Looking for a decent rangefinder

[grain elevator]

We must be talking about two different cameras. The RD and the RC have basically the same body, but the lens is larger on the RD, of course:

View attachment 402822

Here's what CameraQuest has to say:

https://cameraquest.com/olyrd.htm

It does look larger than the RC in the picture you posted, and I'm pretty sure it is. Not by much, and I'm sure part of my issue was also the different balance with the larger lens and the different wind lever (the one on the RC really works for me as a thumb grip, the RD one not so much).

 

[xkaes]

You should add that the RD is 2 ounces heavier than the RC. Now that's a real deal breaker!

Want something smaller and lighter that the RD with the same features? Check out the Minolta Hi-Matic 7SII.

https://cameraquest.com/min7s2.htm

 

[grain elevator]

You should add that the RD is 2 ounces heavier than the RC. Now that's a real deal breaker!

Want something smaller and lighter that the RD with the same features? Check out the Minolta Hi-Matic 7SII.

Uhmm I didn't say it's too large, or heavy, per se. Something like the SP or a full size SLR works just fine for me.

 

[xkaes]

To paraphrase Cornelius Ryan, in my book, the SP is "A Rangefinder Too Large".

The Goldilocks rangefinders are the Minolta 7SII, Olympus RD, and Canon QL GIII

 

[albireo]

Hi,

I'm looking for a new rangefinder camera. I have a Zorki 6. I like the camera, but the viewfinder is bit dank and sometimes difficult to focus.

I would like to buy a camera for some fast shooting in street photography and family shots (I have a toddler....).
I also find it important do have a built in lightmeter that is reliable.
So fast focusing a good lens and lightmeter are important for me.
Unfortunately I don't have a Laila budget, so I don't want to spend more than a 1000 or max 1500 euro on the set.

I started to read up on the Minolta CLE and Voigtländer Bessa. According to chatgpt the Minolta has better spects. But I rather have some good advice from the community.

So, anyone advice?

I have been tempted by the Konica IIIA. Apparently the 48mm lens is great and the 1:1 viewfinder beautiful.

Maybe one day..

 

[xkaes]

Nice camera if you like lugging around a light meter.

 

[albireo]

Nice camera if you like lugging around a light meter.

Are those tiny Chinese jobs that fit into the flash hot shoe any good?

 

[Analogski]

Are those tiny Chinese jobs that fit into the flash hot shoe any good?

Mine works pretty good!

 

[xkaes]

Lomography certainly loves it:

"The Konica IIIA was built in 1958 but is still regarded to have one of the brightest and clearest viewfinders in the market. It is still praised by a lot of collectors and photographers for its prized viewfinder and fluid shooting mechanism. It's also a winner in terms of build quality and features."

Too bad it so much bigger than the Minolta 7SII -- and weighs twice as much!

 

[Klaus Mähring]

I have a Yashica 35GTN since three months and I am quite happy with it. It is rather heavy, and lens is fixed but excellent.
They go for around € 150, and if you know what to look for (search for the 'pad of death') they are very reliable.

 

[Paul Howell]

Yashica made a fine line of fixed lens rangefinders, some with 35mm lens and one with a fast 1.4 lens. They seem to be holding up pretty well, don't see a lot of posts of folks asking about repairs. Any issue with using a 6 volt replacement for the mercury 5.6?

 

[Paul Howell]

Nice camera if you like lugging around a light meter.

With black and white Sunny 16 works, I shot a roll of Foma 400 at 250 using Sunny 16, 32 of the 36 frames where printable.

 

[GregY]

Hi,

I'm looking for a new rangefinder camera. I have a Zorki 6. I like the camera, but the viewfinder is bit dank and sometimes difficult to focus.

I would like to buy a camera for some fast shooting in street photography and family shots (I have a toddler....).
I also find it important do have a built in lightmeter that is reliable.
So fast focusing a good lens and lightmeter are important for me.
Unfortunately I don't have a Laila budget, so I don't want to spend more than a 1000 or max 1500 euro on the set.

