spoilt for choice (longish)

[nikkortorokkor]

My promise to my wife not to bid on any more shiny chrome, glass and leatherette has been broken, and my defence will be 'far cop, Guv, but what was I s'posed ta do?'

You see my local online auction site is looking like a replication of the 60s trade war with a plethora of lovely high end Japanese rangefinders up for grabs.

A sampling:

Yaschica IC Lynx-14E WITH YASHICA-DX 1:1.4 f=45mm lens &
COPAL- SVE (woof!)

Fujica 35EE (1:1.9)

Petri 1.9 & Canonet Junior

KONICA AUTO S2 (1965) HEXANON F1.8/45MM & COPAL-SVA B-1-500 (Yum!)

Canonet

Konica EE Matic S with Natinoal PE-204 Flash

Olympus 35RC with accessories

Durst Automatica (OK so it's Italian, but still technically interesting enough to be honorary Japanese)

Yashica M with Yashinon f=45mm 1:1.9

Yashica Lynx 1000 (2 of these)

Minolta Hi-matic 7sII (silver)

Yashica Electro GSN

Hanimex Loadmatic R404 Auto Rapid format (OK, not a rangefinder, but top marks for weirdness)

Minolta Hi-matic 7sII (black)

All this in a country with a total population of just over 4 million souls (or 8 million soles).

I just realized that in one fell swoop I could get a potted developmental history of the 60s fixed lens rangefinder! Of course I'd be divorced, so...

being addicted to the comforts of domesticity, I've limited myself to bidding very modestly on the Konica Auto S2 and a Lynx 1000 (which I've just got for reserve: NZ$20). I'd like to try both of these against the Hi Matic 7 which I'm already enjoying. All 3 are similar in that they are physically big, fast and have manual capabilities (great for 'users'). I'd love that super fast Lynx 14 (lens envy?) but figure it will fetch more than my limited resources. The 'slow' 1000 will do me

Isn't it interesting that right through to the Seventies, many of us were prepared to believe that the Japanese were slavish plagiarisers of Euro-American engineering, with no design ability of their own. I'll probably get pilloried, but when I look at all the Voigtlander Vitos, Brauns and so on I feel a stir of historical interest, but not a great urge to pick up and use. Yet the Hi-Matic, Lynx, FujicaEE, Auto S2 call to me, begging me to try them. Why? Compared to the 1956 Voigtlander Vito BL that I started out with, the Hi-Matic 7 is so fun to use. And yet the Vito BL, with it's built in Selenium meter, was pretty sophisticated for an amateur German 35mm. When I add up what the Minolta has that the Voigtlander doesn't it is pretty clear why I reach for Japanese:
End of lens CDs meter.
AE/manual choice
Rangefinder WITH parallax correction
Viewfinder exposure info
1:1.8 lens

So who were the Japanese copying when they added all this stuff to their cameras? Certainly not Voigtlander!

Personally, my favourite Japanese 60s innovator is the Fujica V2. I have one but, unfortunately, it is so sad (stuck shutter, delaminated viewfinder, fungus galore) that I've never got to use it. The EE is nice too, but in my book the V2 is the purtiest camera I own and the EE is just too messy with that hulking great selenium meter on the front. Here are some pics of the V2 (before I cleaned it). The shape echoes an M series Leica, but the bits that make it go are in all sorts of weird places. As well as the focus wheel on the back and the rewind on the side, the V2 has shutter AND speed info in the viewfinder. Like the EE it can be operated all with the right hand (assuming you have a strong hand) - a paparazzo's dream. d**n those copycat Japanese!

[doubs43]

Michael, my first "real" camera was a Fujica V2 purchased new from a military BX at Mactan Air Base in the Southern Philippines. It cost $47.50 in May or June of 1967 and served me well for a few years. The 45mm f/1.8 lens was razor sharp. I shot lots of Kodachrome 25 slide film in it and exposure was spot on unless backlighting fooled the sensor. I eventually sold it to a friend but if I found another one in good condition I'd buy it. They really are a nicely done camera.

Walker

[nikkortorokkor]

Thanks for the comments, Walker. Nice to know that a V2 handled Kodachrome with aplomb. That's a positive endorsement.

Fujica rangefinders seem to be rather unloved compared to their more cultish Yashica, Minolta, Canon, Olympus and Konica rivals. I got mine from a junk shop and paid too much for it given its paperweight status. But I bought it on looks alone (for about NZ$35 if I recall correctly) and it kicked off my current obsession with cameras, so it was money well spent. I too have my eyes peeled for a nice, working example.

