Wayne R. Scott
Half fast Leica User
I know it is not a true rangefinder but my vote for sharpest fixed focal length goes to the Rollei 35S with the 40mm Sonnar f2.8.
Wayne
Wayne
Which Fixed Lens Camera has a Great Lens?
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FPjohn
Well-known
Retina IIc
Retina IIc
Hello:
The 50mm Xenon f2.8 is very good on a Retina IIc and they are almost always "pristine". The Xenar f2.8 50mm on a Retina Ib is also a fine lens. The cameras are gem like.
http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00FYAj&tag=
yours
Frank
Retina IIc
Hello:
The 50mm Xenon f2.8 is very good on a Retina IIc and they are almost always "pristine". The Xenar f2.8 50mm on a Retina Ib is also a fine lens. The cameras are gem like.
http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00FYAj&tag=
yours
Frank
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ZeissFan
Veteran
Folding Contessa
Foca Sport II
Any Rolleiflex or Rolleicord
Any folding Retina
Any prewar or postwar Ikonta or Super Ikonta with a Tessar
Medalist I and II
Super Nettel (Triotar or Tessar)
Any Voigtlander Vito with the Skopar or Color-Sokpar or Ultron (Vito III)
Contaflex I with Tessar
Any Rollei 35 with a Tessar or Sonnar
... plus many other cameras, I'm sure
Foca Sport II
Any Rolleiflex or Rolleicord
Any folding Retina
Any prewar or postwar Ikonta or Super Ikonta with a Tessar
Medalist I and II
Super Nettel (Triotar or Tessar)
Any Voigtlander Vito with the Skopar or Color-Sokpar or Ultron (Vito III)
Contaflex I with Tessar
Any Rollei 35 with a Tessar or Sonnar
... plus many other cameras, I'm sure
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Ronald M
Veteran
Why a fixed lens? Put one lens on your Leica and leave the rest at home.
If you need more dissapline, a Rollie 35 with any 40mm is great and smaller.
If you need more dissapline, a Rollie 35 with any 40mm is great and smaller.
K
Kyle
Guest
Ronald M said:
Why not fixed lens? They're cheap, compact, usually well built cameras. There are some places I'd rather take a Canonet than my M2.
Oh yeah, I'm looking for the "right" fixed lens because I'm planning on going to Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Ca in May to shoot pictures of the people. They don't allow the use of any sort of "professional" camera inside the festival grounds. Just what is their definition of a "professional" camera, you ask? Any camera with removable lenses. That means no Leica for me...
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TimBonzi
.
Depending on the look of the photograph you want, that could change your definition of a great lens. I think my Holga 120N takes great photos!
DougK
This space left blank
I think the best lens I have on a fixed-lens camera is the 38mm Hexanon on my Konica C35 Auto. It's simply an amazingly good lens for black-and-white film. I can't tell you how it does with color because I've never shot any in the camera, which is a first for me because I'm a die-hard slide shooter.
Hmmm, I sense a project for this weekend coming on....
Hmmm, I sense a project for this weekend coming on....
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Trius
Waiting on Maitani
Doug: It's very good with color, trust me. For ease of testing, you might break down and shoot some Reala in it, but you feel safe with chrome, I assure you. You might want to bracket a bit, under-exposing by say 1/3 stop to see how the slight underexposure affects things.
Earl
Earl
Kat
Well-known
How about the sharpest lenses among the subcompact clones (e.g. vivitar es, minolta 7sII, konica s3 and any other similar cameras)? Or are they all the same?
kvanderlaag
my autofocus is broken.
I have experience with three fixed-lens cameras:
Fujica 35-SE
Agfa Karat IV
Kodak Retina IIc
The Fujica has a nice, fast 45mm lens that's nice and sharp stopped down a bit, and quite pleasantly sharp in the center even wide open. A little softer around the edges, but sometimes that's what you're going for. It's a wonderfully contrasty lens, and it's nice to take advantage of this.
The Karat IV is a bit messed up, as it sat idle in our basement for almost 18 years, but I've restored it to more or less functional shape, with the RF calibrated pretty close to dead on. I'd have to check it against another camera to tell you just how far off it is, but the two rolls I've successfully shot with it were tack-sharp when I had it stopped down -- focusing was too inaccurate to gauge sharpness wide open.
The Retina...well, not a lot needs to be said for it. It's pretty well-represented here, and with a folding cover for the lens, most of them are in excellent condition. The Xenon on the IIc is almost bitingly sharp -- I do prefer, to an extent, the Solinar on the Karat, but if you want sharpness, the 50mm Xenon on the IIc is excellent.
