View Full Version : What was your first RF?
Mine was the Olympus 35SP. It was also the first used camera I bought, and the first camera I bought on *bay. From a Russian ex-colonel in the Yukon.
That was followed by a succession of compact fixed-lens RF's, then a Zorki. On to a barnack, then a Bessa-R, to Hexar and Leica M. Picked up a P along the way.
Some are gone, some I still have. The Oly is still here, and has found a (courtesy of Gman) brown leather-covered mate. ;)
What's your story?
back alley
02-18-2006, 19:15
the first camera i bought with my own money was a rangefinder. i still have it and, like you, g'man has customized another so it has company.
it started me on the path of photography and has taken some very nice shots along the way.
i bought it around 1971 as best as i can remember.
the camera?
an olympus 35rc.
joe
Mine was the Leitz Minolta CL, 1978.
Brian Sweeney
02-18-2006, 19:18
The Hi-Matic 9, bought with earnings from a Summer of mowing lawns in 1969. I still have it, works great.
flashover
02-18-2006, 19:21
Minolta Hi-Matic F still around here somewhere.
Fujica V2, purchased new from an Air Force BX, Mactan Air Base, Philippines, for $42.50. That was the Summer of 1967. It was a fine camera that took great pictures.
Walker
My first camera was an Ikonta A that my father passed down to me, technically not a rangefinder but close enough. The first camera that I bought was a Ricoh 500G.
julianphotoart
02-18-2006, 19:28
Flush with a bonus from settling a case, I got an M3. 1997. Used it 2 weeks and thought what on earth is the hullabaloo about this rangefinder thingy? Gave it back to the store. Though that person back then was me, only 9 years ago, I now have no idea who that guy was. Now, life without rangefinders....impossible.
JoeFriday
02-18-2006, 19:28
mine was a GSN that I bought about a year ago.. it started the snowball that led to a Kiev 4a, Vivitar 35es, Canonet, Minox, Contax IIa, Contax T, Leica M3.. and culminating with a couple Holgas
Mine was a Retina IIa that my dad passed down to me. He bought it new back in the day and I have many memories of him taking pictures with it. He had the film advance mechanism replaced about 25 years ago and I had it done again 15 years later. I still have it and it really needs to have its rangefinder cleaned :(
george
Frank Granovski
02-18-2006, 19:39
My first one was a silver Voigtlander Vitomatic 11, though I used some of my mother's rangefinders before that. :cool:
jpbob100
02-18-2006, 19:39
Although I've had cameras for 40 years, the first "rangefinder" I had was a FED 2D I bought 2 or 3 years ago. Then a FED 2E and a Zorki 6. Although I liked the FSUs, I never could get either one to work properly for any length of time. I sold them all and bought a Canonet QL17 GIII. It works quite well. I've been thinking about a Bessa R, but that'll have to wait until after I get a scanner.
Mine was an M4-MOT that I bought to resell quickly before I got addicted as first camera.
A Minolta HiMatic 7 purchased in 1965. Here's a photo I took with it in the same year, on Tri-X film.
http://www.pbase.com/gwilburn/image/25626523.jpg
Gene
A nonmetered Kiev. I found it in a German camera shop in 1988 because it seemed so, well, Perestroika. I saw that it took interchangeable lenses, and the store owner explained that it took old Contax lenses as well as old Nikon rangefinder lenses. I was shooting Nikon SLRs for a newspaper at the time, and the little camera intrigued me. So I bought it for, if memory serves correct, about $60, and quickly found myself immersed in the strange and archaic world of Nikon-mount rangefinders.
Mike Stoesz
02-18-2006, 20:09
Howdy from Wyoming;
My first RF camera was a Kodak Retina IIa that I purchased with proceeds from my newspaper route in 1959. This was followed by a Kodak Signet 40 about a year later, and a very trashed Leica IIIc w/summar about 1961. The Signet worked the best and actually had a good lens.
Regards, Mike
kvanderlaag
02-18-2006, 20:14
My mother's Agfa Karat IV. Apparently, it had been sitting in our basement in a box for seventeen years and I just never noticed, and no one told me. I guess everyone forgot it was there. After she died, my father was going through some old things, and found it. Good thing he realized I might want it...
