Archlich
Well-known
A 135 version of the Fuji GF670W, with a faster lens. Foldable, if it could be done.
Plaubel used to have a nice prototype which was pretty close, but didn't make it into production.
Plaubel used to have a nice prototype which was pretty close, but didn't make it into production.
Arbitrarium
Well-known
Woah. That would have been perfect. I was going to say a faster than 2.8 lens, 1/1000th shutter and foldable and this answers all that
Kent
Finally at home...
The Leica M (262) comes pretty close to what I dream of ATM - except the price. 
A lot of great suggestions, but not much feedback on the suggestions from the OP.
wildmuskellunge
Member
Ugly and only accepts up to 400 iso, but kind of interesting:
Wide angle: 40 mm f/2,8, 4 elements, 3 groups.
Tele: 70 mm f/4,9, 7 elements, 6 groups.
Autofocus from 0,96 m to infinity. Focus confirmation and proximity warning in finder.
Auto-exposure from EV 6–18. Wide: 1/8 s ƒ/2.8 – 1/500 s ƒ/22; tele: 1/3 s ƒ/4,9 – 1/350 s ƒ/27.
Built-in flash. Auto, off or forced modes are set using a slider. Range (ISO 100): 5 m (wide), 3 m (tele).
Uses DX coded films in whole stops 50-100-200-400. Films without DX codes are exposed at ISO 100.
Ranchu
-
It makes a farting noise when fired. Not kidding.. I don't think any autofocus is going to work riding by something on a bike, let alone motion blur. Might drop that requirement, and there a lot of usable cameras. XA XA2, imo. Konica C35 C35V have a lower speed limit of 1/30, or use a Trip. You could look at the Pentax PC35af, pc35af-m, the little red slider under your finger pops the cover open. Chinon infrafocus, or Bellami. Minolta Himatic AF2. The Canon AM35f has a stupid method to use the autofocus, you point at your subject, lock the autofocus by pulling the self timer down, reframe, and then hit the shutter before the self timer runs out.
ChrisPlatt
Thread Killer
My dream camera would be the Ricoh GR III with a 45mm lens and a pop up VF (like the Sony RX100 series).
Still my dream camera... but also a modern Olympus XA digital with a mechanical rangefinder... it can be micro 4/3 even.
Abbazz
6x9 and be there!
For me, the epitome of the 35mm AF point-and-shoot is the Canon Prima AS-1, a.k.a SureShot WP-1 a.k.a SureShot A1. The camera was released in 1994 and proved quite popular at the time. It is therefore very easy to find nowadays, usually in good shape.
It is equipped with a very nice 32mm lens with beautiful rendering and a tiny bit of vignetting for that vintage look. Its max aperture is limited to only f/3.5 but the lens is very sharp and the autofocus is blazingly fast, making it ideally suited for street shooting. Exposure is program mode only and ISO is set automatically from the DX-code on the canister. There is no provision for exposure compensation but the metering is quite reliable and the exposure very precise, even for slide film.
The only control is a big selector on the front with six positions: Flash off, Forced flash, Off, Program mode ("Äuto"), Underwater and "Macro" (0.45m - 1m). Yes, the camera is waterproof to 5 meters! I won't use it to dive -although others do- but it's really convenient for shooting in the rain, mud, dust or any adverse condition. Strangely, certain versions of the camera (like the WP-1), although identical, were not marketed as waterproof and lack the "Underwater" position on the mode selector.
Because the camera was designed to be used underwater with goggles or a mask, the viewfinder is big and very bright and the commands easy to use. Of course, film winding is automatic but the motor is not particularly noisy.
It might not be the highest spec'ed camera around but it certainly is fast and convenient to use, remarkably suited for street shooting in all conditions and it also delivers beautiful pictures, roll after roll.
You won't misplace it, thanks to its bright color code...
Cheers!
Abbazz
It is equipped with a very nice 32mm lens with beautiful rendering and a tiny bit of vignetting for that vintage look. Its max aperture is limited to only f/3.5 but the lens is very sharp and the autofocus is blazingly fast, making it ideally suited for street shooting. Exposure is program mode only and ISO is set automatically from the DX-code on the canister. There is no provision for exposure compensation but the metering is quite reliable and the exposure very precise, even for slide film.
