rangefinder camera

Zorki 4k

Zorki 4K Review – Following the Wisdom of Tolstoy

By / / Rangefinders (Changeable Lens) / 20 Comments

“The two most powerful warriors are patience and time” – Leo Tolstoy, Russian writer.

This quote from Russia’s most famous writer was commonly used by my grandfather, who sadly passed away recently. For a long time, I was not aware of its meaning, until the Zorki 4K, a Former Soviet Union (FSU) rangefinder, found its way into my hands. Quickly I realized that the beautiful Leica II duplicate polarizes the community quite a bit. People seem to either love or hate it. The more I was getting into the camera and the more effort I spent, this famous saying came back to my mind. Despite the camera frustrating me to no end at the beginning, I remained patient and got rewarded with true beauty. This article is about why I love the Zorki 4K and why you all should probably give FSU cameras a fair chance.

Minolta HiMatic 7s

Minolta Hi-Matic 7s – My Gateway Drug into the World of Camera Collecting – By Markus Hainz

By / / Rangefinders (Fixed Lens) / 9 Comments

As with most photographers over a certain age, I began my photography shooting film back in the late 1980s. By the mid 2000s I was shooting only digital for work and decided to get rid of almost all my film gear. Then around 2012 a wave of nostalgia overcame me and I decided to get myself back into shooting film. I decided to go for a Hi-Matic 7s as that was what I remember as our family camera when I was growing up and I happened to think it’s a very elegant looking rangefinder camera. Hipsters would look on in envy as I’d pass them by, camera dangling from my wrist from a hand crafted leather strap…

A Contax G1 camera

Contax G1 – Much more in-focus than out-of-focus – By Chantel Wakefield

By / / Rangefinders (Changeable Lens) / 32 Comments

“I loved owning one for two weeks until every photo came back out of focus.” This was a comment from a popular YouTuber under another popular YouTuber’s review of the Contax G1 35mm Rangefinder Camera. I won’t name names, but if you think about the first few film photography YouTubers that come to mind, he’s probably on that list.

For those unfamiliar with Contax G series, the G1 is a premium interchangeable lens camera made of aluminum and titanium. It was once described by TIME as “a thoroughly modern version of the classic Leica, proof that retro is the wave of the future.” Designed to be used with Carl Zeiss G-mount lenses, it cost over $2,000 when it was originally released in 1994. These days, a G1 camera body runs anywhere between $350-$500 on average, depending on the condition

Konica Auto S3

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

By / / 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

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