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Mechanical 35mm Compact


maxwailes

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Hi all,

I've been through camera after camera in search of one that fits what I want but I can't seem to find the right one. I'm looking for a mechanical compact camera, with a wide lens (wider than 35mm at least) that's reasonably fast, manual exposure, and uses scale focus. Something in between a Fuji Natura 1.9 and a Rollei 35. I'm thinking it might just come down to finding the right lens for my Leica and leaving it at that so I suppose that's the second part of my post; what wide lenses would people recommend for Leica that would essentially make it into an overgrown compact? Something similar to the Voigtlander 25mm Skopar but more pancake-esque possibly...

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Minox and Petri also made nice little 35mm.

 

Good suggestions but all the Minox I know of are battery powered fully automatic exposure cameras with 35mm lenses which is just too narrow for what I want unfortunately. The Petri Color 35 would be perfect were it not for the 40mm lens. Not massively familiar with other Petri's but I think they're mainly rangefinders and Color 35 adaptations with various frivolities added. I've considered that I might have to graft a wide lens onto a Rollei 35 but the Petri is another good option so thankyou!

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Mechanical compact, and wide lens - that will be a difficult combination. My initial reaction was a Canonet - but it's a 40mm lens. That's already wider than the vast majority of them anyway, since most are 50mm lenses.

Rare but small, a Werra (4 or 5) with the Flektogon 35mm lens. But it will be hard to find - the lens seems to be the least available of the 3 available lenses for these cameras.

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Mechanical compact, and wide lens - that will be a difficult combination. My initial reaction was a Canonet - but it's a 40mm lens. That's already wider than the vast majority of them anyway, since most are 50mm lenses.

Rare but small, a Werra (4 or 5) with the Flektogon 35mm lens. But it will be hard to find - the lens seems to be the least available of the 3 available lenses for these cameras.

Yeah I'm finding it's one of the only combinations of camera that hasn't been made properly. I hadn't considered a Werra! I think there's just something about them I'm not fond of though and I would rather go for something like an Olympus XA or even an Ilford Advocate which both have 35mm lenses although the XA isn't mechanical it does have aperture priority which is good enough.

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There are a couple of nice pocket cameras with 28mm lenses (Minolta TC-1, Nikon 28Ti) though they aren't mechanical, but do have manual focus ability. One of the Olympus Pen SLRs with the 20mm 3.5 Zuiko (equivalent to about 28mm in full-frame) would be a nice outfit, though that lens isn't easy to find or cheap. Edited by m42dave
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There are a couple of nice pocket cameras with 28mm lenses (Minolta TC-1, Nikon 28Ti) though they aren't mechanical. One of the Olympus Pen SLRs with the 20mm 3.5 Zuiko (equivalent to about 28mm in full-frame) would be a nice outfit, though that lens isn't easy to find or cheap.

Those are some good suggestions, I like the idea of the Olympus so I might have to have a look into it, thankyou!

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If you could find a Leica CL or the Leitz-Minolta CL you could put one of the M-mount Voigtlander wide angles on it.

I had considered that but the size difference between the CL and my M6 is minimal enough that I don't mind the extra bulk as a trade off for not buying another camera. The Voigtlander lenses are nice though even so there are a couple of other lenses that I have been reminded of that I would prefer

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My IIIc with a 35mm isn't terribly big, although it's not AS compact as it is with the collapsible 50mm Elmar. There's also the fact that on all the screw mount Leicas I know of, any lens other than 50mm needs an external viewfinder.

 

Still, I think that it's worth looking at a Leica III or one of the Japanese LTM cameras and then sticking a 35mm Summaron on it.