...look what it's started!
Contax II, bought while on vacation in New Zealand, 1983.
Krasnaya_Zvezda
02-18-2006, 20:18
1st RF was a Fed 5 3 years ago, and life has never been the same since.
My first was a Mamiya Super Deluxe so many years ago. I sold it a few years later and have been kicking myself for doing that ever since.
My last one is also a Mamiya SD, same exact model, sitting right on the desk in front of me now. :) It was made from a mostly working one and a banged up one. I'm putting off tearing it apart to fix a hesitation on the 3 lowest shutter speeds.
AsahiPentax
02-18-2006, 20:37
Canon QL17 GIII. Bought it a couple months ago
First REAL rangefinder (meaning a manual focus, coupled viewfinder) was my R3A a little while ago - which I promptly sold when I discovered that for that kind of $$$$ I could almost buy the Bronica. Then the Bronica RF645 came along, then a Yashica Electro 35 GS and the Konica C35.
When I was a little kid, I had an AF fuji "rangefinder." Point 'n' shoot, but a big heavy plastic thing.
My first rangefinder was a Leica IIIa purchased used in 1952. I still use it. See it in my avatar.
grantray
02-18-2006, 21:04
My new Zeiss Ikon. A little birthday present to myself after the hurricane and whatnot. After nearly twenty years with an AE-1 and that retched EOS system, I kept finding myself being annoyed by,(and occasionally confronted because of), mirror slap..
-grant
Todd.Hanz
02-18-2006, 21:14
a contax IIa from a flea mkt. with a 50/1.5 manuals and filters/hood. I came here for advice and have hung around since.
Todd
JoeFriday
02-18-2006, 21:28
Todd, was the IIa and Sonnar a steal at the flea market? I would think most people there would think it was a quaint old camera with mostly nostalgic appeal
JoeFriday
02-18-2006, 21:30
Canon QL17 GIII. Bought it a couple months ago
welcome to RFF, Sean.. you picked a great RF to start.. I seem to get more keepers with my Canonet than with any other camera.. maybe I should wise up and start using it more
My grandfather's Argus C-3 wasthe first RF I used and I still have it. The first camera(not an RF) I bought for my self was a Kodak Instamatic--can't recall which one but it had aperture setting and shutter speed choices(814 maybe?).
Rob
Minolta Hi-Matic 7s.
It was my father's camera. It was my first film camera - after a while, I figured I needed a "real" camera so i bought a Nikon SLR and a stack of lenses.
Nowadays, I'm in love with the 7s again (and don't you make fun of it's size -- NO it doesn't take 120 rollfilm!).
My first RF was a Leica M3 w/ 50mm Summicron (Rigid) + well-used (n)everready case. Picked it up around July 4th-ish in 2005. Beautiful camera, great condition, solidified my love of RF photography. Sold my digital SLR about a week later. :)
I came in photography six months ago with a Pentax MX and bought my first RF four months ago: it was a soviet Zorki 4K. At first, I just wanted to know the difference between SLR and RF :confused: .
I immediately loved the way we shoot with a RF. Then, I discovered RFF and was really impressed by the works you guys make ... since those days, I bought a Zorki 4, Zorki 3m, Kiev 4am, and finally (for the moment) a Leica III. I mostly use my LIII, though my other cameras are really good, primarily because it's so small that nobody takes notice of it ... besides, as you know, small is beautiful! Now, I have to practise a lot, and one day I shall have a Leica MP :D
My first true RF camera was a 10-year-old Leica M2 in 1967 that I still use. Earlier, ignoring the Brownie box 127, my first camera was a Regula with scale focus, then a Petri Half-7 (both long gone), and following the Leica there was an Olympus Pen D2 now also gone. The next true RF was the Olympus 35RC in 1972, then the Minolta CLE in 1982 both of which I also still use, and that was the status for the next 20 years or so. Now I'm swamped in RF cams thanks to GAS attacks brought on by hanging out in this den of gear nuts!