Fujica 35-SE
Agfa Karat IV
Kodak Retina IIc
The Fujica has a nice, fast 45mm lens that's nice and sharp stopped down a bit, and quite pleasantly sharp in the center even wide open. A little softer around the edges, but sometimes that's what you're going for. It's a wonderfully contrasty lens, and it's nice to take advantage of this.
The Karat IV is a bit messed up, as it sat idle in our basement for almost 18 years, but I've restored it to more or less functional shape, with the RF calibrated pretty close to dead on. I'd have to check it against another camera to tell you just how far off it is, but the two rolls I've successfully shot with it were tack-sharp when I had it stopped down -- focusing was too inaccurate to gauge sharpness wide open.
The Retina...well, not a lot needs to be said for it. It's pretty well-represented here, and with a folding cover for the lens, most of them are in excellent condition. The Xenon on the IIc is almost bitingly sharp -- I do prefer, to an extent, the Solinar on the Karat, but if you want sharpness, the 50mm Xenon on the IIc is excellent.
Jacob
Established
Bronica VZ and VX!
Well, I don't know anything about them other than they are 35mm rangefinders from the eighties, one with a 50mm lens. I just assume they are sharp. If anyone has a picture (maybe from the Bronica history book), please share!
Regarding my own experince, I am allways surprised how sharp the pictures from my Minolta AF-C come out. Just got a little Voigtländer VF 101 with a stuck rangefinder and a hopefully sharp 40mm Skopar. Will get back when, or if, it works.
Jacob
Well, I don't know anything about them other than they are 35mm rangefinders from the eighties, one with a 50mm lens. I just assume they are sharp. If anyone has a picture (maybe from the Bronica history book), please share!
Regarding my own experince, I am allways surprised how sharp the pictures from my Minolta AF-C come out. Just got a little Voigtländer VF 101 with a stuck rangefinder and a hopefully sharp 40mm Skopar. Will get back when, or if, it works.
Jacob
ClaremontPhoto
Jon Claremont
Leica Minilux
zuikologist
.........................
kyle said:
Yashica 35CC - a nice 35/1.8 lens I think. If an Oly XA4 counts as a rangefinder, then that has a 28mm lens.
Sonnar Brian
Established
Konica S2, Wide-Open.
Pretty impressive for a $25 camera.
Pretty impressive for a $25 camera.
bmattock
Veteran
Brian Sweeney said:
Nice pictures, Brian. I'm sitting at home working on a pair of Sears 35|RF rangefinders, they were essentially black versions of the Ricoh 500G. These seem ok, but the meters don't work and of course, the foam is all gunky. On most of your compact 35's, if the meter doesn't work, the camera is toast - but on the Ricoh/Sears, there is also manual override for both aperture and shutter speed. Might put a roll through one of them today, we'll see.
Why am I at home today? Water heater went out. Sigh.
Best Regards,
Bill Mattocks
Sonnar Brian
Established
Thankyou, Bill.
That's a cold slap in the face! We have a well. When the water heater went out, it was a close call. COLD shower beats no shower.
That's a cold slap in the face! We have a well. When the water heater went out, it was a close call. COLD shower beats no shower.
amateriat
We're all light!
I'll second the Ricoh GR series (I have a GR1, which I really need to finally send out to have fixed), but I didn't include it on my shortlist here since it's not a RF. Great liitle (truly little) camera.ush said:i don't really know if they fit in your categories, but ricoh's GR (1,1s,1v,10 not to mention this gr21) have really nice and wide lens.
btw, if someone got a cheap GRxx or maybe a R1 to sell, do say so =)
- Barrett
ChrisPlatt
Thread Killer
Fuji(ca) GS645 folder
Uncle Bill
Well-known
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I am a fan of my Canonet QL17 GIII, I have taken some really amazing photos with it in the last year.
Bill
Bill
S
StuartR
Guest
Well, to open up pandora's box, you must include medium and large format of course.
MF: Plaubel Makina with its superb 80/2.8, The "Stomp Tokyo" Fuji's -- GW690's and GSW690's, and of course all the Rollei TLR's are fixed lens, though not rangefinders. The Soviet Iskra has a very nice lens.
LF: Not so much fixed lens, but most LF users only use one lens anyway. The Linhof field cameras have rangefinders, as do the Alpa and Cambo super wide cameras. Their 38mm biogon and the Schneider APO-Helvetar are some serious lenses...
MF: Plaubel Makina with its superb 80/2.8, The "Stomp Tokyo" Fuji's -- GW690's and GSW690's, and of course all the Rollei TLR's are fixed lens, though not rangefinders. The Soviet Iskra has a very nice lens.
LF: Not so much fixed lens, but most LF users only use one lens anyway. The Linhof field cameras have rangefinders, as do the Alpa and Cambo super wide cameras. Their 38mm biogon and the Schneider APO-Helvetar are some serious lenses...
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