I started to read up on the Minolta CLE and Voigtländer Bessa. According to chatgpt the Minolta has better spects. But I rather have some good advice from the community.

So, anyone advice?

I'd consider the Leica (or Leitz Minolta) CL. I've owned a few. Don Goldberg DAG opines that they're tougher than people think....& has the parts to repair them.
Love mine!

 

[DF]

Here are the top three -- with your budget, you can get one of each!

https://www.subclub.org/minman/leanmean.pdf

I've always had reservations to the older, retro fixed focal-lenzed rangefinders. Their lenses seem to cloud up, deteriorate with time in ways interchangeable lenses won't and I think it's simply the lack of movement, being stuck or fixed in the same place over time doesn't allow for "good breathing" or even simple cleaning.
Anyhow, speaking of Minolta, and If you've got $$ to spend, Minolta CLE & it's companion Rokkor rangefinder lenses are enticing....

 

[Klaus Mähring]

Yashica made a fine line of fixed lens rangefinders, some with 35mm lens and one with a fast 1.4 lens. They seem to be holding up pretty well, don't see a lot of posts of folks asking about repairs. Any issue with using a 6 volt replacement for the mercury 5.6?

Adapters for the battery are easily available.

Yashica 35 Gtn Adapter | eBay

Tolle Angebote bei eBay für Yashica 35 Gtn Adapter. Sicher einkaufen.

www.ebay.at

Mine works well and the lightmeter is accurate.

 

[GregY]

I've always had reservations to the older, retro fixed focal-lenzed rangefinders. Their lenses seem to cloud up, deteriorate with time in ways interchangeable lenses won't and I think it's simply the lack of movement, being stuck or fixed in the same place over time doesn't allow for "good breathing" or even simple cleaning.
Anyhow, speaking of Minolta, and If you've got $$ to spend, Minolta CLE & it's companion Rokkor rangefinder lenses are enticing....

i'm always reticent about older electronic cameras.....
I had a CLE back in the day and it was a brilliant camera....

 

[xkaes]

i'm always reticent about older electronic cameras.....

One of the problems with SOME of the older 35mm viewfinder/rangefinder cameras is their dependence on a battery for the shutter -- or the shutter being dependent on the meter which is dependent on the battery. And, of course, just about ALL newer cameras are totally useless without a battery.

One of the many good things about the Minolta 7SII, Olympus RD, and Canon QL GIII, is that they work fine WITHOUT the battery.

 

[GregY]

One of the problems with SOME of the older 35mm viewfinder/rangefinder cameras is their dependence on a battery for the shutter -- or the shutter being dependent on the meter which is dependent on the battery. And, of course, just about ALL newer cameras are totally useless without a battery.

One of the many good things about the Minolta 7SII, Olympus RD, and Canon QL GIII, is that they work fine WITHOUT the battery.

True enough, though comments seem to have centred on the lower end, while the OP has a 1000-1500 € budget which gives lots of choices.

 

[reddesert]

I've always had reservations to the older, retro fixed focal-lenzed rangefinders. Their lenses seem to cloud up, deteriorate with time in ways interchangeable lenses won't and I think it's simply the lack of movement, being stuck or fixed in the same place over time doesn't allow for "good breathing" or even simple cleaning.
Anyhow, speaking of Minolta, and If you've got $$ to spend, Minolta CLE & it's companion Rokkor rangefinder lenses are enticing....

I've had a number of these older fixed-lens rangefinders - I used a Konica S2 and then a Canonet QL17 a lot starting in the late 80s, 90s to the early 00s. I still have both of those original ones, and a number of others acquired as people cast them off. Most of mine still work, but there are a few with stuck shutters or whatever. The main issue that I see is that many of the light meters have become unreliable; whether this is due to deterioration/oxidation of the circuit (few of mine show corrosion) or of the cell itself is unknown. For this reason, I prefer the ones with a manual mode to the auto only ones (I make an exception for the Olympus XA series).

Anyway, I don't think they suffer more from hazy lenses, that's less of a problem for me than sticky shutters. But if they do, the problem is most likely not the fixed lens (after all it gets aired out when you open the back), but the fact that they have a between-lens shutter and an auto-stop-down iris. These are more complex than a Leica-style rf lens with no shutter and a manual iris, and a possible source of lubricant in the lens. The other "problem" of course is that people are more likely to pay for a cleaning on a Leica lens than a Canonet.

With most of these cameras, you are talking about a 40-60 year old camera, so today's condition is important. I could make stuff up about reliability of this model or that, but the question is does it work and is the lens clear today? If so, it will probably still work and be clear next week. But if it's bought untested, there is no guarantee it will be usable.

 

[xkaes]

A few weeks ago, I ran ago a Minolta 7SII. I wasn't looking for one. It worked fine, but the viewfinder was cloudy. I got it for next to nothing, and it looks like new -- in the case with a shoulder strap!

I downloaded "Prasad-Minolta-Himatic7Sii-ServiceNotes-v2.pdf" from LEARN CAMERA REPAIR, and the cleaning was EZ PZ.

 

[Paul Howell]

The odd duck is the Kodak Retina IIIS, uses the same shutter and meters as the earlier IIIC but has true interchangeable lens. I think it was the only mount that could be on either the rangefinder or the SLR, in this case the Retinaflex. Some of the flex lens had cams for the rangefinder 28 to 135, and when installed the lens bought up the correct matching frame. The 200 can mount but is not coupled to the rangefinder, scale focus. I think the 28mm required a seperate viewfinder. I have a IIIC big, the lens are quite good, but by modern standards it is fussy camera to use. And the meter is not coupled and uses EV system. Over the years I have come close to buying one, maybe a 3 lens set. What has kept me is the low top shutter speed and having a IIIC not sure if want to go down the fussy road of use. Still underrated and has nice German glass.

 

[John Wiegerink]

The odd duck is the Kodak Retina IIIS, uses the same shutter and meters as the earlier IIIC but has true interchangeable lens. I think it was the only mount that could be on either the rangefinder or the SLR, in this case the Retinaflex. Some of the flex lens had cams for the rangefinder 28 to 135, and when installed the lens bought up the correct matching frame. The 200 can mount but is not coupled to the rangefinder, scale focus. I think the 28mm required a seperate viewfinder. I have a IIIC big, the lens are quite good, but by modern standards it is fussy camera to use. And the meter is not coupled and uses EV system. Over the years I have come close to buying one, maybe a 3 lens set. What has kept me is the low top shutter speed and having a IIIC not sure if want to go down the fussy road of use. Still underrated and has nice German glass.

............and the IIIs Retina isn't as heavy as say the Konica III, Konica IIIa with its shoe meter or the IIIM with its built in meter. In fact it might even give the Yashica GSN a run for its money in the weight department. I'm with you Paul, I probably won't buy another unless it comes to me for a super cheap price or for free. I have toooooooo maaaaany 35mm rangefinder cameras sitting on the display shelf now. My only user 35mm rangefinder style camera is a Contax G system, which I don't use much at all. I'm a more 120 and bigger kind of guy. Still, the OP has a wide variety of really good old cameras to pick from and it's going to be a matter of searching out what he likes and whether it has a fairly good dependability record in these modern times.

 

[Jeff Bennett]

Your budget might get you an M5 and a a screw mount Leica lens or a third party m mount. Your way past reflex and canonet budget. Both of which I have and enjoy. LV metering on the reflexes isn’t my favorite though.

 

[GregY]

Your budget might get you an M5 and a a screw mount Leica lens or a third party m mount. Your way past reflex and canonet budget. Both of which I have and enjoy. LV metering on the reflexes isn’t my favorite though.

Yes....

 

[aconbere]

Sorry I meant the 35RD.

No worries! I was just standing up for the poor little 35RC.