My first RF was the Voigtlander Bessa L in 2002. The first 'real' RF was the Voigtlander Bessa T 101 in 2002! That was the camera that started my RF craze! :p
darkkavenger
02-19-2006, 01:52
I bought my first RF one year ago, it was a Fed-3 type B. Wonderful camera :)
Oly 35RC. My dad gave it to me when I was 13. Still works like a dream!
My first rangefinder was a Leica IIIc I traded a Nikon F for in 1972. My first camera was a Yashica 44 TLR which used 126 film. I got it for Christmas in 1965.
Stephanie Brim
02-19-2006, 02:02
Canonet 28 bought for $40 with shipping from someone who has done CLAs. I really, really don't want to let go of that thing.
In the late 1970s my father had a Yashica RF, I don't know what model. When we showed an interest in photography he decided to get "better" cameras for my brother and I and bought 2 Minolta SRTs that I still have and use. Dad gave the Yashica to my uncle. I can't figure out what model Yashica it was, my still uncle has it, but hasn't gotten around to digging it out of a closet in his house. It was not an Electro, but had a great lens. I see it as having very clean lines and my father couldn't pick it out off the Yashica Guy's web site.
I was infected here 1 year ago. The first one was a Bessa R from Cameraquest (april 2005).
Now I also have an Iskra and this one wont be my last rangefinder. Now my Nikon SRL is used by my bother and the digicam I bought before knowing RRF is like new (it was 700 € 2 years ago, It shoul be an M2 :bang: :bang: )
Kim Coxon
02-19-2006, 04:17
Konica S2 in 1972 while I was at University
Byuphoto
02-19-2006, 04:21
Yashica GSN, 1973, bought at the Navy Exchange at Subic Bay Naval Station, Olongopo City, Phillipines on my way to Nam. It was stolen while in Nam so I bought a Yashica TL Electro X SLR before going to Brisbane, Aus. for R&R. I never liked the SLR so I bought a Canonet at the Navy base in Guam. This was the one I took photos of the evacuation of Saigon from a Navy Sea wolf helo. Here's two taken from the deck of the USS Midway CV41. All the US planes were taken off in the Phillipines and replaced with Helos. Anyone with helo experience was TDY to the carriers and any amphibs that could handle helos
My dad gave me a new 4x5 Pacemaker Crown Graphgic in 1964. The next was an M2 and M3 in 1968.
Richard Black
02-19-2006, 04:31
Zorkii 4 purchased of the *bay 3 years ago. 4-35mm r/fs and 2-120 r/fs and still looking. Last purchased a Bessa R with a 28 Color Skopar.
Voigtlander Prominent with 50mm f/3.5 Color Skopar and a hot-shoe "sports finder", along with a tiny Sixtomat meter. My father's rig. He gave it to me when I was about 16 or 17.
BJ Bignell
02-19-2006, 04:54
First RF was the ZI Contessa LKE, bought about three years ago. It desperately needs a tune-up, but it might still be my favourite camera...
George S.
02-19-2006, 05:06
After using a couple of brownies as a kid, and my brother's huge, heavy, polaroid, The first rangefinder camera I bought myself was the ELECTRO 35 GS, added those quite useless "wide" and "tele" auxiliary lenses too.
amateriat
02-19-2006, 05:36
After suffering with cheap Instamatic clones and Polaroid Swingers (and suffering a bit less with a Diana or three) throughout the 1960s, my father finally got me a Yashica 5000E Lynx in 1972 – first-ever 35mm for me, first "real" camera overall (apologies to Diana devotees). To paraphrase Eddy Merckx, I used it lots. It broke lots. Replaced it with an Electro 35 GTN (yes, the kit, with those Dogawful "auxiliary" lenses) a year later; it broke less. Replaced that with a new Canon F-1 the following year. Spent the next two and a half decades in SLRville with occasional RF excursions (Things I Kick Myself For Selling: black Canonet QL17 GIII with correct metal hood; Leica CL "50 Jahre"). Came back to RFs full-time in 2002 with a Hexar RF, follwed by a second HRF the following year. Recently copped a Konica S3 off the 'Bay. The stars are aligned once again...
- Barrett
Michael I.
