Frantisek wrote:
MS> PS: can someone advice any other good,small,sharp, F/1.7 rangefinder
MS> LIKE the canonet WITH a light meter and a clean viewfinder ?
I think they are the best choice. There are several other rangefinders
with _excellent_ lenses just like the Canonet, but they have
shortcomings in lousy mechanics.
I would stay away from Olympus 35 SP, its specs look impressive (it
has spot metering mode, for example) but it's build quality is lousy - I
have repaired one and had it open several times, it uses cheap
materials for the most stressed parts of the camera, and is awful mess
to repair! That's one issue the cameraquest.com doesn't ever mention
(although it's worth looking there!). The shutter release was clunky
as well, especially after I saw how the internals work.
The Canonet is no Leica by build quality either, but AFAIK it should
be the one of the better build ones.
The point in looking for one is finding one that was regularly used, lightly,
but not worn down completely. All mechanical shutters, especially leaf shutters,
need to be used regularly. The worst thing you can buy is a
LN/NIB 50 years old never used camera which was sitting in the closet
all the time...
Try looking at the cameraquest website, but I still think the Canonet
would be the best choice.
Frantisek
The only common issue with the Canonets is a sticky shutter, which is
easily remedied.
-Adam
