Best inexpensive fixed lens rangefinder

Konica Auto S2. Great glass, solid feel. My fixed lens rangefinder of choice.

My vote is for the KONICA S3, but they ain't cheap. Lens is every bit as good as a Summicron 40mm, AE exposure, standard 49mm filters, viewfinder framelines completely visible with eyeglasses, battery lasts 10+ years, weighs less than a Leica CL. In addition to the one that I've been using since 1975 (I'm on my second battery), I have two brand new ones still in their boxes, sitting in my closet just in case.

I have an Olympus 35RC that I really like. Solid, nice glass, fits into the palm of your hand and your pants pocket.

Best ones I have found are the Konica Auto S2, Minolta Himatic 9/11, Yahsica GSN, Olympus 35rc, Canonet GIII was good but not as good as the others I mentioned.

Do you have any kind of price limit? Any other preferences (exchangeable lenses, compactness, etc.)? There are really a lot of possible choices in this field... Built-in light-meter usually is a problem - on a lot of these older cameras they either don't work any longer, or use unavailable mercury batteries (though there are - not perfect - workarounds).

Fixed lens, not so compact: Minolta Himatic 7S, 9, 11; Konica Auto S2 (great glass, great finder, though rather heavy & clunky); Yashica Minister, Lynx (great glass), Electro (no manual option, unfortunately - battery dependent), but the lens is great); Sokol Automat (Russian fixed-lens RF, rather bulky, but with very good lens; supposed to work with modern batteries); various Canonets (the earlier, larger series); and many more...

Fixed lens, compact: Minolta HiMatic 7SII (the best choice in this category, IMHO - great glass, solid build, nice design); Konica Auto S3 (pricey, no manual option, IIRC); Canonet QL17 GIII (the most expensive choice, due to 'cult' status); Olympus 35RC (very compact, good glass, though weird 43.5mm filter size) and 35RD (less compact); Konica C35 (very compact, GREAT lens, very cheap - but program mode only).

Older RFs with changeable lenses: with price in mind, Russian RFs seem to be the best choice; most of these don't have a lightmeter (except for some later FEDs - which are rather bulky); my favorites are the Zorki 6 and the FED 2 in LTM mount, and the Kiev 4; favorite lenses: Jupiter-8, -9 and -12, Industar-61L/D. Make sure to buy from a reliable seller with these, though - liek Fedka, Oleg (www.okvintagecamera.com) or Ebay-sellers 'cupog', 'alex-photo', 'grizzly33bear' and a few more.

I don't have much experience with the Japanese RFs but for what it is worth I would suggest either a late FED 1 (small, pocketable, 'retro') a FED 2 (simple and best quality control of the LSM lot) or a Kiev 4 (overall best design and quality) - I struck lucky and bought a Kiev 4 with a working meter that is Ok with print film, so is 'all in one lump', but I don't mind carrying a small meter if I am also carrying extra lenses etc - and if I want small the sunny 16 rule works for me. FSU rangefinder cameras are all good designs, but shoddily assembled with non existant quality control, so if you get a good one it is good - most are not however. The best specified is the Zorki 4, but the shutter is very fragile and if it has been mistreated at any stage can break. Lens wise there are no bad 'uns in the usual range(35mm, 50mm, 90mm, 135mm - all Zeiss copies), but again quality control is a problem - often to the extent that lenses are wrongly set up from new and have NEVER been in focus. The late 50mm LSM lens with rare earth coating (Industar 61L/D f2.8 55mm) is a cracker and if properly set up can match vitually any other LSM lens. My biased advice is to buy a cheap FSU camera from a recommended source (see reply above) and give it a go - get an unmetered FED 2 or even better a Kiev and take pictures with it.

Konica Auto S2 (great glass, great finder, though rather heavy & clunky)

Very shiny compared with the "silver" cameras of today, and a bit noisy as well. Takes forbidden batteries. But the framelines don't just move to compensate for parallax, they contract as you focus closer. Few other cameras manage that.

I saw (at a distance) a fascinating fixed-lens rangefinder the other day: a fifty something year old East German "Belmira" (with CZJ Tessar 50/2.8). The (generously sized) viewfinder is on the right, Moskva style. Film winding appears to be on the left. It could be good for the left-eyed -- but I don't know, as I didn't ask for it to be taken out of the showcase.

Yashica MG-1's are usually inexpensive. They are battery dependent and are large due to the 45mm focal length. You get aperture priority automation. More compact, but often overlooked, is the Canonette 28. While about the same size as the GIII, it has an f2.8 lens and is fully programmed. They are usually less expensive than the GIII.

The best pair with parallax correction, high speed lens, sophisticated shutter, high mechanical quality, etc. is maybe Canonet G-III 17 and Yashica Lynx 14E. I did test photos of both and optical performance is about the same, maybe Lynx slightly, but only slightly, better. Lynx is also quite much larger in size beacause of f:1,4 speed lens. A good Lynx may cost only 50 euros (cheap!), Canonet double much. I would prefer Lynx because of faster lens and longer shutter speeds (1 s vs 1/4 s). Also manual exposure with Lynx is so much more simple, on the other hand it has no AE.

Kerkko K.