The Perfect RF

I'll play.

Canon 7sz with matirx metering & ae. Keep the LTM mount. Perhaps add 28 frame lines. Close enough for me.
 
It's hard to beat the Zeiss Ikon.

Longest base of any modern rangefinder
Best viewfinder around
Light, easy loading
etc.

awww yeah...
 
My perfect RF camera would look like a weather-proof M4-P (black with wide-angle friendly framelines), but came with a full-frame digital back and ... trumpet please... a matching 120 or 35mm film back.
 
wow, human speech sure is capacious: QL17 and perfect on one breath :eek:

a vote for M3AF with straight frame corners :)
 
The Leica M9 with great High ISO (6400 completely usable) at a price point below $4000... I'm easy to please.
 
thawkins said:
If you could build the perfect RF camera; what would it look like?

Tom
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It's not a matter of what it looks like, just a matter of what it does.
For me, I would like a 6x7 medium format rangefinder with interchangeable lenses like the Mamiya 7 II, but without being battery dependant. I like all mechanical cameras.
However, a battery that powers a through the lens meter would be a worthwhile bonus. I much prefer the aspect ratio of 6x7 to 6x9. :)
 
Here's what I want:

Basics: Leica M2 form factor, chrome or black. Leather kits available in whatever you like, Interchangeable-back Digital or Film Rangefinder camera in 35mm Full-Frame format.

Viewfinder: Interchangeable parralax-corrected rangefinders with multicoated Zeiss-designed optics, built in frame lines vary depending on finder. Available magnifications: 0.52x, 0.72x, 1x. The rangefinders interchange without tools and couple to the sensing lever automatically. They cover 21/25/28/35/50, 35/40/50/75/90, 50/75/90/105/135 respectively.

The body is titanium in construction and fully weather-sealed. It has a winding lever, but either the film or digital backs/bottoms can be fitted with power winders or trigger winders, meaning if you want to wind manually you don't need to carry the heavy motors. In Digital mode, the rewind crank mates to a dynamo in the body, letting you manually recharge a dying battery.

The shutter is a 1/4000 focal plane shutter, made of titanium, cribbed from a Pentax LX. The metering is via two metering cells: For short exposures (faster than its 1/125 flash sync), a standard Off-The-Shutter TTL meter will work fine, and will steplessly set AE speeds. For long exposures, An Off-the-film-plane meter ala Pentax LX will meter the film continuously DURING the exposure, compensating for changing light and making sure the exposure is dead-on.

Aperture Priority AE includes up to 4 stops of EV compensation. In Manual mode, all shutter speeds are mechanical and selectable with or without batteries, even if you have a Digital back (You still need a battery in the back itself to capture images, but the shutter will fire. The body and back have separate batteries.)

Digital back of course has Full-frame 19MP Sony-derived high-ISO sensor.

I know some of this is just this side of impossible, but when making wishes, I shoot the moon. :)
 
Keith said:
A digital OM-1 with 12 megapixel raw capture from the sensor out of the D700 ... there's no such thing as the perfect rangefinder sorry!
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I think you are under a deep stroke of heresy but you could be right. :eek:

fdigital said:
Now wouldn't that be damn cool! Unfortunetly out of all the crazy things in this thread, this would be the least likely. Olympus are just set on the 4/3 format, and uninterested in anything else. It's a pity - a digital OM could potentially be a huge seller!
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The sad truth is that Olympus had de facto abandoned their (classic) 4/3 format in favour of its micro4/3 successor, but that is a little OT.

rpilottx said:
An M2 with a meter.
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Basically yes.

IMO the perfect RF would be an M2 (form factor, build quality, pure mechanical) with a viewfinder like the ZI has (really big with just one frame visible at one time) and a build-in through-the-lens meter with a needle like that one of the OM-1.

Besides that, in a really perfect world, there will be the ingenius OM-like shutter speed ring on the bayonet rather than the boring shutter speed button on the top plate. :D
 
Monokrome said:
It's not a matter of what it looks like, just a matter of what it does.
For me, I would like a 6x7 medium format rangefinder with interchangeable lenses like the Mamiya 7 II, but without being battery dependant. I like all mechanical cameras.
However, a battery that powers a through the lens meter would be a worthwhile bonus. I much prefer the aspect ratio of 6x7 to 6x9. :)
Click to expand...

I am quite happy with my Fuji GS645s but the rf patch is lacking. So I would like the VF of M3 quality with a tack sharp 60mm on a 645 camera. I am not so worried about having in a load of lenses and 35mm equivalent is fine, though being able to have a 50mm equivalent would be nice. Though if a cam can be made light enough I would go for a 6x8, I prefer a 4x3 ratio to a 3x2.
 
Monokrome said:
It's not a matter of what it looks like, just a matter of what it does.
For me, I would like a 6x7 medium format rangefinder with interchangeable lenses like the Mamiya 7 II, but without being battery dependant. I like all mechanical cameras.
However, a battery that powers a through the lens meter would be a worthwhile bonus. I much prefer the aspect ratio of 6x7 to 6x9. :)
Click to expand...

Seems like a Fuji GM670 is your camera that has everything you want.

Cal
 
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