[Randy]

Michael, you really need one of these, it's the best rangefinder I've ever used.



Aires Viscount

[John Parry]

Hey - some nice machines there Michael!!

I've stopped buying rangefinders, for similar reasons to your wife's injunction, and ten or so probably is enough! While most of mine are Japanese (in fact, most are Yashicas. although I do have a Konica Ee-matic S) probably the nicest looker is the Russian Fed 4.

All this stuff is subjective. I really don't have any plans to use any of the rangefinders - they are just pin-ups. As are the older SLRs really - the Exaktas, Zenits and Prakticas kind of calm me down... But hey - they look gorgeous!

Regards - John

[nikkortorokkor]

johnrparry said:

- the Exaktas, Zenits and Prakticas kind of calm me down... But hey - they look gorgeous!

Every time I look at the original Minolta Hi-Matic on my shelf, resplendent in grey leatherette and with that boxy, ultra modern styling, I get the urge to don a pair of light chinos, some deck shoes, an outrageous Hawaiian shirt, a nice panama and some cool shades, and go hang out at some happening beach side bar. If the bar has a good Hi-Fi even better, but if not I've always got my trusty National Panasonic transistor radio.

Did I watch too many sixties movies as a kid?

Randy, I was totally unaware of the Airies Viscount, now I won't die happy unless I try one out. Is there medication for this?

Seriously, I'm maxing out at around half a dozen Japanese fixed lens compacts, with the Hi-Matic 7 my only hard core user so far.

I would like a 'system' rangefinder but can't afford Leica or Contax (surprise, surprise) or even a Cosina Voigtlander.

Braun is an obvious choice, or an FSU body, which (if I find a good one) seems a more practical option. The Aries, with axillary 8 cm lens would be a nice way to go too, but I'd still miss a nice wide-angle.

Any suggestions?

[John Parry]

The pin-up star of my rangefinder collection isn't even a rangefinder! It's a Zeiss Ikon Contina with no rangefinding capabity at all.

I bought it with a Pollux add-on rangefinder. Check this out:

To re-adjust the Pollux range finder, aim at object at leas 150 feet away and turn with a small screwdriver the slotted screw in the centre of the dial until with the dial set at infinity, the two images cover.

Wild horses wouldn't get me to touch that screw!

Regards - John

[John Farrell]

Michael - there are actually 2 Yashica Ms on Trademe at the moment. One for you, and one for me....

[PeterW]

Hi Michael,

Well, as a collector interested in German cameras I had to come back on what you have to say about Voigtländer, and I've got to say that I agree entirely. I'll possibly get criticism and brickbats for what I'm saying but it's how I see things. And what's wrong with being controversial at times?

Voigtländer, one of the oldest if not the oldest, maker of cameras had an enviable reputation for quality before the war. It was almost as if the company had two divisions, one for top quality cameras and one for the amateur snapshotter. But even their cheap snapshot cameras, lowly though their specifications were, were well made and reliable.

Their top quality models, the Avus and Bergheil plate cameras, and the Prominent and Superb film cameras could stand alongside the best in the world. The 1950s Prominent was also beautifully made.

In the 120 medium-priced folding camera field the Bessas, the Inos and the Virtus were excellent, and even the cheaper ranges which often went under the generic name of Rollfilmkamera were what used to be called 'honestly made'.

Then in the 1950s the management made what quite a few people class as an error of judgement. They saw the Japanese 'invasion' coming, but instead of trying to counter it with quality they listened to their marketing people and tried to compete with cut-price innovation. They launched the 'barn door' Vitessa with an unloved telephone pole sticking out of the top. It produced beautiful results, but it wasn't very popular and didn't have the best of reputations for reliability.

At the same time they revived a 1939 name, the Vito. The original Vito was a very nice folding 35mm camera not unlike the early Retinas. It was revived for a time after the war, but then came a flood of solid-bodied Vitos, the B, BL, C, CD, CL, CLR, and the Vitomatic I, Ia, Ib, II, IIa, IIb and IIIb (b for Belightungsmesser or light meter), and the bargain basement range of Vitorets about which the least said probably the better.

Each successive model was loaded with more features and got good reviews in the magazines of the time, but they were built down to a price. In place of good engineering design which would last, things like the rangefinder coupling, light meter coupling and so on were made from easily damaged linkages of thin pressed steel strips, and the more features the cameras got the less long they seemed to stay reliable. Trying to adjust these linkages, or even doing a CLA for a sticky shutter and notchy shutter release is not a job filled with pleasure.

