Canon IIF2 - Rare and Fine in the Blur of Time

<p>Hi <strong>Louis</strong>,<br>

Great post and remarkable pictures! We must commend you for your decision not to put the camera directly in a safe. Keep posting your results!</p>

 

<p>The finders even on this last generation of Canon bottom-loaders are still pretty "squinty". I got a IV-SB2 to "improve" on my II-F, and it was a rather small improvement in the finder. A Canon P, 7, or 7s is a totally different experience, which is more like a Leica M. (But none of the Canon rangefinders have the "sharp edged" moving image of a Leica M, that's unique to that much more complicated rangefinder.) That's why my primary rangefinder camera is my Canon 7s.</p>

<p>As for construction quality, both my II-F and IV-SB2 are quite beautiful inside. I think the parts quality and precision are higher than my Leica IIIa. Leica had a lot of "select at test" parts, and may have had to adjust (file) parts at test. Canon looks to have taken Deming's approach to heart, everything looks so precise inside, I suspect that there was a lot less fiddling to get the cameras working.<br>

Painful side is that it's harder to change the shutter curtains on the Canon, since they have to be absolutely precisely located on a jig that isn't available anymore. On the Leica IIIc and later, there's adjustment points for the 1/500 and 1/1000 shutter speeds that make assembly of the shutter curtains far less critical.</p>

 

<p>gorgeous! i'm officially envious.</p>

<p>Wonderful story, pictures, and camera p o r n.</p>

<p>Even though I've not been tempted by these before, envy is certainly the emotion of the day. Thanks for sharing.</p>

<p>Louis -- wonderful story, and your photos are excellent. That's one fine camera.</p>

<p>It is a beautiful camera and I think you should put lots of films through it. They really are for using while film is still available and I am really pleased that you have exhibited here.</p>

<p>Wow, Louis. Those are really very nice pictures, especially the portrait. The camera is a beauty as well but what you consistently do with them amazes me. I think I've gotten more inspiration from your photos and Rick Drawbridge's than any books or magazines I've looked at anytime recently. Thanks very much for another outstanding post.</p>

<p>What a nice surprise to come home from work and see all these replies. Thank you all so much. I appreciate your comments, contributions and kind words about the post and these few humble pictures.</p>

<p>Very Nice Louis I have a 1951 model III with a Rapid Winder on the bottom and I have the 35mm f1.8 and 50mm f1.8 lenses for it. Both the black and chrome late 50's early 60's era lenses. A pleasure to play with.</p>

Great fine and images. Thanks for sharing.