The only control is a big selector on the front with six positions: Flash off, Forced flash, Off, Program mode ("Äuto"), Underwater and "Macro" (0.45m - 1m). Yes, the camera is waterproof to 5 meters! I won't use it to dive -although others do- but it's really convenient for shooting in the rain, mud, dust or any adverse condition. Strangely, certain versions of the camera (like the WP-1), although identical, were not marketed as waterproof and lack the "Underwater" position on the mode selector.
Because the camera was designed to be used underwater with goggles or a mask, the viewfinder is big and very bright and the commands easy to use. Of course, film winding is automatic but the motor is not particularly noisy.
It might not be the highest spec'ed camera around but it certainly is fast and convenient to use, remarkably suited for street shooting in all conditions and it also delivers beautiful pictures, roll after roll.
You won't misplace it, thanks to its bright color code...
Cheers!
Abbazz
narsuitus
Well-known
My Mazda/Vivitar 35mm point and shoot with 27mm wide-angle lens and my Samsung cell phone are my preferred fixed-lens point & shoot compact cameras.
They are about the same weight and volume. Both have a built-in flash that is not automatically activated. Both produce acceptable images. The Samsung does movies and phone calls, the Mazda/Vivitar does not. I prefer the ergonomics of the Mazda/Vivitar.
When shooting in a location where there is a great chance that one of the two will be lost, stolen, or damaged, I would gladly sacrifice Mazda/Vivitar.
Mazda/Vivitar P&S and Samsung Cell Phone by Narsuitus, on Flickr
They are about the same weight and volume. Both have a built-in flash that is not automatically activated. Both produce acceptable images. The Samsung does movies and phone calls, the Mazda/Vivitar does not. I prefer the ergonomics of the Mazda/Vivitar.
When shooting in a location where there is a great chance that one of the two will be lost, stolen, or damaged, I would gladly sacrifice Mazda/Vivitar.
Mazda/Vivitar P&S and Samsung Cell Phone by Narsuitus, on Flickr
Jeremy Z
Well-known
He said above (though not in his first post) that he wants AF. Not the same as scale focus or RF.
Jeremy Z
Well-known
I had the Canon "Sure Shot" AF35M2. Mine had some lens haze and was not exposing properly. The shutter whined a bit, like an AE1, so I suppose it was sticky inside or the lube had dried up.
It had what you wanted, spec-wise, but they're just hard to find in 100% condition, these days. It had a battery door with the stupid "live hinge". It used 2 AAs, which I thought would be nice, but they didn't really choose the motor well, as it was struggling to do the basic functions. It had a warning marking not to use Ni-Cads, and now I know it is because it would be QUITE marginal with only 1.2 V per cell.
It didn't have auto flash, which was nice. The exposure lock feature was quite clumsy. One had to engage the self-timer, point down and press the shutter button to get the reading, then re-compose and shoot again before the self-timer had finished its count-down.
From the shots I WAS able to save, I saw that it had a great lens, so the above items were a shame.
What I have now are just these two:
1) Olympus Stylus / mju - Ultimate compact, currently not crazy expensive like the Stylus Epic / mju II. Doesn't meet your flash requirement or lens speed requirement. Triplet lens is razor sharp in about the middle 60% and gently blurs out after that. It's typical of triplets. Self-timer doesn't work on mine. I got it for $25 on facebook marketplace, untested. Going rate or a good one is more like $100. It has SUCH an elegant design though, so I keep it anyway.
2) Nikon "One Touch" L35AF3. This is the champion, and you should consider one. It has the 4-element 35/2.8 lens instead of the original 5-element 35/2.8 lens, but I don't think you could tell them apart from their images. Most folks assume it's a Tessar copy.
The rest of the camera is better than the 1st two generations of it. It uses a 2CR5 lithium battery. They're $6 on Amazon and last dozens of rolls, especially without flash. When you DO want flash, it charges QUICKLY, thanks again to lithium batteries being such a stiff current source. If you leave it for a year or two, lithium batteries don't leak and ruin it, so you're more apt to find a good one. The battery door is a MASTERPIECE, compared to everything else of this era. It is thick and beefy, has a proper hinge, and needs a ballpoint pen or paper clip to depress an interlock to get it open. I LOVE IT.
