Vivitar ES rangefinder

[Russ]

There must be more of you out there that are aware of how good this camera is? Yet, it is rarely mentioned. Almost identical to the Minolta 7sII and a few other Konica cameras. All built by Cosina, per, Vivitar, Minolta, Konica's, etc, specifications. A great camera design and a wonderfully sharp, 40mm f/1.7 lens. Speak up. Who else uses these little wonder's?

Russ

 

[back alley]

i've never been able to find one of these.
there is also the revue 400 (i think) that's the same also.

i'd like to find one and maybe pay a bit less than the asking price of the minolta 7sll.

joe

 

[taffer]

Russ, in fact the Viv 35ES has been on my 'oubtbid' sack at least three times. Revues are plenty and cheap on eBay Germany but alas, I don't speak German 🙄

The Konica S3 seems to be the most expensive of the three, sometimes being above the 7sII itself.

Afaik, the 7sII provides full manual operation as well as shutter priority one, and that's a really good thing. Methinks the other three can only shoot wide open when there's no battery.

However, lately that 'lens wide open' is becoming a mantra here, so that adds a new perspective to the whole affair 🙂

 

[rover]

I see the ebay price of the Vivs jumping until we all get ours.

 

[taffer]

Maybe we should arrange a monthly common fund and bulk-shop it... We could name that the 'monthly camera hunt' 😀

 

[Russ]

i've never been able to find one of these.
there is also the revue 400 (i think) that's the same also.

i'd like to find one and maybe pay a bit less than the asking price of the minolta 7sll.

joe

Yeah, the Revue 400SE, is the same rig. If you want one, I'll hook you up with a buddy in Germany, who says that they are quite plentiful over there. The Revue, Viv ES and Konica S3, were all made by Cosina. Really nice body designs and great little 40mm f/1.7 lenses. They also have the "flash-matic" feature, which I found to be very accurate. Don't bother with the Viv "EE" model. It's the "ES" that you want. The Hi-Matic 7sII is also great. Sharp 1.7 lens, with very nice manual exposure over-ride capability. I try to never shoot wide open. How many lenses perform well wide open? Especially rangefinder glass.

Russ

 

[back alley]

this one has to go on hold for awhile. way too many irons, far too few fires.

joe