The "big" leap

There are a lot of cameras out there,other than GIII,problem w/GIII is the battery and metering system,last GIII rolled out of Taiwan Canon factory in 1982,22 years probably is the time the metering system goes dead,I don't know, mine died 2-3 years ago.
The auto focus relieve the photographer from the fuss of lining up two images in the viewfinder,an absolute necessity in street shooting,

Konica Eco 28/3.5,Fuji Tiera(DL Mini) 28/3.5,Olympus Epic 35/2.8,Canon WP-1 32/3.5,Leica C3 28-80/3.5-10.5,Konica Lexio 28-80/3.5-10,Fuji Klasse 38/2.6(Rollei AFM,this camera drop its price from $499 to $299)....
Have fun searching for the next camera...
 
I like the Yashica Electro cameras, but don't expect too much from the auxiliary lenses. And when you are trying to line up the focus of the auxiliary lens it is all to easy to unscrew it from the camera and then you have to start over again.

There is supposed to be a type of auxiliary lens that slips on the main lens rather than screwing on. I have never seen one but it should be easier to use.

I think the Yashica Lynx is a good camers and is easy to use. And there are various Russian cameras available at a low price. Go to EBay and search for rangefinder cameras and you'll find many with prices ranging from around $25 to several hundred dollars, depending on the type of camers.

Dick
 
Andrew,

I would be very careful about buying an older camera from e-bay. You have no idea what you will be getting & no idea who you are dealing with. Many older budget cameras being sold are broken in some way & many buyers don't care if the light meter, for example, isn't working. Others are just happy to have a collectible camera to display on a shelf. But you are a user & want something you cand depend on. After all it is the only camera you will be taking on this trip & you don't want it to fail you.

I agree with the idea of a fixed lens '70s era rangefinder, given your budget. The Konica S2 & S3 had the best lenses of these cameras in this era, but the build quality is suspect. If you can gety one in good shape, it will take great pictures. But these are rare.

I own a Canonet GIII QL17 & recommend it highly. Its sister camera the Canonet GIII QL19 is also excellent. The difference is a 40mm/f1.7 lens on the former & a 45mm/f1.9 lens on the latter. While the entire Canonet line was very good, these two were the best & last of the series, manufacturing dates 1972-82, so other models will be older. By the way, the Canonet manuals are available on line & can be copied on your printer.

I would recommend that you buy from www.cameraquest.com. This is Stephen Gandy's website & he is excellent to deal with. He will take your calls personally & answer your questions. He has one of each of the Canonets for sale right now. QL19 for $150 & QL17 for $175. While you will pay more from him, you can count on the fact that he has inspected them & done any necessary repairs. He has also updated them to accept modern batteries. He will also warranty them, so if you have a problem, you can find him - something that you can't necessarily do with a purchase from e-bay. Ignore the higher-priced black models on his site; the price reflects their value as collectibles, not their value as picture taking machines.

Good luck with your purchase & enjoy your trip!
 
By the way, I recently had my Canonet CLA'd (clean, lubricate, adjust) through a local camera shop. It cost $125 after they sent it out. Seals needed to be replaced. Stephen Gandy advertises this service for $100 plus shipping. This may give you some idea of what you get when you're buying a camera in the $20-$50 price range vs buying from a dealer who has already done the service.
 
Final note on your question re the metering system not being through the lens. The meter uses a CdS cell & is actually an ingenious device that partially works off the distance as determined by the rangefinder. It is quite accurate. Remember that Leicas of this era had no metering at all! And the M6 did not have TTL metering when it first came out. That feature was added on later models. TTl metering is just a more recent technology than what was available in the '70s.
 
The Minolta Hi-Matic 9, and Hi-Matic 7, are also worth a look at. These tend to go for much less than the Canonet, They are bigger, have a longer throw shutter release, but maintain metering when used in manual mode. The Canonet meter turns off in manual mode. The Hi-Matic 7 and 9 operate "uncoupled", give an EV reading that must be manually set in. The lens on my Minolta Hi-Matic 9 seems a little sharper than my Canonet QL17.
 
A quick note about the Himatic 7; be careful with electronic flash - I blew the electrics on one by plugging in a modern flash. I should have stuck to my flashbulbs!

Also consider the batteries, many of these '70s rangefinders use mercury batteries that are hard to replace.
 
Huck Finn said:
... And the M6 did not have TTL metering when it first came out. That feature was added on later models. TTl metering is just a more recent technology than what was available in the '70s.
Click to expand...

