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Passing through a small town yesterday, I stopped at the local charity Thrift Shop, (as I am prone to do), and upon being asked if she had any old cameras the nice lady fished out a box of what looked like a rat's nest of old flash units, various cables, dead-looking old video cameras, I'm sure you know the kind of stuff. However, lurking in the mess were two cases I instantly recognised, one of which I knew would hold a Canon rangefinder and the other a Minox. To my carefully concealed delight the cases contained the items depicted below.

 

Canon and Minox

 

1329210725_CanonMinoxPnet.thumb.jpg.2f7a7486ad6e66bf0c6f586c14128cea.jpg

 

The lady said the box had been there for a couple of years and I could have the lot for say, $50. I wasn't about to haggle... I've trashed most of the other contents of the box, and cleaned and polished the two cameras, and they now look very respectable.

 

I'm reasonably familiar with the Minox GT, having a couple of Minox EL's on the shelf, and this one contained an ancient battery that had just enough life to demonstrate that the camera was capable of taking a photograph, before it faded and died. The Canon 7 rangefinder is a learning curve; I've not handled a Canon rangefinder camera of this vintage. Cosmetically It's very tidy, the light meter is lively and the shutter seems fine, though I notice a few wrinkles in the shutter curtain. The rangefinder is aligned and I'm impressed by the bright viewfinder and moving frame lines.

 

The 50mm f/1.2 lens is in nice condition with smooth focus and aperture adjustments, and just a few barely-discernible polishing marks on the front surface. There is what appears to be a little condensation behind the rear element, which may have been my doing; I toted the camera around in very cold conditions before opening the case in the warm car, and a layer of condensation immediately formed over the whole camera. I removed the rear retaining ring, intending to clean the rear element, but it's not that simple, as the whole assembly wants to come out as a unit and I'm not too sure I want to go there... As it's probably a reasonably valuable lens I might send it away for cleaning.

 

Any comments regarding the Canon would be welcome; as I understand it, the Canon 7 was the last of the LTM rangefinder models, but I don't know if they are sought-after, or not.

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Great finds, Rick!

The Canon 7 is a fine machine with a great VF/RF. It is sought after, not in the sense of being rare, but more due to its solid build and ease of handling. If the metering still works, I suppose that is a bonus. The lens is very good indeed - somewhat soft and low contrast wide open, but showing ample sharpness and contrast when stopped down. I think that as a package, you did very well!! :)

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Black are a little more valuable, and even more for the Canon VI.

 

And yes, the Canon stainless steel shutters always have at least a tiny wrinkle,

as far as I know. (I have the black Canon VI that took my baby pictures when it was new.)

 

Still, that is a very good deal.

 

I have a Canon P with the 50/1.4 lens, which I got from a Goodwill auction for somewhat more than your box,

but still not a bad price.

 

I once got a Diana in a thrift store for $3, which is about the most I would pay for them, but they

go for much more than that new. (And they don't deteriorate very fast.)

-- glen

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Looks like good things happen to good people.

 

For the Canon 7 the wrinkled curtains are not a problem. It is rare to find one without some.

 

Is the meter working? Mine still does and is accurate.

 

I would be careful how you hold this camera. Make sure you don't put too much pressure over the meter cover piece. They can crack.

 

There was the Canon 7S which used a CdS cell and needed a battery. There was also the Canon 7SZ. Here is some added information.

 

Canon 7sZ

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Marc_Bergman said:

Looks like good things happen to good people.

 

Thanks Marc, that was a kindly remark. Thanks also for the handling tips and for the link to Stephen Gandy's site; as usual, it's great read and an excellent source of information. Yes, the meter is still working and appears to be reasonably accurate.

 

Thanks, glen_h, Sandie Vongries, JDMvW, John Farrell , rajmohanfotograf and John Seaman, for your input.

Edited by rick_drawbridge
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Rick, that is a awesome score. The Canon 7 is probably the best platform all-around for L39 lenses, considering cost / performance. Wrinkles in the shutter curtain are normal. Your 1.2 lens is a luxury item! I own a Canon 7 with 1.8 lens and it is a favorite.

 

About the Minox, great lenses and good ergonomics, bad reputation on reliability.

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Rick - my recollection from long ago days in camera sales was that the Minox 35, the Rollei 35 and the Petri

 

Color 35 were all out at the same time I had the latter two but not the Minox. Might have been price, but didn't like it for some reason. Haven't a clue what I did with the cameras!

 

Sandy, I think they were pretty much contemporaries. I'm ashamed to admit that I've never owned the Rollei, (mainly due to price considerations), though I have the Petri Color 35 and a couple of Minox . Even now, the Rolleis fetch quite high prices, and the Petri seems to be considered something of a classic. There's an old post of mine here:

 

Not Quite a Masterpiece : the Petri Color 35

 

The Color-Minotar lens that's fitted to the Minox is really about as good as it gets for a camera in this league, but the cameras are renowned for shutter problems, usually caused by deteriorating electric circuitry.

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Sorry about the false posts. Mr. Drawbridge, you write the most informative essays on classic cameras on photo net , you clean them to an inch of their lives and you take excellent photos of fascinating small town scenes and now you come up with this find at that price. This is too much! All the best, Charles, ps. do you play the lottery?
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Sorry about the false posts. Mr. Drawbridge, you write the most informative essays on classic cameras on photo net , you clean them to an inch of their lives and you take excellent photos of fascinating small town scenes and now you come up with this find at that price. This is too much! All the best, Charles, ps. do you play the lottery?

 

Thank you for the kind comments, Charles! As for the lottery, being a creature of habit, I've used the same $5.00 Lotto combination every week for about the past fifteen years, and by my reckoning my winnings have just about covered the cost of the tickets...

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