light seals?

After fixing my first camera with foamies I gave up on them and use felt or mouse pad instead (pad for mechanical mouse, not optical). Well, pad also is kind of foam, but another flavour.

 

[kuuan]

thank's a lot for the tip with the mouse pad. Found some foamy material I found at the hardware store today I want to try tomorrow.

have had a long day with my CCN..
had opened it to clean the viewfinder and it is a beauty now,
but on reassembling had encountered the stubborn defect that the cocking lever would stay stuck at the swung out position. As it also had happened 2 or 3 times before I had opened the camera I did not feel too much defeated...but it took me hours to get it working again, hope it stays this way.

Inserted a new battery, can see the red arrows for under and overexposing and the battery check lamp goes on.

Can't wait to get the light seals and a roll of film in!

cheers,
Andreas