What drew you to rangefinder photography?

[daveco]

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Apologies if this has been covered before, and move this thread if appropriate, or remove.

For me, it was playing with my dad’s Argus C-3, without film, and his light meter. Like many returning American vets from WWII, he married, started a family, and recorded this on an economical rangefinder 35mm camera. As a child, I was fascinated with the double image of this camera.. This was without film, as I started with a brownie, moving to a kodak instamatic, polaroid swinger, polaroid colorpack II, then my first slr, a ricoh, then a Pentax spotmatic, and then Canon slrs. When I finally thought about rangefinders, I purchased a Russian model, whose shutter quit working after two shots, so I bought the M8. By that time, I was already using Canon dslrs, but nostalgia, and the reputation of Leica glass, took me to investing in a Leica system.

Edited August 29, 2018 by stuny

[keithlaban.co.uk]

Simple.

 

I was fed up carting medium format kit around villages built into the sides of mountains and was looking for a system that could deliver a similar level of image quality at greatly reduced heft and girth.

 

I bought a used M and then something weird happened, I fell in love with a rangefinder... 

[TomB_tx]

I started in the 1950s, before SLRs became popular. In the mid 1960s added SLRs to my "kit" for special purposes, but stayed with RF for general use.

[Luke_Miller]

I've re-discovered my enjoyment of manual focusing.  For my shooting I can focus faster with my Leica rangefinders than with other methods.

[earleygallery]

I've always used a variety of camera types. Horses for courses!

[MarkP]

The rangefinder...

[R6M6]

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The compactness of the equipment and to See what happens in the environment which can impact the picture

[jim0266]

In 1986 I was a photoj major intrigued by the mystique of the Leica rangefinder. I purchased a used M2 and a new 35 Cron. For a documentary photo class I used that camera and lens almost exclusively. Up until then I had only used SLRs. Looking through and composing with a rangefinder changed my photography. I began seeing spatial relationships more and began to shoot in a less rigid style. I was hooked. 

[Herr Barnack]

Simple.

 

I was fed up carting medium format kit around villages built into the sides of mountains and was looking for a system that could deliver a similar level of image quality at greatly reduced heft and girth.

 

I bought a used M and then something weird happened, I fell in love with a rangefinder... 

 

That pretty much reflects my experience, although my first rangefinder was the XPAN.  I liked the way the XPAN worked and loved the 24x65mm format; this camera opened the rangefinder door for me.

 

A photographer I knew had a Contax G2 rangefinder, which was an interesting camera and the Zeiss lenses were also interesting.  After doing some research, I came to the conclusion that the Leica M was a simpler, better designed, more reliable camera and the M lenses were better lenses.  The film MP had just been released back in 2003 and after a bit of deliberation, I ordered a black black paint MP and a black paint 50mm Summilux (pre-ASPH) Millennium lens.  When they arrived, I was hooked on the M system; it was love at first sight. 

 

Leica M is my main system now, having traded in all my Nikon kit and Mamiya 7II kit to acquire my M equipment.  I still have the XPAN II and the 45mm f/4 lens for it, though.

Edited August 30, 2018 by Herr Barnack

[adan]

What really drew me to RFs for good was - the disappearance of split-image focusing in SLR screens in the AF era, and an aching back. I've never liked AF - turning the lens and snapping two images together to focus is a part of my photographic "backswing" and rhythm.

 

Round about 1997, I really began thinking about the RF options, and tried a Cosina Voigtlander Bessa-L with their 15mm v.1. Too wide for general use, of course - but boy did it get me hooked (again) on the idea of just looking through a window and snapping people! Tried the Contax G system (innovative, small, outstanding lenses, inexpensive compared to Leica - but the AF was just too squirrely and missed me too many moments). Finally, in 2001, swapped 3 shiny new G's and 4 lenses for 1980s Leica gear - M4-2 and a Mandler 21 and 90. Haven't looked back.

