recommend a rangefinder?

Will23

hi, am looking out for a gift for myself in the next few weeks (big birthday coming!),and have been looking at getting a rangefinder. (been looking at the voitlander bessa ranges, but i'm open to advice etc.)

can anyone give me a recommendation based on personal experience etc., and maybe a good lens? have a few hundred blips that i can go to on the spending front!

also can anyone give me pros and cons of rangefinders? i've researched this a fair bit in the last few months and got conflicting views, its always nicer to ask the question and get a personal answer.

thanks.

Will.

charybdis

Will23 wrote: »

hi, am looking out for a gift for myself in the next few weeks (big birthday coming!),and have been looking at getting a rangefinder. (been looking at the voitlander bessa ranges, but i'm open to advice etc.)

can anyone give me a recommendation based on personal experience etc., and maybe a good lens? have a few hundred blips that i can go to on the spending front!

also can anyone give me pros and cons of rangefinders? i've researched this a fair bit in the last few months and got conflicting views, its always nicer to ask the question and get a personal answer.

thanks.

Will.

It depends if you want interchangeable lenses or not. If you do, you'll probably be buying an M mount or LTM rangefinder; if not, you can pick up lots of old fixed-lens rangefinders (FLRF) for not too much money.

The Bessa would probably be a good choice for M mount along with a Leica M2 or M3, although rangefinder lenses aren't known for being cheap. I don't know how much a few hundred blips is, but you'll probably need the almost a grand to get an interchangeable lens body and one lens.

As regards the pros & cons of rangefinders, it's just that they're suited to a particular way of shooting. They're probably not for everyone, but if what you want to do suits their style, you'll probably enjoy one.

davmigil

You've got to check out http://www.rangefinderforum.com/ if you haven't done so already.

Pros/Cons - check out this article for starters

I would start out with just one lens, either 50mm or 35mm.

The only way to see if a rangefinder is for you is to use one for a few months. If you don't want to splash out initially you could go with something like a Canonet QL III. You can pick them up reasonably cheap on ebay and they do a have a really good (fixed) lens.

pimark

I'd recommend trying a Yashica Electro 35 just so you could try using an RF
camera to see if you like it or not. Comes with a sharp fixed 40mm f1.7 lens.
Very quiet, good size, aperture priority.

You'll find them on ebay for around £65

Will23

thanks folks,

I'm beginning to see sense in getting a nice fixed lens on ebay, and trying it out before i dive in my the more advances RF's...

will see how i get on!

Will.

dubhoop

have you seen this one http://www.adverts.ie/313639/lenses/canon-50mm-f-12-rangefinder-lens/