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Rank Mamiya – What’s in a name?
The Rank Mamiya, also known as the Mamiya Ruby or 4B, is a rangefinder from the 60's with an unfortunate name.
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Mamiya 7 – First Impressions
First impressions on the Mamiya 7, an extraordinary camera which came as the most luxurious birthday present.
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Kiev 4 – The Non-Clone
The Kiev 4 is a beautiful, silent and graceful camera. It has a classic rangefinder design which just makes you want to pick it up and start shooting with it. Paired up with the well regarded Jupiter 8M Contax mount lens, it forms a formidable team. Especially with a very accurate focus, achieved through one of the widest available rangefinder bases, on paper it should be a dream to use. It is unfair to call it a clone, as it was manufactured using a significant number of tools and machines the Contax originals were made with. That is because it was built with plans and equipment taken from the Carl…
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Kodak Retina IIa – Coat Pocket Rocket
The Kodak Retina is a camera that holds a certain amount of mystique. It was made by a company that by the 1930s was more focussed on manufacturing film and generally created cameras to support that and the multiple formats they were introducing. Kodak never seemed to aim for or achieve anything above a second tier camera manufacturer, but the Retina was different. It was an attempt at a quality 35mm rangefinder, to compete on camera sales rather than just a supporting role. The Retina IIa is a 35mm folding rangefinder bellows camera, which fits well into a coat pocket, although it has a fairly solid, yet fiddly, construction. It…
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Zorki 4 – Attempted equaliser
The Zorki 4 is a Soviet built rangefinder camera based on the Leica cameras. I shot with this camera to see how it peforms, especially with Soviet glass.
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Watameter – What the?
Scale focus cameras can be fun. There is no precise focusing, you pre-set focus points in advance, allowing a quick “draw” approach, and the viewfinder is very uncluttered. They are also generally cheap, so a very easy way to get into film photography. There is occasion though, where some precise focusing would be helpful, which is where accessories like the Watameter come in. The Watameter is an accessory rangefinder giving you the ability to determine the distance to your subject, which you then apply to your scale focus camera and in theory gives you precise focusing ability. I enjoy using old folding cameras (folders), like the great range of Agfa…
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Fuji GS645S – Camera with a Roo Bar
The Fuji GS645S is a medium format fixed lens rangefinder camera shooting in 6x4.5 format. With a great exposure meter and lightweight, ticks all the boxes.
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Fuji GSW690III Professional – The Texas Leica
There is a saying that “everything in Texas is bigger”. So, let’s take the svelte Leica M camera, and visualise what it would look like if it came from Texas, but to add a twist, has the build from Japan. We have just described the Fuji GSW690III Professional camera. This is a camera capable of some amazing results, has an extremely sharp lens and is quite mobile. It also shoots big 6×9 negatives with so much detail that suck you into the picture. Not a street shooter, but a great companion for travel photography. Specifically, the GSW690III, is the third generation of a successful line for Fuji, and as per…
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Yashica Electro 35 GL
Yashica Electro 35 GL is one of the later versions of the popular series of the fixed lens rangefinder series. Often touted as poor man's Leica, I tried it.