02-19-2006, 05:45
my first RF was a canonet gIII QL 17(soon a zorki 4 maybe)
my first SLR was a START(both gifts - the start i broke and got fixed a year or two ago by Oleg K. and now favored by me for BW due to "the glow" and the single coating)
the first SLR I used a Belomo zenit ET
the first camera I purchased was a pentax k1000
the last a nikon fm2a(maybe a rolleicord soon)
Mackinaw
02-19-2006, 06:03
A Canon III-A w/ collapsible 50mm F1.9 purchased when I was fresh out of college back in 1976. Still have both.
Jim Bielecki
Don Parsons
02-19-2006, 06:14
My dad let me use his 1952ish Petri Rangefinder when I was 15, 30 years ago. I was a freshman in High School and on the yearbook staff. Then for Christmas, he gave me a Pentax K-1000 with a 50mm 2.0 lens. I loved both of those cameras. The Petri then broke and has sat in his closet ever since.
The first rangefinder I bought was a Minoltina S, in 1981. It was a wonderful camera, but after breaking for the second time, i threw it away. I used Pentax, Nikon and Canon SLR's the most. I was able to pick up a Canonet GIII about 10 years ago that had just had a CLA. It's a nice little camera and you can see me looking thru it in my avatar. I got a Contax G1 about 5 years after that, but I'm finding myself liking manual/zone focusing better.
I hear the call of the wild M...
yossarian
02-19-2006, 06:39
A Mamiya Super Deluxe with a 48mm/1.9 lens, dead meter, given to me by my then
brother-in-law. Used it for my first and only photoclass, while those around me used
everything from FTbs, to F2s, and even one RB67. Overall....their stuff wasn't any
better.
Fred
Talisker
02-19-2006, 06:43
The Zorki 4K I bought when I was thirteen (nearly 30 years ago...). Haven't put a film through it in years, although the 135mm Jupiter a got to go with it had a few outings when I bought the Bessa T a couple of years ago, but even that got replaced with an ebay Tele Elmar.
dostacos
02-19-2006, 07:25
Canonet 1.7 GIII QL bought new still have it. passed it down to my youngest son, I have a "new" GIII that Gman gave it's very first seals and lube job :eek:
I also have a never used the housing, too murky in So Cal and I quit diving....
thinking of sending it out with one of my surfer sons for a close up shot :D
I forgot one. My earliest was a Kodak Signet 40 I had in high school around 1962.
Gene
vincentbenoit
02-19-2006, 07:57
My first RF camera was a Zorki-4 with matching Jupiter-8 lens, bought from a gentleman in Kiev who sent it to me in a cardboard box tied with a piece of string...
http://static.flickr.com/15/68733590_395039f9ca_o.jpg
I still use the camera on a regular basis, not with the Jupiter-8 but with a Voigtländer 28/3.5 and accessory finder.
Vincent
Mine was a Kiev 4A, which I still have. These days, I prefer my Canon QL25.
oftheherd
02-19-2006, 08:24
My first rangefinder was a Mamiya Press with a 6x9 back. it produces beautiful results. My first 35mm was a canonet gIII QL 17, followed by Kiev 4s (which I'm thinking of selling).
My first was an Olympus but I don't remember the model number. That was during my first trip to Korea, about 1975. Got it due to GAS and some of the photo magazines touting fixed lens RF's as good backup camera. I did enjoy it as an easy camera to carry when I didn't want to lug an SLR and multiple lenses. When that and my Yashica 124 MAT G were stolen, I replaced both with a Super Press 23. I still have it and love it. Didn't get another until the Olympus SP about a year ago, and a Canonet QL 17 some time later. Restored by you know who. What a dream it is.
I come from the DSLR world. My first rangefinder and currently only one though this may be subject to changes ;) is a Yashica 35 Electro GSN, mint, which came from Hong Kong one month ago. I'm currently on my third roll of HP5+ and I love it!
First post btw.
vincentbenoit
02-19-2006, 09:01
I come from the DSLR world. My first rangefinder and currently only one though this may be subject to changes ;) is a Yashica 35 Electro GSN, mint, which came from Hong Kong one month ago. I'm currently on my third roll of HP5+ and I love it!
