rangefinder
Mamiya Sekor Super Deluxe: Ordinary but not so ordinary.
In my few years of collecting cameras, the name 'Mamiya' has become synonymous with expensive medium format cameras. Although I'd come across a few Mamiya SLRs, it never occurred to me that they made range finders, too. But this discovery was should not have been surprising to me: Mamiya made cameras in a time where the industry was probably very ... Read more
The Sears 35|RF: One that barely fits in my pocket.
Here's another thrift store find worth writing about: the Sears 35|RF. This compact, fully manual rangefinder comes from Sears, the now (almost) defunct superstore. Holy Sears! Unlike most people in the west who grew up with Sears almost everywhere, I grew up in Africa where there were absolutely none. My first encounter with a Sears was in 2008 at ... Read more
Konica Auto S2: Heavy, Impressive and, Worthy
I wish I had an interesting story about how I came to own this camera. Truth is, I dont. This story just happens to be the same old boring one I keep telling: I walk into a thrift store, find a camera on the shelf, pay for it, and take it home. Of course, at the thrift store, I unlatched the leather case that contained the camera, took a partial ... Read more
Getting impressed with the Yashica Electro 35 GSN
While preparing to write this post, I kept asking myself a rather simple yet somehow difficult question: "What I can say about this camera that hasn't been said elsewhere already?". Indeed it is a difficult question to answer; because, well, this camera I'm about to review appears to be quite legendary. I don't need to create any fake ... Read more
Canon Canonet 28: The beauty that lies in simplicity
My experience with the Yashica MG-1, opened me up to the world of rangefinders. Although it had its flaws, I made me appreciate the fact that, at least, range finders were accessible, and not necessary expensive troublesome relics. In fact, anytime I walked into any of my favourite thrift stores, I had this secret yearning to find a rangefinder ... Read more
The Yashica MG-1: My very first rangefinder
When I started following and collecting analog cameras, one thing quickly became apparent: rangefinders were held in very high regard. Almost everywhere I looked, I kept reading about rangefinders (especially the Leica Ms) and all the benefits they had. I read about how you could precisely focus with them, I read about how most had leaf shutters ... Read more