Rangefinders (Fixed Lens)

Fixed lens rangefinder film camera reviews – these cameras are similar is size to many of the scale focus film cameras found here. The main difference is that they have the added benefit of a rangefinder to help the user focus. If you are unaware of the concept of a rangefinder, you can find out more about them in this article: What is a Rangefinder Camera, and is one right for you?

As with all the content on this website, if you find something of interest, you can find more similar products by clicking on the tags you will find at the bottom of the reviews.

Beauty shot of the equipment I'm reviewing.

Kodak Retina IIIC – Back into Film with a Charity Auction Find – By Stewart Waller

By / January 11, 2022 / Rangefinders (Fixed Lens) / 23 Comments

I recently fell for analog cameras, especially vintage ones. It feels like a rabbit hole much of the time, chasing that elusive, cosmetically beautiful, functionally accurate, 60+ year-old technology  (and expecting magic when I find it).

Although I learned photography in journalism school around 1990 and shot for the local paper, I largely stayed within my comfort zone with my trusty Nikon FM2 and a few cheap lenses. I first adopted digital in 1999, and was fully digital by 2002 as a corporate art director and photographer, with professional state-of-the-art digital Nikons (think DCS 760, D1-X). So, knowing next to nothing about this quirky world of aging treasures, I embarked on a buying binge.

And now I own a lot of old broken cameras. But like any treasure hunt, sometimes you find gold or a diamond in the rough. Such was the case with this Kodak Retina IIIC (Big C)

Konica Auto S3

Konica Auto S3 – Small and Perfectly Formed – By Bob Janes

By / March 12, 2022 / Rangefinders (Fixed Lens) / 15 Comments

Coinciding with their centenary in the early 70s, Konica fused two of their camera lines together. Since 1968 they had made a compact rangefinder camera called the C35. They had also made a series of fast fixed lens rangefinders in the ‘Auto S’ series. Now they produced a camera with the body of the C35 and the lens of the Auto S cameras. This was known as the C35 FD in Japan and the Konica Auto S3 elsewhere. The Auto S3 was finished in black anodised aluminium, while the C35 FD had a plain anodised finish

Canonet front

Canonet Review – 43 Years in Preparation – By Bob Janes

By / October 26, 2021 / Rangefinders (Fixed Lens) / 10 Comments

In a way, this Canonet review has been 43 years in preparation. I was a teenager when I got into photography. I used to borrow my father’s various rangefinder cameras: fixed lens cameras with f/2.8 lenses. One was a Super Frankarette, another was a Konica C35. The Super Frankarette is a heavy German Camera, with a selenium cell meter and manual shutter speeds and apertures. The Konica is a small compact automatic with programmed exposure.

Minolta Hi-Matic 7s and A Sentimental Journey Discovering True Optical Prints – by Shawn Granton

By / July 9, 2021 / Philosophy & Reflections, Rangefinders (Fixed Lens), Workflow / 28 Comments

It was the first week of January 2020 and I was down for the count with a cold. “A perfect start to a new year”, I thought to myself, not realizing what would be in store just a couple of months later. I was home and bored, and for some reason I decided that this downtime would be a perfect opportunity to give film another shot. I’m a Gen-Xer, so I grew up with film but hadn’t shot anything with it since about 2004. Over the years I went through a few digital point-and-shoots, but most of my photos had increasingly been taken with my smartphone. I had taken some good shots (at least I hoped), but there’s not really a lot of “fun” holding an iPhone 8 to capture an image. Friends of mine were into shooting film, why not give it a try?

Canonet 28

Canonet 28 Review – The modest Canon – By Bob Janes

By / May 18, 2021 / Rangefinders (Fixed Lens) / 12 Comments

There have been at least two cameras called a Canonet 28. The first was a very basic viewfinder camera with a selenium cell. This is the second one, sometimes called the ‘New 28’. It is a rangefinder camera, launched in 1971 as a cheaper alternative to the Canonet QL17. It features a 40 mm f/2.8 lens and programmed automatic exposures. For flash, the camera can be taken off ‘A’ and set to a particular aperture. When it is out of Auto mode the shutter will fire at 1/30 second.

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