Popular Science Guide to Rangefinders

Hello:

Thanks for the post. They do state that the Leica CL is the best camera, the Fujica the best buy!

yours
Frank
 
Uh, I've seen this article while researching Yashica Electro 35FC to find it's one from cameras having 1/1000 as max speed.
This times websites have taken away readers of such articles :)
 
Thanks for sharing that article. An interesting read as I have... a lot of rangefinders at the moment. I'm picked up a bunch cheaply to repair, test and sell. Seeing the price variation alone is interesting info.

One of my friends was looking for a nice, cheap rangefinder. I wonder if she'll go for the Fujica GER or the Ricoh 500G. :)
 
But wait.....I need to go right out and buy a '74 Vega or, better yet, a Pinto. The review PROVES it. And on the week-ends, nothing better than an RV built onto the back-end of a VW Beetle.
 
I suggested a Ricoh 500G back in the late 70's for my dad on his trip to Hawaii. Although competant, it's build quality was just adequate and what you would expect from a camera made in China for Ricoh. Nowhere near as nice as their better cameras from the late 50's like the Ricoh 519. I'm certain Canon, Minolta, Olympus, Konica, Fujica and Yashica would be a better bet.
 
That '75 issue of PS was such a blast from the past (and a hoot).

One sentence in the article caught my eye: in comparing compact 35s to their then-current 110-format counterparts, the article mentions the singular drawback of 35mm: the need to manually thread the film in most cases. The author then mentions that threading the film "takes about as much skill as tying your shoelaces." Funny thing, perspective.

Day before yesterday, I walked into CVS to get a roll of film developed. Ahead of me was a Mom with her kid asking to have some prints made with the card she took out of her digital camera. Problem was, she hadn't realized she'd removed the battery from the camera instead, and had left the camera at home. She was quite embarrassed when this was pointed out to her (not by me).


- Barrett
 
julianphotoart said:
But wait.....I need to go right out and buy a '74 Vega or, better yet, a Pinto. The review PROVES it. And on the week-ends, nothing better than an RV built onto the back-end of a VW Beetle.
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Yeah...and don't forget your pack o' smokes. (Man, I nearly forgot how many cancer-stick ads ran in a given issue. If I showed this to a young magazine ad rep, I might have to run and lock the office windows...)


- Barrett
 
Leica CL

Leica CL

FPjohn said:
Hello:

Thanks for the post. They do state that the Leica CL is the best camera, the Fujica the best buy!

yours
Frank
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Thanks, Frank, for pointing that out.

IMO from the cameras listed in the article the Leica CL is of course the best camera - that literally went without saying (or posting it) for me.

When I read this article first this Fujica GER verdict id surprise me. Especially after I re-researched the Fujica GER (on an un-related note I'd take the Olympus ECR any day given the choice between the Fujica and the Olympus but note that this is just me).

The schematic in the article is NOT from the manual - I checked.

(furtively looks left and right and over the shoulder): I have made a pdf - please PM if anyone wants it ...
 
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Nice article! Somebody should find an article from the 1890's about a comparison between Daguerrotype vs Tin-plate ferroplates ... a 19th-century field camera smackdown!

I'll prepare my horse and buggy while I'm waiting. :)
 
Funny, browsing through the PS ... it's always been such an eternally optimistic magazine, such a cheerleader for technology. According to PS, by 2010 we should all be living in orbiting space stations eating hydroponic lentils and living to 200 with our artificial organs. We'd need the bionic organs because of all the smoking. LOL!
 
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awilder said:
I suggested a Ricoh 500G back in the late 70's for my dad on his trip to Hawaii. Although competant, it's build quality was just adequate and what you would expect from a camera made in China for Ricoh. Nowhere near as nice as their better cameras from the late 50's like the Ricoh 519. I'm certain Canon, Minolta, Olympus, Konica, Fujica and Yashica would be a better bet.
Click to expand...

I'd venture that Made in Taiwan in the 70s is a whole lot better than Made in (PR of) China today. And none of those brands still had the same build quality as in the 50s, I'm afraid.
 
I stand corrected, I now think it was actually Taiwan. However, the Canon GIII-17 QL was made in Taiwan and their build quality was pretty good.
 
That was fun. I remember almost every one of those ads.
The images...distinctive 70's colors.
Did anyone catch the AMC Pacer in the car review section?

Geez, the CL was expensive back then. That translates to over $2200 2010 USD !
 
I love reading these old articles about cameras, so thanks for posting. And, like many here, have owned several of the cameras on this list (not the CL). I can tell you, I'm not shocked he liked the Fuji the best among some stiff competition here - Yashica CC, Konica Auto S3, Rollei, Olympus ED, etc. I am down to one film rangefinder - It's the Fujica Compact Deluxe. Great camera.
 
500G were, I think, last model of FL RF made by Ricoh (I'm not going into diffs between 500G/GX/RF/ME which go more plastic towards later models) so don't be surprised by build quality. Those guys had to sell loats of cameras for their living and they already have learned customers are reading articles to choose camera, not judging them from engineer's viewpoint.

When I got my first FL RF from 70ies, I were amazed. Wow, sub-f2 lens is easy! (that were right after film AF compacts). Wooho, what a brick, pure metal-and-glass thing!

After cleaning and using FL RF from 50's I realized those Electros, Canonets and rest are cheap replicas of earlier cameras. Yes, they had AE, novelty at time, but basically they are like new compact cars compared to cars of 70ies. Fancy, economical, shining, having USB port to listen mp3's but lacking juice in chassis to last a lifetime.
 
btgc said:
After cleaning and using FL RF from 50's I realized those Electros, Canonets and rest are cheap replicas of earlier cameras. Yes, they had AE, novelty at time, but basically they are like new compact cars compared to cars of 70ies. Fancy, economical, shining, having USB port to listen mp3's but lacking juice in chassis to last a lifetime.
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Actually, I would beg to differ for a couple reasons. First off, many of these "cheap replicas" - Yashicas, Canonets are still fully functional 40 years later, still snapping pictures, and many here use them. So, obviously they were built well enough to last a lifetime. Perhaps, they were better engineered than their 50's counterparts? That is, they went "overboard" in some aspects of the 50's cameras? Could it be the 50's cameras competed on build quality, since technology didn't afford much differentiation otherwise, resulting in cameras that were needlessly heavy or over engineered to move units or justify a higher price point? Are you serious that AE is a "novelty"? What percent of even pro shots use this novelty? Can you really take "grab shots" and candids as well or as quickly using all manual techniques? I had a big heavy metal 50's typewriter years ago, "built to last a lifetime". Thank God I didn't have to suffer with that thing in college. I much preferred that lighter "cheap plastic" Brother that notified me with a beep and whited out my numerous misspellings.
 
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