Compact 35 with large lens?

[darinwc]

if you are using a fixed-lens rangefinder, point-and-shoot, or scale focus camera, you really dont need a big fast lens since you will not be looking through it to focus.

If you want a big fast lens just cause you think its better than a compact almost-as-fast lens, you are wrong.

 

[analog what is that?]

I want a big fast lens simply because I can get a big fast lens, as big as possible in as small a package as possible, read the first post.

 

[CGW]

My Nikon EM with the 50mm 1.2 looks quite ridiculous... lol

Actually with the original 50mm 1.8 E series (which I have as well) it's quite compact. I have it right next to my Olympus RC which is just tiny. Smaller even than the Retina IIIc, which was previously mentioned.

I find that the smaller you go, the harder it is to handle quickly and accurately. I fumble some times on the RC, the aperture ring is tiny, and the focus throw is short and not to smooth. Shooting wide open with a very fast lens on a small range finder is just asking for trouble unless you have something that has a good effective base length like a M3 or one of the bessa R3's. Then at that point you are getting into very expensive territory.

A small compact SLR like the EM or maybe an olympus om1 or 2 with a nice 50mm 1.4 or 1.8 will get you shooting in low light for cheap.

Amen. I gave up on teensy rangefinders in favor of a Nikon FG--Nikon's smallest-ever SLR with a nice range of features and a bright viewfinder. The pin-sharp little 50/1.8E and the sleeper 100/2.8E make a killer compact kit that fits in a coat pocket. All very affordable. Works for me.

 

[John Koehrer]

The Contax G1 or 2 with a 45/2 is relatively compact, smaller than the Yashica Lynx anyway(?)
It's certainly pocketable in a coat or jacket.

 

[elcabezagrande]

Yashica Half 14, 32mm 1.4 lens in a half-frame camera. Is that big, fast and compact enough?

http://www.subclub.org/shop/yahalf14.htm


YASHICA HALF14 by ????, on Flickr

pretty hard to find, though.

 

[DBP]

How is it that no one has mentioned the Canonet 17? There are also the Petri rangefinders.

 

[Oren Grad]

I use an Olympus Pen D (3.2cm f/1.9) and a Minolta HiMatic 7SII (40mm f/1.7) as coat-pocketable cameras with fast lenses. I have a Canonet G-III 17 but don't use it much; it's a bit bigger than the Minolta. I don't know of any full-frame 35mm camera that's as small as an XA or a Minox 35 and also has a lens any faster than f/2.8.

 

[analog what is that?]

How is it that no one has mentioned the Canonet 17? There are also the Petri rangefinders.

I don't think any of those can be labeled "compact"??

 

[analog what is that?]

What about the Canon AF35ML Super Sure Shot?

Not a very sexy camera, but I suspect it's just as reliable and useful a P&S as the Olympus XA's, Nikon L35AF, etc.

It's got a 40mm, f/1.9. I think that might be your best bet for fast point & shoot, no?

http://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/sure-shot/af35ml.htm

Taste varies, actually I think the AF35 ML is a pretty sexy camera, thought to have an excetionally good lens as well, at least that was what Modern Photo thought at the time of its introduction... a bit expensive & hard to find?

 

[zsas]

Leica CL w collapsible f2? Can't remember if CL was mentioned?

 

[darinwc]

Well to answer your question then, there is no full-frame ultra-compact camera in the range of the the minox/ rollei35/ olympus xa with a f2 or faster lens. Period. Nada. Zip.

There are f2 collapsable lenses for the leica screw or m mount cameras.

Or there are fixed-lens rangefinders as mentioned above.

Neither is great for a pocket camera so ultimately you wont want them.
Get used to disappointment.

 

[elcabezagrande]

Taste varies, actually I think the AF35 ML is a pretty sexy camera, thought to have an excetionally good lens as well, at least that was what Modern Photo thought at the time of its introduction... a bit expensive & hard to find?

Not really all that hard to find. Expect to pay between $15-$30 on eBay. You might get lucky and get one much cheaper. And I agree with you, I think the ML has a classic (and quite ergonomic) design.

 

[elcabezagrande]

Fuji Natura, 24mm 1.9 is probably the most compact sub-2.8 that you will find.

http://35mm-compact.blogspot.com/2011/03/fuji-natura-black-19.html

 

[darinwc]

Ah-ha! i stand corrected. They are rare and go for collectors prices, but they exist. I think Fuji also made one with a 24-40mm lens, I'm thinking it was f2 but I may be wrong.

 

[CGW]

Fuji Natura, 24mm 1.9 is probably the most compact sub-2.8 that you will find.

http://35mm-compact.blogspot.com/2011/03/fuji-natura-black-19.html

Just the thing if you've got a spare grand burnin' a hole in your pocket. For a bit more, I'd go for a Fuji x100(Sorry!).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LNIB-Fujifi...796355707?pt=Film_Cameras&hash=item4160c45c7b

 

[zsas]

Was Ricoh GR1s mentioned? Lens is 2.8, but might be "better" than XA's?

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/pocket_35.shtml

 

[John Austin]

Perhaps consider the coffee plunger Voigtlander Vitessa with f2 Ultron - Folds flat, has an EV shutter to work quickly with a Digisix readout, has a small but accurate coupled rangefinder, is easy to use especially with a Leitz/CosinaV 50mm viewfinder and is supremely elegant

I bought one with the f3.5 lens from a used building materials yard for $10 because I felt sorry for it - Then discovered its quality as a compact/ish snapshot camera - Voigtlander lenses are superb - For my naked portrait portfolio I am using 240mm and 36cm Heliars on 5x4" and 10x8"

See Dead Link Removed and go back to the 5th October, the point where I finally got over the Leica myth (Snapshot Cameras - Voigtlander Vittesa, Kodak (Dr.Nagel-Werke) Retina 119 & Leica M2)

 

[analog what is that?]

You're in the company of some fine cameras jb!

 

[analog what is that?]

Have to put in a question here, since the Retina was mentioned early on and now the Vitessa:

What other nice folders where there with a larger-than-f:2,8 lens?

 

[darinwc]

or the canon s95 with an f2 lens.

 

[BobD]

Have to put in a question here, since the Retina was mentioned early on and now the Vitessa:

What other nice folders where there with a larger-than-f:2,8 lens?

Welta Weltini II with 50/2 Xenon:

 

[LunoLuno]

I always wonder why Fuji didn't sell their Natura cameras overseas.

http://www.cameraquest.com/fujinaturaS.htm

 

[zsas]

I always wonder why Fuji didn't sell their Natura cameras overseas.

http://www.cameraquest.com/fujinaturaS.htm

I want that! Ok OP, you going to get it^

Sounds like the riddle has been solved?

 

[Sundowner]

I've already been down this particular road, and instead of dropping couple of thousand into a Leica or something similar I decided to invest a hundred bucks in a pristine QL-17. It's not as compact as a Rollei 35 (another favorite of mine) but it's got a hellishly good 40mm f1.7 lens on it, and it's very quick to focus and shoot. With Tri-X rated at 1600 I can shoot down into some pretty dim light: I shot between 1/30th and 1/500th walking around a fairground at night...no problems whatsoever. Great little camera. Check it out.

 

[Les Sarile]

Pentax MX is the smallest full mechanical 35mm SLR with the largest full info viewfinder. With a Pentax M 40mm f2.8 pancake lens, it is small enough to fit a jacket pocket.

I use my M42 Takumar fisheye one it - with an M42-Pentax K adapter) and it is likely the smallest fisheye setup.