35mm compact under €100

[funkpilz]

So I finally got tired of my Casio Exilim's constant failing and sent it back to Amazon. They sent me a mail saying "Yeah, sorry, here's €100."
Yay!
Now what I want to do is get a compact, fast and easy to use 35mm camera, either autofocus or rangefinder, maybe an Olympus XA or something like that. Thing is, I don't know anything about this type of camera or what to look for when buying one. So, I'm asking you for help.
I want to use the camera mostly for portraits (low light) and some minor nonsensical photography. I guess this means I need a 50-90mm lens with an aperture of at least 2.8 - is this doable on my budget?

 

[andrewc]

If you're looking for an AF camera you might look at the Olympus Stylus Epic, a wonderful, most compact camera with a very sharp f/2.8 lens and spot metering. As far as rangefinders go, the Olympus 35RC is simply superb, 'nuff said. Also consider the Canon QL17-GIII, one of my personal favorites with a phenomenal lens and a full set of features and capabilities,

 

[PhotoJim]

The Stylus Epic is a pretty good camera. It's very basic but it's very high quality.

When it was new it was about $90 US... well within budget. You may even still be able to get a new one. 35mm lens though, not 50-90, but I happen to think a 35 is far more useful than a 50.

 

[Markok765]

The stylus epic is great. The only I problem I had with it is that it was as loud/louder than my nikon F5.

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

Olympi of 70's vintage haven't proven themselves to be the most reliable of cameras, though they are very nice.

The QL17-GIII has a good reputation for reliability and can probably be kept working forever with some TLC.

Other picks, though a bit more pricey, are the Nikon 35ti and the Ricoh GR1.

For P&S's the Yashica T4/T5 produces stunning results but provides no manual control.

If you want something with a Zoom you might want to look at a Pentax IQ zoom, they made a few that had lenses with half-way respectable f-numbers. The Yashica T4/T5 zoom is best avoided.

My experience with the performance of XA's and Epics has been dismal. The black plastic used by Olympus has a tendency to shatter - I have a collection of shattered Olympus P&S's - family members keep buying them, breaking them, and then giving them to me to fix - hah!

Whatever you do, don't look for a bargain but get the best condition guaranteed working camera you can find. It's worth paying extra.

 

[Chris Nielsen]

I want to use the camera mostly for portraits (low light) and some minor nonsensical photography. I guess this means I need a 50-90mm lens with an aperture of at least 2.8 - is this doable on my budget?

I've got a few of the Stylus models - 35mm 2.8 for low light, 28-80 zoom for a walk around model, and a 38-115 for longer tele shots. Apparently the 38-140 is a cracker of a camera as well. I mention the 35 2.8 for low light as the others have pretty slow lenses, but they work brilliantly in good light, just as the 2.8 works brilliantly in low light

 

[elekm]

The Olympus 35 RC is a wonderful little camera. Replace those foam seals, and you're good to go. There were other similar offerings from the 1970s that are equally good.

As for a P&S with autofocus, I've been using a Rollei Prego 70 (35mm-70mm zoom), which has been very reliable.

You probably could find almost any Japanese ugly-as-sin generic plastic P&S cameras at a thrift shop for less than $5. They're probably good enough, and you could buy three or four and still get out the door for less than $20.

 

[mgb74]

I think your requirements of fast lens and 50-90mm are, unfortunately, mutually exclusive. All the fast P&S RFs I've seen are at least moderately wide (40mm) and the zooms that get you out past 50mm are slow.

One possibility I thought about was a weatherproof Olympus Infinity Twin (I have one that I use to use while camping). It has 2 lenses, a 35mm and a 70mm, with a mirror arrangement to switch between them. But it has no aperture markings.

 

[funkpilz]

Thanks for the suggestions so far. Just to clarify: I was talking about a prime lens between 50mm and 90mm. But I'll take a 35mm, too. Those Olympusses are looking nice.

 

[John Bragg]

Olympus Mju II / Stylus epic can be found reasonably cheaply second hand on Ebay. I got mine for £6.50. It shows very little signs of use at all.

 

[Phormula]

I would not recommend the Olympus Mju II / Stylus epic, because it has IR autofocus no infinity focus lock. This makes shooting a landscape trough glass nearly impossible. The trick is to cover one of the AF windows with a finger, but it does not work 100%. After many good pictures lost, I got a Yashica T4 and I am happy with its Zeiss Tessar lens (well, I recently "upgraded" to a Nikon 35 TI, but that's another story...). The Olympus has been sitting idle since then. Those are the only two cheap point&shoot cameras from the '90s that expose slide film properly. Others tend to overexpose because they have been designed for print film, like most zoom P&S. If you want a zoom camera, the Minolta Riva 70-75W or the Yashica T-Zoom do a fine job. Both have a zoom lens that is a real wide angle (28 mm) and end around 70 mm. The Minolta is a little faster (3.5 at 28 mm), while the Yashica has a Zeiss Tessar lens, but slower (4.5-8).
More expensive choices are the Leica Minilux and Minilux Zoom and the Nikon 28TI - 35TI, but you need real luck to find a good one below 100$.

 

[funkpilz]

I have made a decision. It's completely useless as an answer to my original question, but still a solution to my problem.
The digital P&S I gave up was never a walkaround camera, it was just for parties and social things and I used it because it was relatively quick. It was never used for serious photography. After realizing this fact and the fact that I don't need a serious P&S camera, I decided to get a very un-serious P&S camera. A Lomography Fisheye 2. $30 and I have a very fast little machine perfectly suited for what I'll be using it for, and the good thing is that image quality is not an issue with this type of P&S. Simply because you know beforehand you won't be using this for anything serious.
Still, thanks everyone for your recommendations!