First post btw.Welcome to RFF. Your dSLR won't last long. :p
Vincent
kvanderlaag
02-19-2006, 09:29
Welcome to RFF. Your dSLR won't last long. :p
Vincent
This is all too true, believe me. I'm far more excited about my rangefinders than I am about my DSLR, though regrettably, I have to buy a bigger, better (more expensive) DSLR for school next year.
I was thinking maybe I'd try to talk them into letting me get an R-D1.
Honu-Hugger
02-19-2006, 10:15
A Minolta HiMatic 7 purchased in 1965. Here's a photo I took with it in the same year, on Tri-X film.
http://www.pbase.com/gwilburn/image/25626523.jpg
Gene
Gene,
Your talent has obviously been with you a long time; that is a beautiful and timeless shot. Thank you for posting it.
"Ownership" has always been a little murky in my family. My Dad has always been very generous in sharing his cameras, even when I was quite young. The first RF I used (probably nine or ten years old at the time) was his Retina IIIC; I remember it seemed large and complex, I was much more comfortable using a SLR. The first RF purchased with my own funds was a Leica M4 which I later gave to my Dad (he had an M3 and lenses so it made sense). Then it was all SLR's for a while (along with a Rollei R35SE that I still have) and thanks in a large part to eBay the world got smaller and my collection of Contaxes got larger :D.
Mine was a Leica M6TTL that I got 2 and 1/2 years ago. Still have it, and use it. :)
Welcome to the forum GrAfFiT!
Talisker
02-19-2006, 11:58
I forgot - I had a Kiev 4 for a month before the meter went wrong. After six weeks it still hadn't been fixed (the glories of TOE), so I ended up with the Zorki.
xayraa33
02-19-2006, 12:21
mine was a Leica M3 that I bought while on a european tour, and I was still in my teens. it has been that long? Still got that M3 and I still use it. One of the best 35mm rf 's ever made IMHO.
ErnestoJL
02-19-2006, 12:25
Mine was a Voigtländer Vitomatic IIb bught in 1966, (my dad´s camera) that was given to me when he passed away in 1969. Later I gave it to my sister when she was married and now belongs to some burglar. My first RF, (it is of my own choice) was the Kiev 4 bought in 1982.
I still have it and shoot with on an almost regular basis. She carries the guilt of getting me back again into RF photgraphy.
Imagestreet
02-19-2006, 13:05
A Yamato Pax rangefinder from the 1950's (OK Leica IIIg copy but about 3/4 of the size). Poor optics, lots of scratches on the film, and difficult to use the rangefinder as there was so much dust in it. Tried to shoot a wedding with it when I was 14 (mid -80's) and didn't get a single properly exposed or focused shot....my brother in law took pity on me and gave me his Ricoh KR-5 SLR to kick me off in photography. Dusted off the Pax and used it intermittently for B&W over the years but has been supplanted now by a Grey R2A. The size and feel of the Pax was great though. Never here any talk of it on this forum - those of you with a hankering for a Leica III might try having a play with a much cheaper Pax! Found shots of it on the website below...
http://www.geocities.com/jagpage/pax.html
agphotography
02-19-2006, 13:19
oddly enough my first RF i OWNED was the R-D1. i then bought an Oly 35 RD. shortly thereafter both were sold in efforts to obtain a Hasselblad H1.
now i just acquired 2 Olympus 35 SP cameras. Life is good again. ( i found a box containing over 70 rolls of film that had yet to be shot in my storage unit :) )
but the first RF i ever USED was a Leica M7
First Rangefinder was my fathers M3 with 35mm. I hated the thing, couldn't focus, lightmetering was a hassle, filmloading was not good.... this was some 30 years ago.
After having gone through a range of SLR's form manual to fully automated, with every kind of zoom lens available as well as a number of digital cameras I ended up, and loving a Leica M6ttl with a number of 50mm lenses.
I also have a Hassleblad which I use 50% of the time... but I like my M6 (chrome)
Hello:
My first RF was a black Midland M4. My first real camera was a Kalimar 35. Retina Reflex III and a Nikon F in between.
yours
Frank
Zorki 4 with J-8. Arrived in the traditional brown paper tied up with yak string. A J-12 soon followed and that is the lens that made me love rangefinders.
