What Camera should my daughter buy?!

Mountkeen

Mountkeen

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My daughter studied photography at university but fell out of love with it after 3 years of someone telling her to take photos rather than for her own pleasure.
Recently she has shown some interest again and is looking to buy herself a 35mm rangefinder film camera, can anyone suggest some cameras for her to have a look at, she has a budget of up to £250. Shes not worried about whether it has interchangeable lenses or not and is looking for a 50mm equivalent lens on it.
Any recommendations and suggestions are much appreciated! Thanks
 
Firstly, if you're looking for a 50mm 'equivalent' lens, that's a 50mm lens. 35mm film is the same size as a 'full frame' sensor so there is no equivalent.

With regards to specific cameras, there are a lot to choose from! They all do the same task but vary in size, weight, complexity and cost. The smallest 35mm rangefinders are cameras such as the Olympus 35RC, Olympus XA and many others. Stepping up in size you have the likes of the Yashica Electro 35GT, Yashica Lynx range and Olympus SP.

These are all fixed lens so for interchangeable lens rangefinders you could look at Leica (outside of the budget), or Russian copies like the Fed 1 (copy of Leica iii), Kiev 4 (copy of Contax 4) or the Canon rangefinders like the P, 7 or IV.

Those are just some ideas. If your daughter hasn't shot with a rangefinder before, it may be better starting with something like the 35RC because they've got reasonably bright rangefinders, are sharp and are pretty simple to pick up and use for less than £100. Rangefinder focusing isn't for everyone so you never know until you try it.

Also, most cheaper interchangeable lens rangefinder systems don't have multiple frame lines in the viewfinder so they're basically built to use a 'standard' 50mm. You can mount other focal length lenses but the viewfinder won't show the correct field of view. Most people get around this by focusing in the rangefinder then compose using an additional viewfinder mounted to the hotshoe. Not ideal for anything moving which is where an SLR with its' through the lens focus and composure wins (personally).

Good luck!
Steve
 
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:agree:

Also, have a look at the Voigtlander Vitomatic 11a, these can be picked up for a lot less than your daughters budget. They are heavy because they are so well built and the lens is stunning. The viewfinder is large and bright and its only slight drawback is a slightly less bright rangefinder patch.

Andy
 
Mountkeen said:
My daughter studied photography at university but fell out of love with it after 3 years of someone telling her to take photos rather than for her own pleasure.
Recently she has shown some interest again and is looking to buy herself a 35mm rangefinder film camera, can anyone suggest some cameras for her to have a look at, she has a budget of up to £250. Shes not worried about whether it has interchangeable lenses or not and is looking for a 50mm equivalent lens on it.
Any recommendations and suggestions are much appreciated! Thanks
Click to expand...

Quite a lot of the fixed lens rangefinders have wider lenses than 50mm, but if we read "50mm equivalent" as "around 50mm" they are still in the ball park. I had a Canonet GIII QL17 that I really enjpyed, it has metering and a lovely 40mm f/1.7 lens ( see https://www.cameraquest.com/canql17.htm). That review points out that the GIII QL19 has a 45mm f/1.9 lens, getting closer to your spec. Metering is not TTL, but the meter is within the filter ring, so meters OK if you put an orange filter on, for example, and also gives a good clue if the lens cap is still on (the most common mistake with a RF camera!).

Most of the fixed lens rangefinders and the two Russian ones can be had for under £100; most of the better interchangeable lens rangefinders are £500 or over (often well over). These include the Leitz Minolta CL (had one of these, very nice), the Minolta CLE (both of these had some involvement from Leica, and were known as poor man's Leicas), and the Voigtlander Bessa R2 or R3 cameras, or the Konica Hexar RF. Then there's the Leica itself, in two flavours of rangefinder, screw-mount (older) and M-mount. Most of the poor man's Leica cameras I listed are M mount, but there are some that are screw mount. Screw mount Leicas don't have metering, but are well built, lovely cameras and lenses.
 
I would second Voigtlander - my choice would be the Voigtlander Vito CLR. An upgrade to the Vitomatic, it has a larger, brighter viewfinder and easier to use rangefinder. Again, it is heavy but very durable. Same Color Skopar lens as the Vitomatic.
 
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