Which camera for 28 and 50mm?

DownUnder said:
My Contax G1 with a 28/2.8 Zeiss Biogon G does everything I want it to.

Someone here has recommended a G2. Well and good if you have the extra cash, but for my money's worth, a G1 does 95%+ of what the G2 can, for much less and the 28 is a fine lens.

I have other G lenses - 21/2.8, 35/2.0 and 90/2.8, but rarely use them. The G1/28 combo is my ideal walk around lens when I want a holiday from using digital and feel like souping one or two rolls of film in my home darkroom, sadly nowadays too little used.

The G1 bodies sell for very little. Mine have kept going without fail for 25 years, but if one breaks down you can buy a new (secondhand) one for very little dosh. The Zeiss G lenses cost a small mint (at least here in Australia), but they are worth every dollar you have to spend on them.

If I had only one film camera-lens system to play with, for sure it would be a G1/28.

(Added later) Another good option would be one of the older (+/- 20 years old) Ricohs. I know two people who use these, and both say the cameras will finally have to be pried from their cold, dead hands.
Click to expand...
Thanks.

Is it really not worth repairing the g1?
 
Richard G said:
Since you want film and 28 or 50 and a good M is very steep price now, a good IIIf with an external finder is a fantastic street or instinctive shooting camera. Once you you get used to the advance wind knob it’s quick enough. The rangefinder fills the rangefinder window, not just a patch, but often just scale focus is enough at 28mm focal length. Shooting with an external finder is a very nice experience. The SBOOI 50 finder never comes off many of these cameras with a coated 50 Elmar still a great lens, very sharp and I think the best bokeh.
Click to expand...
What if price is not an issue?
 
wlewisiii said:
Lecia CL - I used the whole frame while shooting with the Canon 28/3.5. It's as easy to fix as any other Leica and is the cheapest of the bunch, even cheaper if you get one with a dead meter.

But I agree, it's almost never an issue unless the camera is seriously abused.

These days my M 240 and my Kobalux 28/3.5 or Nikkor 28/3.5 are my 28 combo of choice.
Click to expand...
Thanks.

Why these two lenses?
 
piero2025 said:
Thanks.

Why these two lenses?
Click to expand...
The Kobalux is just a fun little lesser know Japanese made lens from the early 80's that I found for a very good price. It's the one I am most likely to use. Very nice lens.
Good info here: Kobalux 28/3.5

The Nikkor is one I bought to use with my Nikon S-2 rangefinder but I also have an Amedeo Nikon S to M adapter so I can use it on my Leica M 240 as well.

Thus those are the two 28's I have to use.
 
piero2025 said:
What if price is not an issue?
Click to expand...
An M with a 0.58 finder (the MP is the nicest) is the best rangefinder camera for the 28mm frameline. If you use 28 and 50mm lenses, get the 75mm and 90mm framelines removed (filled in, actually). With a 0.58 finder the 50 is useable-good, but might not be easy to focus with an f1.4 or faster lens.

And a 28 Summicron, or, even better, Summilux.

1743249559189.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Ditto about the Leica CL. Smallest, lightest and cheapest of the Leica's. Use the whole finder for 28 and frame lines for the 50 lens.
I have used mine with the Voigtlander 50/2.5 and 28/3.5 screw mount lenses.

I took a trip to Europe with a Leica IIIf and the above lenses. This worked well but was a little slow to operate without a built in meter.

On an earlier trip to Europe I used a Ricoh R1 28mm and a Leica Minilux 40/2.4 successfully. Both cameras were known to have faults (Ricoh's viewfinder and the Leica's electronics) and are may be difficult to get repaired these days.
 
We need to get on one page here.
Does the OP need a good inexpensive camera that is definitely repairable well into the future, or is the cost of the camera not a factor and the OP can simply buy a metered Leica with two brand new Leica lenses? I'm reading a bit of both in this thread.

Regarding shutter calibration, don't worry about that if you actually want to make a photo with negative film. When the camera needs repair, send it to someone who knows how to do it.

As for a light meter, learn to use the light meter in your head. With not much practice you can easily learn to accurately make the exposure (or by just looking at the pictograms on the inside of a Kodak box, if they still put sunny 16 in there). This can even be done at night, especially if you carry a little log book to quickly record settings of the camera according to each frame number. If you absolutely need a light meter, get a working used Luna Pro analog meter and it will teach you enough about light that eventually you won't need one aside from in the most complex exposure situations.

Don't discount an SLR. A camera like a Pentax K1000 or Spotmatic will be cheap and will fit many, many lenses with no need to worry about viewfinders. A rangefinder camera does not provide an invisibility cloak for the photographer. Besides, photography is more interesting when you get to know the story of the people you are capturing images of

If you want to make photos, go make photos. If you want to collect and worry about gear, then do that.

Check out many images of photographers from the past. You'll often be surprised what camera, lens and film, some photos were made with.

Phil
 
Last edited:
piero2025 said:
Thanks. Theoretically I could have two bodies with permanently attached finders, since they’re small (and cheap). Real problem for me is that these camera also don’t have a meter, so the action of metering with my phone, composing on the external finder and focusing on the internal finder and many times the photo is gone.
Click to expand...
This is pretty much how I shoot. I don't use an external finder for 50mm, though; the SBOOI is good, but I don't find the small 50mm finder in a Leica III as objectionable as a lot of people do. It's perfectly fine for quick composition. That means you can put a shoe-mount light meter on the top of that body and meter as you walk if you think the light has changed. Something with a read out that is accessible from above like the Voigtlander VCII meters (or the TTArtisan clone) is perfect for that.