My first rangefinder was an Argus C-3 which I bought used from a high school classmate for five dollars. That was around 1958 or 1959. The C-3 has an important place in history as the camera that brought affordable 35mm photography to the American masses. But while it was capable of taking good pictures, it was one of the least ergonomic 35mm cameras I have ever handled. Not for nothing, it was widely known as "The Brick."
My first rangefinder was an Argus C-3 which I bought used from a high school classmate for five dollars. That was around 1958 or 1959. The C-3 has an important place in history as the camera that brought affordable 35mm photography to the American masses.Agreed, it's important historically, and a good place to start! I recall a story from a USAF Staff Sgt (in about 1964) that when he'd earlier been stationed at Hickam Field in Honolulu he cruised the beaches in his off-duty time and sold Kodachrome slides for use in making postcards and calendars. Satisfying, and a nice bit of change. I finally bought one myself in 1983, paying $10... :)
ZorkiKat
02-19-2006, 17:17
A Leica IIIc. Tattered and missing the RF port bezel. But worked. Came with a badly scratched Summar. That was 20 years ago, and camera is gone now.
I got it after reading a few 1950s magazines. Was shooting with SLRs all the time, and I had the growing desire to shoot with a simple camera- one which was small and passive, but offered the necessary minimum amount of sophistication to take care of many situations.
Jay
Frank Granovski
02-19-2006, 17:26
Mine was a Voigtländer Vitomatic IIb bought in 1966, (my dad´s camera)....Hey, that's what I have right now. I found it at Leo's---nice shape but in need of repair----and then got it a CLA from Camtex, down the street here in Vancouver. The only thing I don't like about it is the large white cheesy plastic bubble on top---I still don't know if it has a function. :cool:
jan normandale
02-19-2006, 17:39
I'm impressed that so many members remember their first RF! I'm not too proud to say I don't remember.
I still have my first rangefinder. It's a Contax IIa which I got back in the mid-fifties. It works great (I've had it serviced over the years) and I do use it occasionally.
Ted
ErnestoJL
02-19-2006, 18:07
Frank:
The large cheese white round plastic bubble in the top right (seen from the back) allows light to pass in to make the meter needle and the follower (actuated by both diaphragm and shutter speed rings) visible in the lower part of the VF in black over orange-red background.
In all RF Voigtländers of that time the meter was located behind the cell, which is in the front left of the camera (seen from lens side).
Weird thing: this camera´s meter goes to ISO 800 maximum, being the top of the line for 1965, and the Vitoret DR (with a reduced speed set) goes to 3200!!
Unfortunately this camera´s meter is as any selenium based meter unable to be used in dim light, so a handheld CdS is mandatory.
Best regards.
Ernesto
Leica M3 w/ a 50 'cron traded by a friend for audio gear. He told me the Leica was much better than the Pentax K1000 and ME with Vivitar zoom lenses I was using and I have to agree after the first roll. Before that I thought RF cameras were "low end" P&S thingies....but that was 10 years ago.
Joseph
Frank Granovski
02-19-2006, 18:27
Frank: the large cheese white round plastic bubble in the top right (seen from the back) allows light to pass in to make the meter needle and the follower (actuated by both diaphragm and shutter speed rings) visible in the lower part of the VF in black over orange-red background....Thanks for this info, I didn't know this being so used to the Vitomatic 11 and silmilar Voigtlanders. :)
My first rangefinder was an Argus C-3 which I bought used from a high school classmate for five dollars. That was around 1958 or 1959. The C-3 has an important place in history as the camera that brought affordable 35mm photography to the American masses. But while it was capable of taking good pictures, it was one of the least ergonomic 35mm cameras I have ever handled. Not for nothing, it was widely known as "The Brick."
I was beginning to wonder if any one else would mention the C-3.
I don't have any actual scars on my right fingers but I sure had some bruises at first! :D Never dropped the camera, though. When I first used it my Grand dad was teaching it to me and a few years ago when he passed it came to me. This is one camera that will not part from me except to go to the next relative who will use it.
Rob
Gordon Coale
02-19-2006, 20:15
When I was 13 (1958) I took my summer earnings and went down to the Base Exchange at Tachikawa Air Force Base, Japan, and bought a Petri rangefinder just like the one in the picture. I can't remember what possesed me to do that other than I wanted a real camera and the only family member that had a real camera was my grandfather who had a Leica IIIc (It's mine now.) and the Petri kind of looked like it. In the mid 1970s I gave it to a friend who was a camera repairman. I'm sorry now that I did but through the miracle of eBay I now have another just like it. That's the one in my avatar and the picture below. Leica must have gotten the idea of the red dot from my Petri. :) It's way to stiff with age to use but Mr. Gandy will CLA it for $100. Maybe a bit much for a $25 antique but not for the memory of shooting with my first rangefinder. With a tabbed lens like a real camera!
There is a box in the basement with slides taken with that camera. I will look for it tomorrow and bring one back.
wlewisiii
02-19-2006, 20:28
Wild thread. My first RF was a Yashica GSN bought over the fourth of July holiday in 2004. I ended up visit here a few days later trying to figure out how to use it... Prior to that I was quite happy with my Canon Rebel XS and Yashicamat 124G (which was why I figured "why not" when looking at this funny Yashica for $8.00... )
:bang: :bang: :bang:
My wallet still hasn't forgiven that indiscretion :D
William
Rodinal Addict
02-19-2006, 20:41
In High school, 1977-79, at Chico High School, Northern California. Mrs. Wismer had a whole fleet, maybe 15-20 Nikon S and S2 rangefinder cameras for the photojournalism and yearbook classes, all with 50 mm lenses. No meters, just a couple of starting settings (using tri-X): " f16, 1/125th for outdoors, f2.8, 1/60th for indoors, BRACKET LIKE HECK". This is really what we were told. We took tons of photos, illustratrd the school paper, and the yearbook. Once we could take a decent photo with these , only then could we " move up" to minolta SRT SLR cameras.
Years later, after using an SLR for everything, I felt the need to find a rangefinder, so I went shopping on E-boy for a Nikon S like we had back in school. Wow, was I surprised at how they had increased in value. This led me to FED 2 and 3 cameras, which I have both now.
I wish I could have talked Mrs.Wismer out of one of those old Nikons.
retrocam
02-19-2006, 21:19
An M6 Classic bought 5-6 years ago. I still have it.
-annie
A Fuji gsw690II last year i couldnt be happier
Until recently, I always used SLRs or, when travelling light on my bicycle, P&S's. I became intrigued with RF's from "knowing" about them generally and then reading a book or two and then discovering this website.
In the Spring of 2005 I bought a couple of Argus 'bricks' which I've never used for about $5 (I think the shipping cost more than the cameras!) just to see what exactly was a RF camera.
Then I eBayed a couple fixed-lens chepos that confused the heck out of me. One had the Graflex label but was a 35mm RF made in Japan (I guess it was Graflex's last attempt to stay alive?]. I have shot it a few times - pics aren't bad but a weird camera to operate.
Finally got a "real" RF - a Nikon S2 kit including Nikkor 5.0 and 13.5 cm lenses etc.
Nice clean camera with a strong RF patch etc.
Have now added a Bessa R2S plus CV lenses at 85 and 28.
Also, grabbed a Nikkor 3.5 lens.
And, now, like friggin' rabbits these things a "multiplying"! I now have a "S", two more Nikkor 5.0/1.4's and still want a SP (or maybe just S3) plus a backup R2S.
And, come to think of it, I "need" a Nikkor 10.5!!!!
THIS IS SICK, SICK, SICK
YOU PEOPLE HAVE GIVEN BE AN INCURABLE CASE OF GAS!!!!
:bang: :D :bang: :D :bang: :eek:
Vivitar 35ES bought new about 1980. Did not keep long enough to get good with it and sold it for an SLR.
bob cole
02-20-2006, 12:20
Mine was the Olympus 35SP. It was also the first used camera I bought, and the first camera I bought on *bay. From a Russian ex-colonel in the Yukon.
That was followed by a succession of compact fixed-lens RF's, then a Zorki. On to a barnack, then a Bessa-R, to Hexar and Leica M. Picked up a P along the way.
Some are gone, some I still have. The Oly is still here, and has found a (courtesy of Gman) brown leather-covered mate. ;)
What's your story?
my first RF was an Argus C3; it was 1943, in the Navy at Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y. A girl who developed the photos sent me her phone number. My next camera was a second-hand Leica with a 50mm Elmar I bought in Mexico on time payments while in school on the GI Bill in 1949; somewhere I still have a full-page typewritten contract in Spanish explaining that I couldn't have the camera until I had paid it off...It was so long ago, I shot bullfights and tourist pix with Kodak Panatomic X, which I believe had an ASA [ISO] rating of 25...I have a few others now but still prefer an ISO of 100 or 200...bob
The Argus C3 thown in my new avatar-this was from the first roll I ran through the camera before I pulled it apart and cleaned it all up. I'm thinking of putting some new skin on it to dress it up a little-maybe dark green leather?
Roy
2Manycameras
02-20-2006, 14:28
Mine was the Olympus 35SP. It was also the first used camera I bought, and the first camera I bought on *bay. From a Russian ex-colonel in the Yukon.
That was followed by a succession of compact fixed-lens RF's, then a Zorki. On to a barnack, then a Bessa-R, to Hexar and Leica M. Picked up a P along the way.
Some are gone, some I still have. The Oly is still here, and has found a (courtesy of Gman) brown leather-covered mate. ;)
What's your story?
I was heading over to India for a 2 week business trip and needed something smaller than a Pentax KX to grab shots with. My local camera shop guy (store is now closed) fixed me up with a really nice used Olympus 35RC that was easy to carry. It was a lot of camera in a small package. Because it had the meter in the lens assembly filters were a breeze to use.
Gabriel M.A.
02-20-2006, 15:11
If I remember the timeline correctly, it was my Franka Solida IIIL. But if you really want to make the distinction between a rangefinder and a viewfinder, then my first rangefinder camera was my Leica M6.
It was chrome, and they didn't have a black one yet; I asked to have them give me a call as soon as a black one came in, and less than a month later, switched it. I still carry it with me whenever I can.
cp_ste.croix
02-20-2006, 15:39
My Yashica GSN was my first RF that I put film through, almost a year ago now...I had a Royal 35M that I played with as a youngster without ever putting film in it...
I still have both.
pwnewport
02-20-2006, 16:20
The first rangefinder I shot with was a Contax II, I think, which I purchased in the early 'seventies and brought with me from the States to Europe, where I was working at the time. I scored a whole Contax kit from sold old guy who was probably the age I am now. Eventually, the shutter did what Contax shutters do, and I bought another Contax; a III with the flip up meter on top, in London on a weekend trip. I remember tha trip because I was so happy to be able to buy peanut butter. It was unavailable, no unheard of, in Normandy. The camera wasn't cheap, and when I got back to France, I had just enough money to use a pay pay phone for a ride home.
As I remember, I bought a Konica S3 back once we got back to the States and sold the whole Contax kit to help finance the rest of way way throught art school. Those were the days (not.)
At the time, though, I was shooting with a Speed Graphic and a Rolleicord Vb. The Konica was kind of for sketching. My favorite camera, though, was a black bakelite job that zone focused. The front of the body had sides that curved towards the back, and as I remember the back, which was metal, just popped off so you could get at the film. The body affected a kind of art deco flair, if I recall. Anyway, I spray painted the whole rig flat black and went hunting. The lens, which might have been as big as my thumbnail was prone to some wicked flare!
This is a great thread. I had almost forgotten those old cammies!
Cheers,Peter
NIKON KIU
02-20-2006, 16:24
A NIKON S...
KIU
richiedcruz
02-20-2006, 18:21
I forgot where it came from, but my first RF was a mint Graflex 35 that I had when I was little. I used to love playing with its odd push button focusing system. My parents thought I was too young to let me waste film with it, and it ended up in the trash while I was away one summer.
The first RF that I actually used was a C3
Richie
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