Rangefinders with lightmeter and leaf shutter

[Berndt]

I wonder, what kind of rangefinders have been made, still having a leaf shutter but already having a coupled but still selenium based lightmeter.

I only own one ... the classic Canonet from 1961. I like this type of camera and wonder, if there are others ... or even better ones ?

What is YOUR favorite one and experiences with it ?

Berndt

[julio1fer]

My Vito CLR has a coupled selenium meter (but not automatic exposure). The Retina IIIS and IIS also have selenium meters.

[Berndt]

I will get a Vito CL by chance this week. A friend of my mother wanted to through it away. So it will find a better home now

Oh ... and I found a Konica EE matic in a junk box of my favorite 2nd hand camera shop today. That would be a camera, fitting into the described category. No idea, why it landed in the junk box. Haven't shot a film with it yet, but I couldn't find anything wrong about it yet.

No other ideas ? There should be many more ... or not ?

[Berndt]

A little bit research led me to two a few others ... Fujica 35 EE, Yashica EE and maybe Olympus Pen and Mamiya ? Some models having "EE" in their name as a short form of "electric eye". I find those ancient high tech marvels quite fascinating.

[pompiere]

I have a Petri 7s and a Minolta AutoWide, although the Minolta is actually zone focus. The Petri was my first range finder and brought me down this path of collecting.

[Berndt]

Both beautiful cameras !!! I just checked some pictures in the net. Did they already have an "auto exposure function" as well ?

[Rachel]

Mar 22, 2012 7:17:13 GMT -5 Berndt said:

Both beautiful cameras !!! I just checked some pictures in the net. Did they already have an "auto exposure function" as well ?

I have a Petri 7s which I haven't used for ages but the shutter and meter work like new. No auto-exposure mode but match needle on top plate and in viewfinder.

[33dollars]

Ricohmatic 35. A rangefinder released in 1960 with Selenium meter & shutter speeds from 1/30 - 1/400 in auto.
Was copied by the Russians to become a Zorki 10 & the Zorki won an award.

[Berndt]

Thanks 33dollars ... and I found another one. The Minolta Hi-Matic ( the original model from 1962 ).

[33dollars]

I like the look of the Zorki 10, but hear that they are a little unreliable & have some trouble with exposure to film speed.
camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Zorki_10

[Berndt]

If I summarize everything, it seems, that there are not many rangefinders with selenium meter based auto exposure feature ... or there are still a few, not mentioned yet.

"Real rangefinders" ( where you can set the focus through a range finder ) are actually just the Canonet, the Minolta Hi-Matic, the Zorki 10, the Fujica 35 EE, the Yashica EE, the Mamiya EE and the Konica EE matic then.

The Ricohmatic 35, Olympus Trip 35, Olympus Auto Eye, Fujica Auto M and some Olympic Pens do either have a fixed focal lens or a manual zone focus ( portrait, group, landscape ).

All japanese cameras ( except the Zorki ). Interesting. What about the german and US camera makers ? None of them implemented this technology in their cameras ?

[daveh]

berndt,

Have a look at Ron Herron's site: herron.50megs.com/index.html

No mentioned so far: The Vulcan [a href="herron.50megs.com/rangefinder.htm"]herron.50megs.com/rangefinder.htm[/a]
[/url] - which is actually a re-branded Mamiya EE.

[daveh]

What about some of the Voigtländer range like the The Vitomatic II?

www.flickr.com/photos/alf_sigaro/457522833/ - Berndt, in German especially for you!

I assume it is a leaf shutter, but I don't know enough about it (or German!) to know if it satisfies all the requirements.

I suppose one of the "problems" for German made cameras was that many used focal plane shutters.

[Peltigera]

The Vitomatic does not have automatic exposure - its light-meter is coupled but requires the user to turn the dial. In Berndt's opening post he merely mentioned a coupled light meter but in post #11 he has changed that to auto exposure. Personally I prefer coupled but not auto exposure as that way as you can make adjustments to the exposure by not completely matching the two needles.

[Berndt]

In Berndt's opening post he merely mentioned a coupled light meter but in post #11 he has changed that to auto exposure.

Yes, I am very sorry. I didn't express myself properly at the beginning and noticed that later after the first incoming suggestions. My fault

My start point ( in my mind ) has been the Canonet, which I used very often. It's auto exposure function worked marvelous ( even using slide film for a few times ), but it also offers the possibility for manual settings. A pretty advanced technology at that time, so I started wondering, if there are others. I also prefer the selenium meter over the discontinued mercury batteries in later models.

Some of those cameras, like the Canonet or the Fujica 35 EE have also been equipped with pretty fast lenses as well, which is not bad ( F:1.9 ).

BTW, I don't mind working with "just" coupled light meters as well, but I also like the selenium cells around the lens. The exposure metering is quite good because you measure directly while pointing the camera to something ( don't need to put the camera down again and holding it actually in a different postion then, if the light meter needle is placed on the top of the camera ) and it also considers filters, mounted on the lens.

But I wouldn't say, that those autoexposure cameras are the best of all It has been just a surpise for me, that there have been just a few of them being made. The most famous might have been the Minolta Hi-Matic ... in terms of ( not camera ) history. It has been the camera, the first American in Space ( John Glenn ) used for taking pictures in 1962.