What Are Your Favorite 35mm Manual Focus Fixed-Lens Rangefinders? (Looking For Recommendations)

[joelbolden]

Olympus XA
Pros: pocket size, auto-exposure, good lens
Cons: too small, no filters, no manual override (mine overexposes and it's hard to troubleshoot because needle display and shutter speed are independent)

My XA is the one camera that stays loaded with film(I rotate through the others) and stays in my coat pocket or on the truck seat. It's small, but not tiny, has adjustable aperture and a +1.5 EV setting, has an easily attached flash and dedicated flash mode and takes great, well exposed photos. Two other rangefinders I'm fond of are the Olympus 35RC and Konica Auto S-2. The 35Rc isn't much larger than the XA and the Konica is full sized with a superb lens.

 

[Paul Howell]

Canon QL 1.7, fast lens, manual override, takes 48mm filters, the meter sensor is within the filter ring, downside is the meter does work when in manual mode. I have both the Konica S3 and S2, the lens on the Konica is very sharp, but I prefer the the S2 has it have manual metering.
{Moderator's note: I think you meant "the meter does not work in manual mode"}

Yep, does not work in manual mode,

 

[abruzzi]

I have a Canonet that I haven’t used in forever, I never really got on with it. Maybe partly the fact that the meter can’t be used in manual mode. The best fixed lens rangefinder for me is probably the same as the best removable lens rangefinder the Retina IIIC (it kind of straddles the line—the front half of the lens is removable, the rear is fixed.). The Retina-Xenon lens is beautiful. The meter on mine works pretty well. It’s a folder that fits in my back pocket. The only thing I don’t like is the countdown frame counter.

 

[Paul Howell]

I have a IIIC and IIIC big, which I have had going on sixty years, my meter is dodgy, but they are fiddley to use, loading and reloading film is process. The lens are really good, on the other end of the spectrum is Argus C, although is it possible to change the 50mm for either a 100 or 35mm in practice just too much trouble. The 50mm is a triplet, but rather sharp when stopped down.

 

[manfrominternet]

Canon QL 1.7, fast lens, manual override, takes 48mm filters, the meter sensor is within the filter ring, downside is the meter does work when in manual mode. I have both the Konica S3 and S2, the lens on the Konica is very sharp, but I prefer the the S2 has it have manual metering.
{Moderator's note: I think you meant "the meter does not work in manual mode"}

Yep, does not work in manual mode,

How is the lens on the Konica S3 that you have? I've heard that it's one of the very best and sharpest 38mm lenses ever.

 

[rcphoto]

I loved my Canonet. If i still shot enough 35mm I'd still have one.

 

[Paul Howell]

How is the lens on the Konica S3 that you have? I've heard that it's one of the very best and sharpest 38mm lenses ever.

It is really sharp, it will resolve tmax 100 at 200LPMM, Modern Photography did a strip down review of the S3 and said that it one of the sharpest near wide lens they had ever tested. The S2 is also really sharp, but I think the contrast with S3 is a bit better, it was the camera I would pick when shooting color. Still the Canon is my fav as it has manual override.

 

[eli griggs]

Manual Canon QL17 GIII, with a stand alone meter, no depending on built in meter is my selection, though I have several listed alternatives.

 

[Huss]

Agfa 1535

 

[manfrominternet]

Agfa 1535

That Agfa is amazing! Easily among the best among the smallest 35mm cameras.

 

[Kodachromeguy]

I meant the 35CC(N), and i have both, also the black 35 Electro GT..that issue also happens here.

YES! Bummer. After reading your warning, I put the battery back into my 35CC, which I had not used in about 3 years. In my office at night, I saw the shutter open for several seconds, which is right. Then abruptly, all shutter speeds were a quick click. No changes, no difference with the battery in or out of the camera. I suppose the pad of death died.

Well, that's another nice little 1970s camera out of commission. I got several good years of use out of it, and it was handy on trips. Time to find another compact fixed-lens travel camera? Maybe I'll just use my Leica IIIC......

Some Texas examples of the 35CC:

Small Towns in the Texas Panhandle with Ektar 25 film (Panhandle 2019-01)

worldofdecay.blogspot.com

 

[Huss]

Pauls Photo in Torrance (my local shop) has a really nice Canon QL17GIII. Body is in fantastic shape - no dents/dings/scrapes. Lens looks good. VF is nice and clear. RF blob seems accurate as everything lined up correctly at infinity. There was a battery in it and the exposure reading matched up to my lightmeter ap on my phone. Only thing it needs are new seals on the door.
$120

 

[EggFriedRice]

Rollei 35.

 

[Huss]

Rollei 35.

Not a rangefinder camera

 

[macfred]

Konica III (or Konica IIIMFX), Hexanon 48mm f/2

A well made rangefinder from the 1950's -
this one is from 1956 and comes - unlike the later models - without an EV coupling (an interlock between the shutter speed and aperture rings).
Regard the film wind lever, which is not on the top but on the front of the camera for using the forefinger (or thumb) of the photographer's left hand. This lever needs two strokes and cocks the shutter at the same time as it winds the film.
The original Konica III (or Konica IIIMFX, September 1956) has an
48mm f/2 lens (six elements in five groups) with Konirapid MFX shutter (B, 1–500).

 

[manfrominternet]

Does anyone know if any of these fixes-lens 35mm manual focusing rangefinders allow for the attachment of different diopters of different magnifications? I always seem to need a -3.0 diopter to be able to use cameras without my glasses; I loath wearing my glasses when using any camera.

In any case, the Minolta 7SII, Olympus 35 SP, Canon Canonet QL17 GIII, Agfa 1535, and the Olympus RD/RC are my top picks for for this (in roughly that order), but I don't know if any of them allow for different diopters of different magnifications.

