anyone mess with rangefinder cameras?

[Colt45]

Lieca and the type?


I got an old FED-2 the other day built in ukrain SSR.


Its pretty much a copy of a lieca III (iirc)



Just curious if anyone is intrested in these.. or if everyone here is just SLR or digital.

 

[Sid59]

i have a leica clone and it sucks ass. no way to load film and it's just around because i like cameras. Rangefinder cameras are the worst, imo. I'm glad i don't have to use it for anything in my life. Perhaps this terrible Lecia clone got to me.

But i do wish i had a nice Leica.

 

[kami333]

I have a Zorki and I like it a lot. Sure I would like a Leica but where am I going to get one for $30? It's a nice break from all my digital toys. btw, the clones tend to have a lot of quirks, on mine the 1/60 is a bit off so I try on to use it, but learn them and they won't bother you as much.

 

[phantom309]

My favorite film camera by far.

I had a Zorki-4 and it was the most laughable piece of junk I've ever used - I understand the build quality depended heavily on when the vodka shipments came in. But I loved my Konica Auto S2 ($30 on eBay) and the Canonet series. Right now I have a Contax G1, which is this sort of wierd autofocus rangefinder with incredible Zeiss glass. They're an amazing bargain on eBay these days, considering the lenses are at least as good as Leica, some say better. The camera itself is kind of slow and noisy but it's beautifully made and a joy to look at and use.

You can still get the Voightlander Bessa in the USA for around $250, very nice little manual RF that will mount and use Leica glass nicely.

 

[elektrolokomotive]

I have a Leica M3 (double stroke) that's quite a bit older than I am. It still works great, and the Optics put any modern camera manufacturer to shame! I way prefer it over my Nikons, but I only have one lens for it, and can't afford any more Leitz optics. But I use it whenever I can.

 

[glen]

Do range finder cameras offer any advantage over modern technology?

 

[elektrolokomotive]

Originally posted by: glen
Do range finder cameras offer any advantage over modern technology?

Rangefinders have 2 distinct advantages: good ones are nearly silent when you press the shutter, and they work better at really slow shutter speeds because there's no vibration from the mirror flipping out of the way of the film plane. That being said, they are somewhat more challenging when you're working up close to the subject. Since you're not looking directly through the lens, you have to compensate for parallax or your photos would be framed slightly off center.