Which Canon RF camera to use?

Your choice of camera depends mostly on what and how you shoot. For instance, a VT's trigger advance is great for sports but not so good for studio use. The 7 rangefinders work better in low light. The 7 has no accessory mounting shoe. The bottom-loading models are slow to reload. What top shutter speed do you need? What flash sync do you need? Do you want (or trust) a built-in exposure meter? All of them are fun and interesting!
 
Frank Barrett said:
Your choice of camera depends mostly on what and how you shoot. For instance, a VT's trigger advance is great for sports but not so good for studio use. All of them are fun and interesting!
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Don't forget that the VT has a "pop-up" knob wind, accessed by pressing the button at the right rear of the body, then turning whilst lifting the knob above. It may not be as convenient as a lever, but it is as usable as any knob wind model.
 
What did you decide on?

What did you decide on?

Hi. I'm replying to an old post, I realize, but out of curiosity, what camera did you end up getting and how do you like it today?? Thanks in advance for your reply.

Roger Vadim said:
damn, now I want a "P" or 7... (can't decide. any comments?)
Really bad for the purse to hang out with you guys😉
Unfortunately the Canons are extremely rare here in Germany, due to the obvious Leica dominance back in the days. And shipping over from the US costs a fortune in taxes.
Mhm, anybody in Europe selling a P? (love the look of it)
Cheers, Michael
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I have owned an L2 for a while and put a roll or two through a borrowed P and also a IID2. The P is the quickest and most modern to use of the three, but the IID2 has a lovely quality feel to it. The L2 was in the middle, with the convenience of a switchable 35/50 viewfinder, but the rangefinder patch faded to unusable so I gave it away. For a long-term keeper, I'd go for a good IID2.
John Mc
 
toss up

toss up

Canon P for outdoors and 1:1 viewfinder. The etched lines are a pain but if you just shoot 50mm then no worries.
Canon 7s for bright view-finder and framelines. But too often comes with bad meter so count on a handheld meter when shooting.
Both cameras are literally indestructible and will last longer than their owners.]
 
I have a P and an L1. Even though the L1 hasn't the 1:1 viewfinder - I really like the L1's and the ability to change the view from 50 to 35 to somewhere around 135. The camera also handles really nicely
 
I have a VT, and L1, L2 and L3. I really like the switchable viewfinder and if I'm gonna use an 85 or longer, I'm gonna want to use an accessory finder and the auto parallax finders canon made are awesome.

All that said, for some reason the L3 I have has the quietest shutter I've ever seen in my life. I'm not sure if the lack of sync has something to do with it, but it's almost silent compared to every other rangefinder I own including a leica IIIC and a nikon S2. I do like the design of the rewind knob on the L1, very elegant. All of these have a very clear rangefinder patch.
 
I just got a Canon P, my first interchangeable lens Canon RF. Looks pretty good. It just may be usable, as is. Love the feel of the advance lever.



The shutter is wrinkled a bit. I did read this entire thread a few months ago... I believe this wrinkle is fairly typical, and not harmful? Can't recall if I may have been reading a different thread on a different camera! Why is the wrinkle so common?



Successfully de-fogged the lens surface behind the aperture of the 50mm f1.8.


Will be testing it in the next week or so.
 
wwfloyd said:
......The shutter is wrinkled a bit. I did read this entire thread a few months ago... I believe this wrinkle is fairly typical, and not harmful? Can't recall if I may have been reading a different thread on a different camera! Why is the wrinkle so common?.......
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Wrinkles, if minor, rarely impact shutter performance. As to what causes them, Canon used very thin plastic-coated, stainless steel for the shutter curtains. Some say wrinkles come from fumbled-fingered loading (touching the shutter while loading), some say that it’s an engineering side-effect of using such thin stainless steel (shutter forces eventually cause the wrinkles). Unless it’s major, I wouldn’t worry about it.

Jim B.
 
I've heard that the L1 with its gold coated rangefinder generally stands the test of time better than the silver coated later models. Does anyone have any experience to agree or disagree with that?
 
Monster1 said:
I've heard that the L1 with its gold coated rangefinder generally stands the test of time better than the silver coated later models. Does anyone have any experience to agree or disagree with that?
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I would go with each model as a separate entity and check its condition on a one to one basis... they are all 60 plus year old cameras now...some are in better shape than others. Some L1 cameras could have faded or dirty or dim RF patches and some VIL or VIT Canon cameras could have a bright clean RF patch or vice versa.
 
Monster1 said:
I've heard that the L1 with its gold coated rangefinder generally stands the test of time better than the silver coated later models. Does anyone have any experience to agree or disagree with that?
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Generally yes. The gold-tinted viewfinder on my L1 seems better defined than that of my silver-coated VI-T. But I agree with Xayraa that it will probably vary depending on the camera. Every camera ages at its own rate.

Jim B.
 
Thanks for feedback. Does anyone know where I can see images of how a viewfinder with good contrast on the focusing patch should look like?
 
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