Let's be realistic: if you're manually metering with an in-built light meter in a fast-changing situation, you've probably missed the shot anyway. You need to be anticipating the need to shoot before it happens, and changing settings beforehand is key.

piero2025 said:
As an aside: it seems that the shutter on old Leicas gets uncalibrated often. Can you also fix that yourself?
Click to expand...
I don't think they really change much providing they've been well-serviced in the first place. Too many "technicians" just add new grease on top of old, and often over-tension the shutter to power through the old grease and get things into spec. That only works for so long before the old grease becomes a problem again. A proper teardown with a full removal of the old grease and relubrication will mean they'll run smoother and for a lot longer than you'd think.
 
I use sunny 16 or equivalent and hate the idea of launching an app with an iPhone for a meter. My favourite meter goes in a jacket pocket, a tall and slim and light DigiPro F Gossen. It’s instant on and set for incident readings. With black and white and colour negative don’t think of metering every shot. When in doubt open up another stop. This way you get the shot you’d miss taking a reading. Without this approach you’d be better buying an M7. I also would like to follow Coldkennels and do without the SBOOI. Then the Barnack is really tiny. I have a Leica II for that, but it’s metal is more injurious to glasses than the plastic surround of the IIIf VF and RF.
 
Phil_F_NM said:
We need to get on one page here.
Does the OP need a good inexpensive camera that is definitely repairable well into the future, or is the cost of the camera not a factor and the OP can simply buy a metered Leica with two brand new Leica lenses? I'm reading a bit of both in this thread.

Regarding shutter calibration, don't worry about that if you actually want to make a photo with negative film. When the camera needs repair, send it to someone who knows how to do it.

As for a light meter, learn to use the light meter in your head. With not much practice you can easily learn to accurately make the exposure (or by just looking at the pictograms on the inside of a Kodak box, if they still put sunny 16 in there). This can even be done at night, especially if you carry a little log book to quickly record settings of the camera according to each frame number. If you absolutely need a light meter, get a working used Luna Pro analog meter and it will teach you enough about light that eventually you won't need one aside from in the most complex exposure situations.

Don't discount an SLR. A camera like a Pentax K1000 or Spotmatic will be cheap and will fit many, many lenses with no need to worry about viewfinders. A rangefinder camera does not provide an invisibility cloak for the photographer. Besides, photography is more interesting when you get to know the story of the people you are capturing images of

If you want to make photos, go make photos. If you want to collect and worry about gear, then do that.

Check out many images of photographers from the past. You'll often be surprised what camera, lens and film, some photos were made with.

Phil
Click to expand...
Thanks! Let me elaborate:

- price is not an issue, but I don’t like to spend money against or marginally toward the intended purpose.
- another factor is that having many cameras protects you from the situation where your only camera breaks. And if it breaks and it’s my only camera and I can fix it myself, I don’t have to wait 3 weeks until the camera comes back from service
So let’s say I spend 3k euro or dollars for either a good used Leica m6 or 3 minolta CLE - I have redundancy. But spending 9k on 3 Leica m6? I don’t think I will make better photos, so why waste. The idea is not against Leica, I just want to put my money to good use.

- learning to read light: 💡 will do, thanks

- reflex cameras: I absolutely hate (sorry for wording but it’s like that) the look of film b/w from reflex lenses
 
piero2025 said:
... - price is not an issue, but I don’t like to spend money against or marginally toward the intended purpose. ...
Click to expand...
My opinion - get an M6 (with a fresh CLA, of course). The guts of an MP are essentially identical to that of a late M6/M6TTL. The MP will cost you twice as much and get you a brass topcover, the RF condenser (taken out during the M4-2 run), and a modern circuit board.
 
I have a IIIc and Voigtländer 28/35/50 mm lenses for it, and 28/35/50 accessory finders too. And it's a fine shooter. But nowhere near as convenient to load or as fast in the hand as the M4-2 or M6TTL.

(My M6TTL is a 0.85x viewfinder model, which is perfect as I always need the accessory viewfinder to see most Ms' 28mm frame lines.. but the .85x nets better focusing accuracy too, so I'm very happy with what I have.)

As to cost, well, the IIIc plus an Elmar 50/3.5 collapsible was about $750, IIRC. My M4-2 was about the same price when I got it, sans lens, and it needed a $110 viewfinder CLA. I already had a lens or three for it.

G
 
I can guarantee that I could show the OP two photos, one made with a rangefinder, one made with SLR lenses of my choice, both 50mm and 28mm, and the difference would be imperceptible. So, that argument is moot. If you want a rangefinder, get a rangefinder, but the notion that SLR lenses on the whole, are both noticeable and make perceptibly "ugly" images is not a thing.
Phil
 
Phil_F_NM said:
I can guarantee that I could show the OP two photos, one made with a rangefinder, one made with SLR lenses of my choice, both 50mm and 28mm, and the difference would be imperceptible. So, that argument is moot. If you want a rangefinder, get a rangefinder, but the notion that SLR lenses on the whole, are both noticeable and make perceptibly "ugly" images is not a thing.
Phil
Click to expand...

When was that considered an issue in this thread?

G
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom