My 1st Rangefinder -- a Nicca

[CameraQuest]

I had no idea what a Leica was, I was that new to photography. The guy behind the counter at the pawnshhop on Hawthorne Blvd near the intersection with the 405 Freeway in Hawthorne Calif. proudly took the camera off a multi shelved wall of cameras, telling me that "it's a great Leica copy" -- as if I could possibly know what that was. $35 was a lot of money then, but it was a "Leica Copy" and had to be worth it ... right....

"It" turned out to be a Nicca III, a good copy of a Leica III. The baseplate proudly proclaims "Made In Occupied Japan" from about 1952 when General MacArthur still ruled Japan. It was my first rangefinder, as well as my first interchangeable lens camera! You guessed it, I still have it. %$#@! collector!

Actually I have a small collection of Niccas. My favorite is the lever advance version with the M3 back type film loading -- usually called the Nicca Type 5.

In time Nicca was bought out by Yashica, giving Yashica focal plane camera capability. Yashica went on to manufacture the Contax / Yashica SLRs -- until production stopped about two years ago.

Stephen

[xayraa33]

in what year did you buy that Nicca for 35 dollars?

[Ash]

A damn sight better than having a Zorki as your first rangefinder (like me) :D

[VinceC]

Stephen,
OT: Truman relieved MacArthur of command in April 1951 ("Old soldiers never die, they just fade away...").

On topic -- My first rangefinder was a Kiev II, which took me down the road less travled that leads to the Nikon SP instead of the Leica M.

[SolaresLarrave]

My first? Not long ago, a Canonet G-III QL17, purchased from a gentleman in TN in 2002. Seems now like ages ago... And nothing changed my attitude about photography more profoundly than that small camera! :)

[reagan]

A damn sight better than having a Zorki as your first rangefinder (like me) :DMy first was my dad's Anscoset that I used in high school. It got lost along the way, and then suddenly reappeared a couple months ago. But after high school I didn't use another one until 2 years ago, Ash, when I bought my first Zorki. It renewed my interest in photography... and started my checking account on a horrendous high speed downward plummeting spiral. :o

[wlewisiii]

My first was a Yashica GSN picked up for $8 at a flea market about a week before it made me join RFF ... ;) I bought it because I had a 124G at the time, so I knew Yashica was a good brand. Did not have any clue what I was getting myself into... <LOL>

Now I'm waiting for my Bessa R to arrive from Cbass :D

William

[gb hill]

Like Fransisco my first rangefinder was a Canonet QL-17. Right now my favorite is my Zorki 2c. I just aquired a Leitz Elmar 50/3.5 collapsible that makes the little Zorki a great pocket camera. I really like the Bessa L too but I don't classify that little gem as a rangefinder.:)

[Gabriel M.A.]

I didn't know Niccas existed until about a year ago. There are many things I still have to learn.

My first rangefinder (although uncoupled) was my Franka Solida IIIL MF folder, with a very nice Schneider-Kreuznach 80mm f/2.9 lens. My first coupled rangefinder camera was...my Leica M6. It's never been the same ever since. I need to find a Platinum and Iridium mine.

[physiognomy]

I had to think pretty hard to remember which one was my first rf... I am almost certain it was my QL17 GIII, but a Kiev 4 & Electro GT followed quickly behind. I paid a little more for the canonet than I should have, but it came with a guarantee & hasn't ever let me down. My Kiev 4 has a very nice black paint job & blue leather (click 'kiev 4' in my sig). It was my first interchangeable lens rangefinder & I have gathered a nice set of fsu lenses for it in the last few years. The Electro was a mess internally when I got it... I ended up getting a full refund from the ebay seller to repair it, so I sent it off to g'man. Needless to say it's a really nice camera now.

Peter

[Doug]

Not my first camera, but the first with a rangefinder, was a 10-year-old used button-rewind M2 for $150 at Olympic Camera Center in Seattle. Still have it!

[januaryman]

My first -the one I bought with my money was a Yashica Minister D. Some of my most appreciated stuff came from those early days and me using that camera.

[Brian Sweeney]

Minolta Hi-Matic 9, spent the entire Summer of '69 mowing lawns and saving $80 to get it. Still have it, still works.

I also picked up a Nicca III, MIOJ, with a Collapsible Nikkor on it. The latter was not advertised.

[rover]

As nice as the Nicca bodies are they and their Tower kin, are in my eyes a great way to get your hands on an LTM Nikkor 50!!!

[rover]

Actually, I think Brian suggested that fact to me a few moons ago, not my original thought.

[physiognomy]

As nice as the Nicca bodies are they and their Tower kin, are in my eyes a great way to get your hands on an LTM Nikkor 50!!!

I must admit that almost won another IIIS so I could have the 50/1.4 as well... It went out of my price range, but would have been a great buy!

Peter

[Mudman]

My first use with a range finder was a Linhof Super technika III. My first rangefinder that I owned (just recieved) is a Leica iii

[Marc-A.]

2 years ago, I bought my first RF, a Zorki 4K + Industar 50 for 40€. I just fell in love with it ... it needs a CLA, a new skin, but I keep it.

[digitalintrigue]

What got me interested in photography was my dad's Nicca type III MIOJ. He had a 35/3.5, 50/2 collapsible, and 135 Nikkors. I've scanned and posted several of his Kodachromes taken with that camera on RFF. It also happens to be why I'm such a fan of all lenses Nikkor.;)

[peterm1]

I was a Leica virgin till maybe 15 years ago when I let my local friendly camera store guy know I might be in the market for something like a Leica M. I had already bought a few cameras from him but till then my interests were in Pentax screw mount and older Nikon gear both of which gave me ample scope to exercise my lust for nice lenses. (At a low price.)

Eventually I went into the deep end. After a few weeks of dancing around each other, he said that he had an M4P with a contemporary black summicron 50mm that had been sitting around for a while and had not moved so he was willing to drop the price and let me have it on extended lay-by. Eventually after quite a few months I paid it off. Then he says he has a 35mm summicron he would let me have on the same terms. I knew little about the variants but it turned out to be a mint 4th version (the bokeh king) in box with a hood for about one grand , so I put that on lay-by and commenced to pay it off. Then he says he has a 90mm tele-elmarit from the same era that he can let me have on the same terms. Off I go again. Well it took me about 2 years but eventually I had a full Leica M kit. Not long after he gets an M3 with a summitar in nice condition so the merry go round started again. Boy that guy knew how to milk a situation! But I was happy and I was into the world of Leica using and I suppose to some extent, collecting.

[bob cole]

1943, U.S. Navy, The Brick ...it took great fotos

[digitalintrigue]

My dad took this photo of a Brick with a Nicca:

http://rangefinderrestorations.com/photo_posts/brick1.jpg
http://rangefinderrestorations.com/photo_posts/brick2.jpg

[nikonhswebmaster]

My first RF a Nikon S2 with a 50 and 135, never used by the seller. Bought it for $150 in 1968, just what the guy paid for it when in Korea (Japan). He ran an ad in the local paper, I wanted Nikon, who knew?

Here it is in 1969...

[rxmd]

Mine was a Zorki 6 (#650042330, I have it right here) that I got from a friend with a couple of lenses for proofreading his thesis.

[laptoprob]

I got into the RF game through the 15mm Heliar. I was looking for a good way into wider than 24mm on a SLR while still being rectalinear. Sold the L body it came with because the metered thing didn't do it for me. Then came FEDs and after that Leicas and everything...

[Gray Fox]

My first was actually not mine, it was an Army-issued M-3 kit with 35, 50 and 135 lenses in a fitted Halliburton case. This was back in '67 and I was in a counterintelligence unit. My hardest task was explaining to a brigadier why I couldn't produce head and shoulders shots of people from 200 yards away with the 135, and a Weston meter. Our parent unt had Nikon Fs with some long lenses that I lusted after for such assignments. Now I've got the long Nikon lenses and wish the case full of gear would turn up on my doorstep. I've got a G2 with several lenses, which for these old eyes is probably just as well.

[nikonhswebmaster]

My first was actually not mine, it was an Army-issued M-3 kit with 35, 50 and 135 lenses in a fitted Halliburton case. This was back in '67 and I was in a counterintelligence unit.

You just had to use the word counterintelligence? OK I will not make the joke, but you know I am thinking it.

OK just one:
"Crack U.S. counter-intelligence agents in Moscow begin to suspect that the new U.S. Embassy in Moscow, constructed by Soviet labor, might be bugged, when one of them sneezes in the ambassador's office and six chairs say, "Gesundheit."

or

"The third group is focused on counterintelligence and security. I think the reason for that is fairly evident, in terms of vulnerabilities of the department and the harm that can come to it by failing to detect when we have, in fact, been harmed." Stephen Cambone

Opps was that last one a joke?

[unohuu]

My first RF was a Hi-Matic 7. I bought it because it was easy to stuff in a pocket. I eventually moved on the 9, and now I have the Cyclops (Yashica Lynx 14), an XA, and a Voigtlander Vitomatic II. I know I have been bitten by the RF bug, because as soon as we pay off the legal fees from the lawsuit I want the 4MP.

[ErnestoJL]

First RF I used was dad´s Voigtländer Vitomatic IIb, during the back trip from Europe in 1966. A solid and dependable camera, small and heavy fitted with an excellent Color Skopar 2.8/50.
My first RF (bought with my own money) was my Kiev 4 made in 1966 that came with a J8M.
It was the first simptom of this endless illness.

Ernesto

[dazedgonebye]

Mine was a Yashica with a bad POD.
Amazing that such a dismal start got me in to this.

[Rodinal Addict]

Chico High School, 1978, Photojournalism class. We shot all the photos for the yearbook, school paper, and a few for the local paper. Mrs.Wismer, our saintly patient instructor had a whole cabinet, probably 20, Nikon S and S2 rangefinders to loan us. These cameras were hammered, even then, but she had a local camera tech under her thumb to keep them working. I doubt there was much classroom budget to pay for this. She trusted a few of us seniors to keep them for weeks at a time for personal use. She gave us all the Tri-X we could burn, no meter of course, and minimal instruction regarding exposure: " F2.8, 1/60th for indoors, F16, 1/125 for outdoors, and bracket like crazy".

I still don't use a meter very often.

[Sonnar2]

my first rf was a bessa-l with the great 15mm lens in 1999, followed by some canon ltm lenses and a canon p. next was a bessa r, still sees much of use.
born 1965 i have shot with slrs since 1979 with my dads pentax sp500 m42. my first new camera was a pentax me super k-mount.
cheers

[migtex]

I do understand the feeling... now.
I bought it because of the Nikkor 50 lens... now, it has her own charme.

[colyn]

At 6 years of age I received my first rf camera. A Leica IIIa with Summar given to me by my granddad. I still have it and use it from time to time..

A few years later I received a Retina IIIC with all 3 lens from my parents. Still have it too..

[horibilis]

First rangefinder was a Bolsey B2 with a 44mm Wollensak lens in 1951 then a fantastic Retina IIIc in 1955. I went down hill with quite a few SLRs before I say the lights again & came back to the real world of rangefinders.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year