So I want a rangefinder

[Vanishing Point Ent.]

purchase the correct items as budget & prices permit.

Try a Contax G series. beautifully made cameras. Excellent Zeiss optics at reasonable price point. I use a G with 3 lenses and it is a pleasure to use. Auto or manual focus, auto bracketing and other great features.

Plus don't forget the Contax / Yashica TTL Flash Metering.
The G2 will A.F. in the dark & has a 1/200th of a sec flash synch.

Everything that you wanted in a film Leica m camera,
but NEVER got.
The closest was a Minolta CLE & then the Konica Hexar.

I owned a CLE, traded it in for a Black G2. I love it.
I own the 4 lens kit; the 21 mm & 28 mm Biotars,
a 45 mm Planar & the 90 mm Sonnar, ALL IN BLACK.

Looking for a Titanium covered 2nd body.

I use a Sunpak 120 J TTL on a Stroboframe QR bracket w
Newton Camera Rotator & Quantum Turbo.

I just recently added a Voigtlander Bessa L w a 12 mm
Biotar type LTM Ultra-Wide Angle lens. Again ALL IN BLACK.

Looking to get a 15 mm to round out this kit.

Just remember, that the important thing is to start out right.
Then you can purchase the correct items as budget & prices permit.

 

[elekm]

That's the Biogon, not Biotar.

 

[LaGrassa]

I dug out my Minolta Hi-Matic 7s after many years and realized how nice of a camera it really is. Some months ago, I also obtained a very nice Leica IIIc with a 5cm Summitar for around $500. Very nice RF and I use it often, almost always for B&W. I very recently also got a 9cm Hector and 3.5cm Summaron for it. Again, not terribly expensive but lasting 1950's high-quality precise German manufacture.

 

[beautgrainger147]

I'd also add the canon 7 and the preceding models.. I havent used one though.

The Contax II / IIa is also a good choice but you'll want a IIa if you'd like to use flash (in a slightly limited way).. Really like my pre war model, might make a flash synchronizer though. They arent the easiest things to have repaired and the kiev (with pc socket) is not far behind the II.

 

[KenR]

Bessa

The Bessa R4a that I bought 2 years ago is a great camera for wide angle photography. (I find it hard to focus the 50mm accurately in low light.) The lenses are sharp and well made.

That said, I still take my 35 year old Minolta Himatic 7s along on vacations as a backup and rotten weather body - the lens is sharp and the metering is still quite accurate, although you have to buy the special Wein air cell batteries to replace the mercury type originally employed.

 

[Jeff Kubach]

I'll go with the Canon 7.

Jeff

 

[2F/2F]

With $300 - $500 to spend, you could get a Leica IIIc with 50mm lens easily, and an excellent light meter. I have a IIIc and a IIIa. Each was under $250 with a 50 (one Summitar and one Summar). Both were in great condition and worked perfectly.

 

[dvd]

What about Konica III series? Anyone have much experience with them?

 

[mablo]

Most of the Canon 7 examples don't have working light meter any more. So, basically if OP wants a variable lens rangefinder with a light meter and a lens for $500 or less there aren't so many options. Bessa R comes to mind.

 

[elekm]

Buying any camera from the 1960s or earlier is a roll of the dice. It might work perfectly out of the box, or it might need to be serviced.

The Konica III was the third of a series of rangefinders, appropriately named Konica I, II and III. There are several variations of the Konica III, including some with meters and some without.

The build quality of the Konica III is outstanding. It's a durable and heavy camera with an excellent viewfinder and a very good f/2.0 lens. Because it has a leaf shutter, it's a quiet camera. And it also might need to be serviced.

 

[leicarfcam]

Most of the Canon 7 examples don't have working light meter any more. So, basically if OP wants a variable lens rangefinder with a light meter and a lens for $500 or less there aren't so many options. Bessa R comes to mind.

Most of the Canon 7 meters are not working simply because the contacts have become oxidized. I've bought 3 which I cleaned and brought them back to good working condition and were accurate without having to calibrate..

 

[Trask]

I have a Konica IIIa which I sent to Greg Weber for a CLA, and had him disconnect the link in the EV system so that setting shutter speeds and f/stops independently of each other is easier. This is a great camera - 1X viewfinder so you can use both eyes if you wish, very quiet (quieter than my M2 or M3), easily focused. Of course, the lens is fixed, but it's a great lens. You need only get used to the film advance/shutter tension using the lever on the front of the camera, but that too can work to your advantage as you needn't remove the camera from your eye -- no more poking yourself with the film advance lever.

 

[photoncatcher]

I will agree with Matthew on the Fed. I got one last year off "the bay" for under $50 plus shipping. The the Industar glass is tack sharp, with great conrast. Since then I have become enamored with many of the FSU RFs. I now also own 2 Zorkis, and a Kiev 4. The only draw back with the FSUs is the questionable quality from year to year. Thankfully I only got burned once on a way to cheap Fed 3. Calll it a learning experiance. Oh, and alot of the Russians were made in decorator colors. My Fed 2 is blue. Always turns heads.

 

[imokruok]

Try a Contax G series. beautifully made cameras. Excellent Zeiss optics at reasonable price point. I use a G with 3 lenses and it is a pleasure to use. Auto or manual focus, auto bracketing and other great features.

I recently went through this decision and settled on the G2. I was looking at a Zeiss Ikon and some Hexanon lenses for a first real rangefinder, but decided it was just too big of a leap for me coming from an AF SLR/DSLR world.

The prism system in the G2 is outstanding. What you see in the viewfinder is what you get. No dealing with lines - the prism adjusts to the lens and the frame even moves to adjust what's in your frame. The camera also gets knocked for not focusing on what you want it to focus on, but in my first two rolls in the camera I had only one misfocus, and I wouldn't have had it if I would have looked at the distance scale in the viewfinder.

On price, you can get a G1 with lens for less than $500, or if you're very lucky, a bruised G2 with a lens for about $500. The 28/45/90 kits run $1000 to $1400, but on the plus side, once you spend that much you're done (unless you want the 21 or 16mm.) There are only a handful of lenses for the camera, so it's not like you're always saving up $1,000 for the next one, and if you shoot digital too the lenses can be used manually with an adapter on the m4/3 cameras.