Voigtländer used to have an advertising slogan 'Voigtländer - the ones with the excellent lenses'. Yes, the Skopar was a good lens, and the Ultron was superb, but a few of my friends in the Voigtländer Verein group of the PCCGB got mildly upset when I remarked 'Pity the bodies weren't the same'.

Voigtländer weren't alone in this. Other old established German makers - Balda for example - went the same way. But I've sounded off quite long enough for now about the decline and fall of the German camera industry.

PeterW

[mickeyobe]

Peter, Peter, Peter,

You have broken my heart.
You have slandered my beautiful Voigtlander Vitessa N.
The trouble is I know you know more than I know so I know I can not refute your statements.

But a few points in its favour please.

Barn doors. What cretin coined that phrase? They are beautifully synchronized, protective portals to the magic land of photography. No need for a forever vanishing lens cap or a never ready case. And just look how they open, gently stopping before they are fully open, to prevent jarring the mechanism.

That "unloved telephone pole" eliminates the need to remove the camera from your eye or risk blinding oneself with a thumb activated lever. It is faster to use as well. And it tucks away neatly when not in use. I wont even mention winding knobs.

And how about that clever focussing wheel that eliminates the need for groping all over a lens' elements and private parts to find the focus ring.

And the distance and depth of field scales are highly visible and legible on the top plate, not hiding scrunched up somewhere on the lens housing.

"didn't have the best of reputations for reliability." Lets see - 1954 to 2007 - and still going strong. Pretty shabby, eh?

"but it wasn't very popular .... " Since when was popularity a criterion for quality or anything else for that matter except, perhaps, successful hyperbole?

"It produced beautiful results, ..." and still does. Can you ask for more?

There. I have done my duty. I have picked up the gauntlet and defended my little beauty.

Mickey

[nikkortorokkor]

Well, Mickey,

I have to say that after saying that the Japanese led innovation, I thought of the Vitessa and hoped nobody'd bring that lovely camera up to refute me! I wonder if the Fujica focus wheel was an 'homage' to Voigtlander (i.e. they pinched the durned thing from the Germans).

I've put a Vitessa on my 'when I'm richer' list!
My own distaste for Vitos comes from my abhorrence for the 'viewfinder' on the BL, an item so imprecise that it shattered my novice-photographer ego and teenage wallet as I developed mis-framed print after print! Yet less than 10 years after my Vito was made the higher end Japanese compacts featured not only rangefinders, but compensating rangefinders.

Speaking of which, has anybody tried a Minesix 66? A folding, medium format rangefinder with a coupled meter in 1957 - wow!

John F,
I've got a J, and now a Lynx 1000 (I hope), If I get an M too my Minoltas will think something is up and have a hissy fit. You'd better buy both of the Ms. But it's that Lynx 14E that's really weakening my resolve. I wonder what it'll fetch?

[nikonbob]

Michael

Those Japanese fixed lens RFs are addicting aren't they. I have to admit to picking a few up at yard sales and being pleasantly surprised at how well they take photos even compared to the more expensive German interchangeable lens RFs. The one I really like is the Ricoh 500 with the bottom wind lever followed c;closely by a Minolta Hi Matic E.

Mickey

I did not know you had it in you but good for you in defending the old barn door. That is one camera that is so different/innovative, in my eyes, that it is a must have. It is definitely on my list to get.

Bob

[PeterW]

Peter, Peter, Peter,

You have broken my heart.

Sorry, Mickey! I'll agree that the Vitessa is a lovely camera when its working properly and, especialy with the Ultron lens, it can produce very nice pictures indeed.

But, and I'll stick with what I said, it didn't earn the best of reputations for reliability. After a few years use many gave problems with the telephone pole (sorry, plunger) wind on, and the rangefinders were rather prone to going out of kilter if the camera got a knock or two.

Maybe I was a little unfortunate in that the only example I had gave constant wind-on problems, but I wasn't alone in finding this, and if it gives problems it isn't the easiest of cameras to work on. I got disillusioned with it and sold it "as is, with all faults" after a few months. I won't go into a long screed, but have a look at these two websites:

www.kyphoto.com/classics/vitessarf.html

photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00D6zf

PeterW

[nikonbob]

Peter

Thanks for the links which I have bookmarked just in case I ever find one. You are correct about their reliability of course but I am glad Mickey defended the poor old barn door. I am just a blind hopeless romantic when it comes to them.

Bob

[doubs43]

I once owned a very nice Vitessa with the Ultron lens. I didn't keep it more than a few months because the long 'phone pole seemed to spoil it's otherwise racy looks. I don't recall it giving me any problems at the time but it was more than 30 years ago and I didn't use it much.

Walker