Huck, the M6 has always had TTL metering, as did the M5 (introduced in 1971) as well as the CL (introduced in 1973).

Best,
Helen
 
Brian Sweeney said:
The Canonet meter turns off in manual mode. .
Click to expand...

Just to add a comment on this. While it's true that the Canonet meter turns off in manual mode, you can still meter. Since it's shutter priority in "automatic" mode, you set the shutter speed & the camera selected aperture is displayed in the viewfinder. Having metered in this manner, you can simply adjust the aperture setting to override it if you choose to underexpose/overexpose relative to the meter's recommendation. Or you can set the aperture to the meter's recommendation & you now have both aperture & shutter speed at the metered setting. You can then vary either from there.

The key is that the metered aperture setting is displayed unlike some other "automatic" systems of the time. A nice feature of this system as well is that the aperture settings are stepless in automatic setting, so you can fine tune your settings with it, changing your settings by adjusting shutter speed.

One other exceptional feature of the Canonet is that it has automatic compensating framelinesfor the parallax view. I believe that it is the only fixed focal length rangefinder camera do this. This is an enormous advantage in composing your pictures.
 
HelenB said:
Huck, the M6 has always had TTL metering, as did the M5 (introduced in 1971) as well as the CL (introduced in 1973).

Best,
Helen
Click to expand...

Thank you for correcting me, Helen. I don't know where my mind was. It is TTL FLASH metering that was added on later versions of the M6. Sorry about the error.
 
Most of the upper end fixed-Lens RF's of the 60s and 70s have automatix parallax compensation; typically if it has an F1.8, F1.7, or F1.4 you can count on the parallax compensation. My Minolta Hi-Matic 9, Hi-Matic E, Konica S2, Yashica Lynx 14, Yashica GSN, Canonet QL17, Balda Automatic, etc... all have parallax compensation. The cheaper ones haves fixed compensation lines. And, for whatever reason, Nikon chose fixed compensation for the S3-2000.
 
Huck, what I have done with my trusty Canonet when I want to override the metering and intentionally over- or underexpose is easier than turning the ring: the little camera has EL. Among the current Leica lineup, only the M7 has it, but both the Canonet and the Konica S2 have it. You "spotmeter" on another surface, lock the exposure, compose, focus and shoot.

This is a nice camera! I should take it out more often...
 
Huck Finn said:

<snip>
It is TTL FLASH metering that was added on later versions of the M6.
<snip>
Click to expand...
I really don't know much about Leicas, but I'm interested.
Does this mean that "M6 TTL"s have flash TTL metering, while "M6 classic"s have just regular TTL metering?
Thanks, John
 
Brian Sweeney said:
Most of the upper end fixed-Lens RF's of the 60s and 70s have automatix parallax compensation; typically if it has an F1.8, F1.7, or F1.4 you can count on the parallax compensation. My Minolta Hi-Matic 9, Hi-Matic E, Konica S2, Yashica Lynx 14, Yashica GSN, Canonet QL17, Balda Automatic, etc... all have parallax compensation. The cheaper ones haves fixed compensation lines. And, for whatever reason, Nikon chose fixed compensation for the S3-2000.
Click to expand...

Brian, thanks for educating me on this point. I knew but had forgotten that Konica had this feature, but I had no idea that there were a number of other models that had this as well. I have read repeatedly that this was a rare feature on compact rangefinders of its day.
 
Huck,
It IS one of the only COMPACT rangefinders to have the parallax correction feature; most compacts had F2.8 lenses and fixed compensation lines. Olympus was big into this. Around 1970 most of the companies came out with Fast Compacts, auto exposure, and nice VF/RF with projected, parallax corrected finder lines. The Olympus RD, Minolta Hi-Matic E, Konica S3, and several others dropped in size and weight but put on a fast, F1.7 or F1.8, lens. These cameras tend to go for more these days than the full-size cameras that they replace. A Konica S3 goes for ~$150 when an S2 may fetch $25. If you do not mind the size, these older cameras are worth a look.
 
Interesting info, Brian. Stephen Gandy has a nice discussion of these on cameraquest.com. He says that for every S3 that comes his way he sees 25 Canonets. So I guess that the laws of economics come into play when something is a rarity. The Konica had one of the best lenses you'll find on any camera, but its price today is probably as much a factor of its scarcity as it is of its quality. Stephen gives similar insights on the availability of others of that genre.
 
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