Best Cheap Vintage 35mm Camera?

I've been bitten buy the vinatge camera bug but my wallet isn't very fat.

What are some of the beter buys in a 35mm vintage camera for say under $50?

 

I shoot people so would prefer at least a coupled rangefinder, some decent glass maybe

even a 75-105mm lens. Asking too much for too little maybe? It would be nice to have at

least a 2.8. Am I dreaming?

 

Light meters don't matter to me as I always use a hand held one.

 

I just bought a Contaflex II. I love it's feel but still haven't finished my first test roll. I'm

leary of anything that is expensive to repair and just learned that they can be VERY

expensive. So please recommend something that should it need fixing won't cost an arm

and an eyeball.

You are dreaming indeed.

But one with a fixed 50-ish lens you might get for that money. There are non-folding ones like zeiss contessa lke, soe voigtlander models and agfa super silette which are not too popular so if you see some you might get them under 50$. Or, there are the seventies rangefinders; canonets, minolta hi-matics, yashicas, konicas, olympussies...

 

Fixing any of the 'vintage' cameras, unless you do it yourself, will cost you since it is laborious, not just switching an electronic component out.

If you really need exchangeable lenses, the FED-2 with a 50mm lens should be available for that price (without extra lenses and finders, though).

 

If you can live with a fixed lens, try a Konica Auto S2 - GREAT lens, nice finder, fully manual operation possible (no problems with non-available mercury batteries), a bit on the heavy & large side, though....

O.K., I don't know where you are fishing, but only Russians and Anscos come imediately to my mind.

 

I never held a Ansco in my hand. - I'm reluctant to get myself another toy. At least it seems to offer interchangeable lenses.

 

I own 3 Russians, and wouldn't mailorder one without severe questioning of the seller. My 85mm lens is as usual not properly RF coupled and needing a additional finder blows your budget and sucks. Leningrads seem hard to fix, but might be the only Russians with additional framelines.

 

I hope you'll be lucky at pawnshops or fleamarkets.

Look for a Minolta Himatic 7s, in the $10 to $20 range.

Consider an Ambi Silette: CRF, exchangeable lenses, reliable shutter, cheap.<div></div>

Argus C-3? In the right hands the old Brick is a fine camera.

Shameless plug: the very reliable, aperture-priority AE Voigtländer VF101 (with a fixed 40mm f/2.8 lens).<br>But I don't think there is coupled rangefinder camera (in working condition) with a good portrait lens available for under $50, even a Kiev-4 with a Jupiter-9 85mm f/2 costs significantly more. You could still buy an old SLR with a lens of your specifications for much less, though this isn't a rangefinder.<br>The cheaper and older rangefinders (Agfa, Braun etc) with interchangeable (focal length greater 50mm) lenses are virtually always in a not fully working condition (sticky shutter, misaligned RF and worse) and therefore quite cheap to buy but pretty expensive to use (CLA...).

Agfa Karat. Small compact little cameras with excellent 50mm lenses (several varieties

were made.) I saw a Karat 36 with the 50/2.8 Solinar go at auction last week for $10. For

people shooting you'd probably like the 50/2.0 Xenon better. Mr, Gandy has a good page

on the Karat IV here http://www.cameraquest.com/agfakar4.htm I prefer the Karat 36 over

the Karat IV as I like the Syncro-Compur going to 500 better than the Prontor-SVS that

only goes to 300.

 

Very nice and not especially well known cameras.

 

William

First, your Contaflex II is among the easier to repair of the Contaflexes, which I know puts it at the good end of a bad group, but it's something.

 

The Soviet (I've been chastized for calling them "Russian" rangefinders are certainly the best balance of full features, reliability, low repair cost and low purchase price - I'm thinking primarily of the cloth-shuttered, screw mount type, as the Kievs are more complex. I would look for one of the models that did not have slow speeds below 1/20 for best reliability, such as the Zorki 5 or 6 or a FED 2. These accept a full complement of LTM lenses from (readily available) 35 to 135mm. I'd advise using the Soviet lenses rather than Leitz glass, both for cost and for easier mounting due to differences in the rangefinder cam designs; the lenses are generally quite good. The camera itself I think would be within your budget in good condition, but any extra lenses would be on top of that.

 

If it weren't for the f/2.8 requirement, the Argus C3 is a very interesting option. It had interchangeable lenses after a fashion, and lenses were available in at least 35, 100 and 135mm lengths for it. You may get a decent C3 for $20 and a 100mm tele for another $30, thereby keeping the whole package within your $50 budget. One caveat, though, which probably also applies to a lesser degree to the FED and Zorki: An Argus C3 is virtually NEVER going to be well adjusted when you get it, particularly in the rangefinder. They are almost always stiff and dim when you find them, but they can improve amazingly if you're willing to do the work of cleaning, adjusting and lubricating them. You'll have to do this yourself, no repair shop is likely to accept one, but it's not difficult and the camera mechanisms are extremely durable and reliable. On the Argus, also, lens changing is not an exercise to be entered into casually. But it can be done, and it does work.

If you go down the C3 route (I have one on the bench at the moment, Rick Oleson's notes are invauable.

 

http://rick_oleson.tripod.com/index-86.html

 

Nick

You don't say what your definition of vintage is, but, if you're looking for something to use, I've seen quite a few good deals on eBay for various models of manual Nikkormats, some complete with a 55mm f1.4 Nikkor lens, which is otherwise widely available. The main thing that fails is the meter (which wouldn't bother you), otherwise they're built like a tank and, if necessary would be much less expensive to clean/lube/adjust (CLA) than a Contaflex II or similar camera. At the time, for those of us who couldn;t afford a Nikon F, the Nikkormat was the next best thing.

for a very little more, I would think you could get a Pentax Spotmatic

 

that would be a good way to go. then pick up a super takumar or smc m42 lens, and add

another one down the road...

 

lens wise a 50mm f1.4 super takumar is hard to beat

 

I also like the 28mm and 35 mm f3.5 lenses.....the 105mm f2.8 lens is good as well

 

zooms from that era were not so hot.

Some good points there: it's not the average price you'll find, but I DID pick up a nearly-like-new Minolta SRT-101 for $15 including its f/1.4 lens and case, and I got an apparently unused, offbrand-but-decent zoom lens to fit it for another $8. Both of these were chance finds in antique shops where they didn't know what they should be worth and wanted the shelf space back. It's just as easy to see things OVERpriced by an equal margin at places like this, but if you're patient and really want a bargain, they are out there.

There's also the Zenit SLR: easily found for less than $50, ugly but reliable, and accepts any M42 screw mount lens (though there are a few late Takumars you would need to be very careful with). The Soviet lenses are mostly either the same as the ones for the Zorki & Fed, or copies of East German designs, and pretty good performers.

Mamiya Sekor 500 TL is one thought. I got one for about $25 with a 50mm lens. A Pentax Spotmatic or K1000 is certainly within that price range if you shop around. Agfa rangefinders are all over the place as are Minolta Himatics, good cameras all. I wish I could find a Himatic 5.

 

Rick H.

I suggest the following cameras:

 

1. Argus C3: Great durability, simple to repair yourself, interchangeable lenses with up to a 135mm focal length, and lots of vintage accessories. Definitely "vintage".

 

2. Argus C4 Geiss Modified: Great durability, fairly simple to repair, interchangeable Enna Werk lenses (inluding a fast standard lens), lots of vintage accessories. I saw a full kit go on the 'Bay auction site for a little over $50 with 3 lenses, a body, flash, filters, etc.

 

3. Kodak 35: Simple to repair, incredibly cheap, amazingly good performance with the Anastar lens (especially for the price). My $8 Kodak 35 w/ Anastar lens takes beautiful pictures after I gave it a full CLA. Truly a masterpiece of Kodak ingenuity and performance on a budget. However, the camera is fairly ugly. I say skip all the other cameras and get one of these before trying out other "vintage" cameras.

For rangefinders models, forget about anything with changeable lenses. Only a fixed lens fit the $50 budget but there are some of these out there.

 

For SLR models, a few mechanical oldies with broken meter go dirt cheap. The same goes for 28mm F2.8 and 135mm F2.8, especially third party brands, sometimes same brand as body. Maybe Minolta SRT series.

 

Forget about 75 to 105 fixed focal but consider 135mm or 70-150mm zooms (with some exceptions like Nikon serie E). These are mostly the neglected to find for little $ .

Yes, you are dreaming. If you can find an underThe Argus C3 will give you more bang for the buck than any other classic camera. AND you can get a 100mm lens for it!!!!

Excuse my typo above: I meant the Argus too, not Ansco, probably I got confused over these unfamiliar brands.

 

About Soviets: Surely not the Kievs; they are far too German, Contax and probably unpleasant to fix. Get some promising Fed or Zorki, maybe the ones with damaged meter will go cheaper than the honest ones without. I like my FED 2 a lot. The shutter speed dial of the Zorki 4K seems overcrowded to me.

The Kievs are not that hard to fix, most of them that have a "stuck shutter" seem to have a problem with the shutter ribbons, which can be replaced rather easily, without serious disassembly.

IN an slr I have bought used Nikkormats with 50mm F2 for 52 dollars on ebay; and a Nikkormat with 105mm F2.5 for 59 dollars. The 105 was not mentioned; the text was just a Nikkormat with "lens"; which was a 105mm clearly in the Ebay photos.

For under your budget I bought an Exakta Varex Ia with a Schacht Travenar 135mm lens. Very nice looking, quirky camera, takes decent photos, plenty of lenses available cheap. Finder is not that great, but you can't have everything, can you?

Try any Screwmount camera the body is cheap collecting lenses gets expensive if you want a range finder get a Keiv 4 the % was a heavy camera with a better finder. in the RF line if you want fixed focus on a RF get anything Cannon Yashica or Minolta made but don't forget the great Richo's<div></div>

Major B. - I like your style, mate! You're honest enough to admit that you want maximum results for minimum bucks, and why not? Don't we all?

 

OK, here's my 5 bob's worth .... get yourself an AGFA (or ANSCO - same beast, different marketing name) Silette with a Solinar lens. That's all, period. AGFA made zillions of combinations of the Silette but they all have one thing in common - they go today for absolute peanuts on Ebay or wherever. So, you can ignore lesser and slower lensed Apotar versions, because the Genuine Bedouine Solinar (a 4-element Tessar-type design) cost no more. You should be able to find one for under $20, if not less. If you're lucky, you might find one with a Compur Rapid or Synchro-Compur shutter still within that $20 ceiling, but don't ignore the better Prontor shutters even if they only go up to 1/300 sec or whatever.

 

A previous postee has quoted the Ambi Silette as a cheap possibility, but I beg to differ. The Ambi Silette is quite a collectable classic, and if it's working and looking OK then it can fetch big $$$. I doubt you'll find a nice one and get any change out of $100.

 

So, go Silette-with-Solinar hunting, and the best of luck. Oh, beware of some strange ones around that take the long-gone AGFA Rapid cassettes, or 126 cartridges. You just want the ones that take the usual 35mm Kodak-style stuff. If in doubt, take a dud film cassette along with you to check if it fits. ~~PN~~