Recommendation for RF with 35mm fixed lens.

<p>Please give me your recommendations for a RF with 35mm fixed lens.<br>

Faster lens preferred if possible.<br>

Thanks</p>

<p>Yashica Electro 35 CC, of course!</p>

<p>Konica Hexar AF (~$400).</p>

<p>Yashica Electro 35 CC looks to be an excellent recommendation. Thanks</p>

<p>I have available a "poor man's" Konica Hexar. Konica MG with fixed lens 35mm f3.5 AF Hexanon lens AF, auto advance and rewind. Powered by (2) AA batteries available everywhere. Camera is mint and very inexpensive, no longer needed. E mail me off list for details. Body in black, retro look, reasonably heavy but pocketable.</p>

<p>Olympus XA.</p>

<p>Retina IIa or Konica III</p>

<p>Canon GIII QL17 has a superb Canon 40mm f1.7 lens. The only problem with that camera is that it was designed to take a 1.35V Mercury battery, which has been discontinued since 1994. The camera meter has to be recalibrated to work correctly with the 1.5V PX625 battery, which I heard will be discontinued as well.<br>

Otherwise the Olympus XA or Contax T2 would be my recommendations.</p>

<p>Paul, thanks for the kind offer. I'm looking for a faster lens than the Konica though.<br>

I already have a QL17 GIII but although excellent cosmetically needs a clean and the seals doing.<br>

I really like the look of the Yashica Electro 35 CC and 35 GTN.</p>

<p>Since you specify a 35mm lens, I'll go with the Olympus XA (35mm f/2.8), which is a terrific little camera, and easily pocketable, though it suffers from vignetting more than some others due to its small lens.</p>

<p>There are other rangefinders that I prefer, such as the Konica III, but that one has a 48mm f/2 lens and so doesn't meet your criteria.</p>

<p>The Olympus XA only has a 35mm f/2.8 lens, but you could not ask for a more pocketable 35mm camera. You'd really have to see it to believe it. It is aperture priority, with automatic shutter speed, but if you can remember what you are doing, you can change the ISO switch to get your desired speed (Within reason.) The viewfinder patch is small and dim.<br>

If you want a different experience, try a Fujica V2. 45 mm f/1.8, with a thumbwheel for focusing! Decent size viewfinder, and a real metal brick too. Cds meter, with shutter priority, or full manual operation. Shutter is rated up to 1/500th, and may actually achieve it. Takes a Mallory PX13 (mercury battery). The metering patch has variable size covers that are rotated into place with a metal dial for different film speeds. 64, 100, 160 (Hey, it's a Fuji product, so of course 160!), 200 and 400, as I recall. Note that when you get to the end of a roll, the winding lever jams out at an angle - that is a feature, not a bug, according to the manual.</p>

<p>Will</p>

<p>If you already have the Canonet, I would put the money into getting it cleaned and sealed before I would buy another camera (unless you can find another Canonet that doesn't need work for the price of the CLA). I have one I love but besides the seals starting to go it seems to have gear stripped that messes up the film advance. I also highly recommend the Olmpus Stylus Epic, 35mm 2.8 lens. Very small and pocketable but it's a P&S not a serious rangefinder.</p>

<p>With a 35mm lens, the Olympus XA or better still, the Konica Hexar, the lens on the Konica is just fabulous, still a bit pricey though.</p>

<p>The Yashica GSN would be a good inexpensive choice and can give you fabulous results. The lens on that thing is excellent....oops sorry just noticed your requirement for a 35mm lens. If you could live with a 38mm lens, then there are a bunch of choices, Konica C35 for one.</p>

If 38mm is okay, the Konica Auto S3 is worth a look. Be aware, though, that the ones in best condition can get pricey.

<p>The Minox 35 is scale focus, but makes great images, and is very pocketable. Minolta Hi-Matic FP is a rangefinder, 38mm/2.8 lens, nice images, but you need to compensate for parallax up close. If you want to try one with amazing sharpness in a cool looking package, the Nikon 35Ti from 1993 is a lot of fun. Granted it is not what we think of as a classic all manual RF, but it is a ton of fun in a very nice package.</p>

Certainly not pocket able.. but the Kiev with the 35mm Jupiter 12 is a great combo!