(Btw, macfred's post regarding the Konica III in the post right above this one looks amazing too! Unfortunately for me, 48mm is a bit too long. I should have clarified that I'd prefer a focal length between 35mm and 42mm as I already have a few 50mm SLR lenses as it is.)

 

[SpinierPigeon]

I know I might be a bit late here but I've gotten some beautiful results from an Aires-III. They have nice shutters on them (1-500 + B) and a f/1.9 lens (IDK what formula). The viewfinder is super bright, the RF patch works well, and it has bright lines in it for correction at close range. Probably one of my most favorite cameras I've shot. I should put another roll through it.

 

[wattda]

I got my first rangefinder, a Canonet QL17 GIII, a couple of months ago and have put 2 rolls through it. The first roll you could tell a lot of mistakes, exposure and focusing issues. they did improve by the end of the first roll. By the end of the 2nd roll was starting to get some very nice nice shots. Obviously, there was a learning curve. But i can now see why a lot of folks like rangefinders and the Canon was quite easy to figure out.

 

[Neil Morgan]

The Minolta 7sII is the only one of those that has a fully mechanical shutter IIRC

Olympus 35 SP only uses the battery for metering, fully mechanical otherwise.

 

[reddesert]

Does anyone know if any of these fixes-lens 35mm manual focusing rangefinders allow for the attachment of different diopters of different magnifications? I always seem to need a -3.0 diopter to be able to use cameras without my glasses; I loath wearing my glasses when using any camera.

In any case, the Minolta 7SII, Olympus 35 SP, Canon Canonet QL17 GIII, Agfa 1535, and the Olympus RD/RC are my top picks for for this (in roughly that order), but I don't know if any of them allow for different diopters of different magnifications.

(Btw, macfred's post regarding the Konica III in the post right above this one looks amazing too! Unfortunately for me, 48mm is a bit too long. I should have clarified that I'd prefer a focal length between 35mm and 42mm as I already have a few 50mm SLR lenses as it is.)

Since nobody answered this ... I don't think any of these compact RFs had a built-in diopter adjustment, and probably few or none of them had add on diopters that would be easy to find, although you could try to hot glue an SLR diopter on, or a similar bodge. It is not clear to me if the need for diopters is the same in a RF camera as in an SLR, because the projected image is not at the same apparent distance.

I'm pretty sure the Leica crowd can advise on the availability of diopters for Leicas and perhaps Canon copies. Although I hesitate to recommend them for you, some of the Russian M39-screwmount RFs have a built-in diopter adjustment in the eyepiece. (Don't get me wrong, I love FED/Zorkis in all their dorkiness, and I think they're not too bad if you get a known working one, but I don't know if they're the right camera for a picky user.)

 

[quilts]

I'll throw in another vote for the Olympus XA. Love the compact size of it and it really is an everyday carry pocket camera. The focus throw of the lens is short, but with the large depth of field of the 35mm lens I've never had an issue with missing focus. Just make sure to find a copy with a decent rangefinder patch as they can fade.

 

[Craig]

I have to agree with the earlier suggestion of an SLR. If fast shooting in low light is the goal, nothing beats and SLR with image stabilized lenses for low shutter speed handholdability. Not always, but often the SLR lenses can be faster and cheaper than a rangefinder lens, certainly cheaper than Leica.

 

[Bill Burk]

My vote goes to the Canon Canonet QL17 GIII

Black if you can get it. Lens shade if you can get it. With a CLA if you can get it.

Any in the wild would have to have light seals replaced.

I used one about 20 years ago, but sold it when it stopped being reliable (sometimes the shutter would hang).

But the distinct advantage of this camera is how many “keepers” it produced. Could be the kids were young and any photo that comes out is good… But the short throw focus, parallax-corrected finder and shutter priority auto was very easy to take pictures with.

I used a lot of amateur grade color negative film with it and didn’t make any correction for Alkaline battery.

 

[Mogens]

The Olympus 35 SP has a gorgeous 42mm lens and the meter (at least on mine) works very well. It even has a spot meter! I sold mine when I came to believe I'd never shoot film again, what a mistake. Reading your original post, I feel very confident that it fits the bill.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'Leica-like' lens. Zuikos have their own look, in my opinion. They feel very 'clear-eyed' to me, but that's obviously a very subjective thing to say. Here's a nice gallery that shows the lens in action.

 

[manfrominternet]

Since nobody answered this ... I don't think any of these compact RFs had a built-in diopter adjustment, and probably few or none of them had add on diopters that would be easy to find, although you could try to hot glue an SLR diopter on, or a similar bodge. It is not clear to me if the need for diopters is the same in a RF camera as in an SLR, because the projected image is not at the same apparent distance.

I'm pretty sure the Leica crowd can advise on the availability of diopters for Leicas and perhaps Canon copies. Although I hesitate to recommend them for you, some of the Russian M39-screwmount RFs have a built-in diopter adjustment in the eyepiece. (Don't get me wrong, I love FED/Zorkis in all their dorkiness, and I think they're not too bad if you get a known working one, but I don't know if they're the right camera for a picky user.)

Thank you so much for answering this! I had a feeling that none of these fixed 35mm rangefinder cameras would be able to accept a diopter. However, I am curious if the Minolta 7SII would be able to accept a Minolta CLE diopter correction lens since the eyepiece looks virtually the same. I also wonder if the Olympus 35 SP might be able to accept a diopter correction lens, but I'm definitely sure that the Canon Canonet QL17 GIII won't, sadly.

If none of these fixed-lens rangefinders accept correction lens diopters, the next question would then be which of these are the most friendly to people with glasses?