I’d never been convinced that Car boots are always work outs great for camera hunters. Sure you’ll find late AF zoom compact for the same price as you’d pay on eBay less postage but IMHO til then true bargains are rare and balanced by someone trying to sell a Knackered Praktica for 50 quid. All that changed when I spotted this grubby number.
This month has seen the departure of another camera. Lucky thing, this Japanese compact rangefinder, as it’s off to Oz to enjoy the sun. But why did I sell and was it any good ?
The Canon Canonet (aka Bell & Howell Canonet 19) was groundbreaking when it arrived in 1961, delivering a high spec rangefinder from a high-end manufacturer for only modest prices. It was an instant success with stock selling out in 2 days and the camera going to sell over a million units. But how does it stack up against cameras of its day ?
Although not as remember as better selling Japanese rivals the Fujica 35 Auto-M is technological tour de force from the early 60’s offering features not seen on even SLR cameras for over another decade
Fujica 35 Auto-M 35mm classic rangefinder from 1960’s
Wanna turn your scale focused point and shoot into a rangefinder ? Well an external rangefinder could be for you and good old Lomo produced a decidedly modernist one in the Blik (Блик – meaning ‘Speck of light’).
The Minister III is one in a long line of great Rangefinders from Yashica. This beauty in chrome popped up at the start of the 60’s and is good choice for an uncoupled rangefinder of the era
The 1970’s were the heyday of the fixed lens compact rangefinder. Truth be told there can be little to pick from these beauties with the Konica C35 series leading the pack. The Ricoh 500RF and its posher brother the 500G manage to stand out from the crowd as they offer some of the best user control of exposure in the class. Continue reading Ricoh 500RF Review : The Control Freak’s Compact Rangefinder→
The 1970s were the heyday of consumer compact rangefinder. Many models such as the Konica C35 or the Olympus 35 RC are rightly hailed as classics but that means other models are often overlooked that were rivals at the time. The good news is that you can get crackers like the 35EE for a song.
Soviet cameras frequently are accused of being copies of Western & Japanese models. Whatever you think they do it pretty well and Ukrainian FED are no exception. The company is still best known for it’s Leica-like rangefinders and lens. However the FED Mikron 2 (ФЭД Микрон 2) is a compact rangefinder along the lines of the Konica C35. Continue reading FED Mikron 2 : Come in Comrade we’ve been expecting you→
Shooting Film on the cheap on the Border in Credit Crunch Britain