It was the first P&S camera to have the common half-press to lock focus & exposure, with a status update via red and green LEDs, then full press to take the shot. Flash is automatic BUT there's a button right on the front-left of the camera you hold in to cancel it, and you'll rarely need to do that during daytime. (the red LED comes on during pre-focus if the flash is planning to fire)
Here's a link to my Flickr album for the camera: https://www.flickr.com/photos/182935075@N04/albums/72157711155502137
Here's one pic, just to spice up the thread:
Along the Chicago River 1 by Jeremy, on Flickr
One last thought: How about a Nikon FG with a nice little 35 mm Series E lens? It's thicker than these P&S, but does meet every other requirement, as well has having aperture priority, manual and a +2 stop backlight compensation button. Lacks AF though.
Or maybe a Canon Rebel with the 40/2.8 pancake? That's not as thin as the FG, but lighter and has AF, as well as automatic winding and rewinding. No auto flash if you turn it to P instead of dummy mode. Put a UV filter on it and skip the lens cap.
But yeah, any SLR would be clunky in the back pocket of a biker's jersey, if that's what you're thinking of.
It had what you wanted, spec-wise, but they're just hard to find in 100% condition, these days. It had a battery door with the stupid "live hinge". It used 2 AAs, which I thought would be nice, but they didn't really choose the motor well, as it was struggling to do the basic functions. It had a warning marking not to use Ni-Cads, and now I know it is because it would be QUITE marginal with only 1.2 V per cell.
It didn't have auto flash, which was nice. The exposure lock feature was quite clumsy. One had to engage the self-timer, point down and press the shutter button to get the reading, then re-compose and shoot again before the self-timer had finished its count-down.
From the shots I WAS able to save, I saw that it had a great lens, so the above items were a shame.
What I have now are just these two:
1) Olympus Stylus / mju - Ultimate compact, currently not crazy expensive like the Stylus Epic / mju II. Doesn't meet your flash requirement or lens speed requirement. Triplet lens is razor sharp in about the middle 60% and gently blurs out after that. It's typical of triplets. Self-timer doesn't work on mine. I got it for $25 on facebook marketplace, untested. Going rate or a good one is more like $100. It has SUCH an elegant design though, so I keep it anyway.
2) Nikon "One Touch" L35AF3. This is the champion, and you should consider one. It has the 4-element 35/2.8 lens instead of the original 5-element 35/2.8 lens, but I don't think you could tell them apart from their images. Most folks assume it's a Tessar copy.
The rest of the camera is better than the 1st two generations of it. It uses a 2CR5 lithium battery. They're $6 on Amazon and last dozens of rolls, especially without flash. When you DO want flash, it charges QUICKLY, thanks again to lithium batteries being such a stiff current source. If you leave it for a year or two, lithium batteries don't leak and ruin it, so you're more apt to find a good one. The battery door is a MASTERPIECE, compared to everything else of this era. It is thick and beefy, has a proper hinge, and needs a ballpoint pen or paper clip to depress an interlock to get it open. I LOVE IT.
It was the first P&S camera to have the common half-press to lock focus & exposure, with a status update via red and green LEDs, then full press to take the shot. Flash is automatic BUT there's a button right on the front-left of the camera you hold in to cancel it, and you'll rarely need to do that during daytime. (the red LED comes on during pre-focus if the flash is planning to fire)
Here's a link to my Flickr album for the camera: https://www.flickr.com/photos/182935075@N04/albums/72157711155502137
Here's one pic, just to spice up the thread:
Along the Chicago River 1 by Jeremy, on FlickrOne last thought: How about a Nikon FG with a nice little 35 mm Series E lens? It's thicker than these P&S, but does meet every other requirement, as well has having aperture priority, manual and a +2 stop backlight compensation button. Lacks AF though.
Or maybe a Canon Rebel with the 40/2.8 pancake? That's not as thin as the FG, but lighter and has AF, as well as automatic winding and rewinding. No auto flash if you turn it to P instead of dummy mode. Put a UV filter on it and skip the lens cap.
But yeah, any SLR would be clunky in the back pocket of a biker's jersey, if that's what you're thinking of.