 

One of those Bessa-L/15mm shots that sucked me in, 20 years ago:

 

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But the path before that was long and winding. In snapshot form:

 

- 1969 - at 15, tried to use my Mom's Yashica Minister III RF to photograph a model car for a contest. With a magnifying glass held over the real lens, and "bracketing" focus by moving the camera. Got one usable picture out of 24 exposures. Not a great intro to RFs.

-1970 - in a basic high-school art class, was handed an original $10 plastic Diana viewfinder camera and told to go out looking for shapes, lines, textures, patterns. Got hooked on photography, not on RFs. Asked for, and got, a Canon FX SLR (precursor to the FTb) for Xmas.

- 1972 - Realized how much my eye was drawn to Magnum-style RF photography. Added a Petri "Color 2.8" fixed-lens RF to my Canon, but did not use it much. Not enough lens variety.

- 1973 - Added a junker Leica IIIC/50 Elmar bought from a collegemate for $100. Got a few nice shots, but found f/3.5 limiting. (Ever tried shooting indoor basketball with an f/3.5 50mm? ) Plus 1/500th and 1/1000th produced half-frames - bad shutter.

- 1974 - Got a Nikon SP and 50 f/1.4 lens. Used for one project and one wedding. Finder was already aging and foggy. Swapped for a Pentax Spotmatic. Started a project for college off-campus for 3 months, and got the RF bug again, from my previous H.S. photo teacher, who showed me his M2 and 28/35 lenses in a tiny toiletries bag, and talked about "just squeaking off" Leica pictures. Acquired a Canon P RF with 50 f/1.8 lens ($295). Used that for two months, and then - saw an exhibit by a Nat. Geo photographer all done with Kodachrome II and Nikon FTns and 20/24 lenses - Ooooooo! Swapped eveything I owned for a Nikon F and 35 f/2.8, and borrowed 28 and 105 lenses. Yet still I "saw" in a Magnum style - most of my best pix from that project were 28 and 35 shots, or with the Canon + 50.

 

- 1975-97 - A pure SLR boyo. Grad school, needed pro gear, Nikon or Canon with "the works" - 16-400mm lenses, motors, etc.. Got a job, still all SLR. But there was always that "curiosity" about the RF approach. Tried an M2 and 28 - too limiting for me, and extra lenses beyond my working-stiff budget. Tried an M4 with a 28 v.2 and 90 TE v.1 - still just didn't work for me yet (operator error, plus a couple of Leica's weaker lenses). Had a black Canon AT-1 with 24, 35, 85 lenses, and that felt really "Leica-like" in some ways, but too plasticky. Back to Nikon SLRs. In desperation, tried a mid-1980s Nikon L35AF viewfinder P&S with AF and autowind - at least it had framelines, and was cheap!

 

Then, post-1990, even Nikon SLRs began to get plasticky (or really large and heavy; top-end F4/5s). And dropped their split-image screens, and (return to start of post......)

 

In summary, there was always that draw to the rangefinder size, viewing and esthetic. I never used metering prisms on my Nikon F/F2s. I'd liked the AT-1 except for the plastic late-FD lenses. I tended to "see" in RF focal lengths of 20-85, even if I owned longer lenses because I thought I had to. I was "ready" for an RF all along - I just needed the final push. Today, I still have a Canon 6D with a 200 and 400 (just in case), but everything else I use has "window" viewing and manual focusing - Hassy SWC, a couple of 6x6 high-end folding RFs (Agfa Super-Isolette, Mamiya-Six Automat) - and two M10s.

 

M10 - with a 28mm Elmarit v.2 just like the one that "disappointed me" 38 years ago. Live and learn. Title: You Figure It Out.

 

Edited August 30, 2018 by adan

[Ko.Fe.]

I'm from time and place of mostly rangefinders made.

So called Russian rangefinders, while many of the are Ukrainian.

Actually, most are.

I use same rangefinder made in sixties. I could sell film M, once service will become less available. But FED-2 is totally DIY serviceable. I purchased broken one for parts. But fixed it instead.

[Herr Barnack]

...Horses for courses!

 

Word is, Henri Cartier-Bresson used that phrase quite frequently. 

Edited August 30, 2018 by Herr Barnack