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I would also put forward the older Ricoh GXR system which offers an 18.4 mm F2.5 module, just under 28mm, Again, not mechanical but very well made, sturdy with long battery life. The system will produce quite remarkable results. It is very small with that module in place. I require an EVF which adds a small amount to the size.
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A few of my favorites that I use from time to time are on the list that Darin linked to above (fixed-lens "wide" cameras of the 50s and 60s). Mine have 35mm lenses, so not very wide. Of those, my favorites are the Walz Wide and the Olympus Wide E. These are both fairly simple and reliable, all manual, and have excellent lenses. The Minolta Auto Wide is overly complicated, very un-ergonomic, but great lens. I think some on that list are rare enough that you'll need several thousand dollars.
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My IIIc with a 35mm isn't terribly big, although it's not AS compact as it is with the collapsible 50mm Elmar. There's also the fact that on all the screw mount Leicas I know of, any lens other than 50mm needs an external viewfinder.

 

Still, I think that it's worth looking at a Leica III or one of the Japanese LTM cameras and then sticking a 35mm Summaron on it.

I think a screwmount Leica has been suggested more times to me than anything else which suggests it might be the right way to go. I think if I can find a nice Russar with finder and stick it on a 'K' version of one of the III series then I would have my perfect camera.

 

Ricoh GR (GR1v is the latest) (28mm) or Ricoh 21 (21mm) come to mind. Excellent small cameras - but not mechanical. Definitely worth looking at though.

I have considered these extensively and also found that you can get the lenses from them in L39 mount which might actually combine well with the screwmount Leica idea...

 

I would also put forward the older Ricoh GXR system which offers an 18.4 mm F2.5 module, just under 28mm, Again, not mechanical but very well made, sturdy with long battery life. The system will produce quite remarkable results. It is very small with that module in place. I require an EVF which adds a small amount to the size.

I'm afraid I'm not looking for a digital at the moment. I've specifically tried staying away from battery power because I want the camera to be as reliable as possibly and offer me complete reliability in almost any condition and, whilst I know that there are a lot of battery powered cameras that can do that and I would probably never have a problem, there's just a peace of mind I relate to mechanical cameras. I find that a lot of places I want to go and shoot are increasingly very cold places and having a mechanical camera would be better for me in that situation; especially if I was camping and didn't have access to mains power to charge batteries for extended periods of time.

 

Go with the Rollei 35 you mention.

 

Not especially ergonomic, but a very sweet little camera for 35mm film (my comments on it at

http://photo.net/classic-cameras-forum/00YZKs)

I've had a few of them in the past and always liked them but the 40mm lens is just too long for what I want it for; that's originally what made me start looking for something similar.

 

Check out

Wide-angle 35 Cameras fixed lense

 

There are very few cameras that for your description.

I have checked out this site and there are some really interesting cameras on there but not much in the way of things wider than 35mm unfortunately.

 

You may also want to consider a Leica iii with a collapse elmar 35mm.

Or just get a Bessa l with the Skopar 25mm

I would probably mix the two up similar to the way I mentioned at the top of this comment for a Leica with a wide lens because I'm realising that 35mm is just not wide enough.

 

A few of my favorites that I use from time to time are on the list that Darin linked to above (fixed-lens "wide" cameras of the 50s and 60s). Mine have 35mm lenses, so not very wide. Of those, my favorites are the Walz Wide and the Olympus Wide E. These are both fairly simple and reliable, all manual, and have excellent lenses. The Minolta Auto Wide is overly complicated, very un-ergonomic, but great lens. I think some on that list are rare enough that you'll need several thousand dollars.

I've had a look at this list and most seem to be 35mm lenses apart from the Kowa. I thought you were onto a winner there with the Minolta Auto Wide due to the way they've written the aperture/focal length on the lens but it turns out they've just done it the opposite way round to normal (2.8/35) and it looked like it was fitted with a 28mm f3.5 which would have been perfect! Oh well!

 

I'd forgotten about the Kowa SW listed on Darin's link above. I think it's a pretty rare and expensive camera, though.

They are but they're very beautiful and sturdy as far as I've heard. They would be the perfect example of what I'm looking for.

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The MX is small, but if you go that route look for the SMC M 28mm f2.8. The M series were the compact line Pentax sold to complement the compact MX and ME. For a really small MX/lens combo check out the SMC 40mm f2.8 pancake lens. Bigger but lighter is the Ricoh KR-5 Super II which also takes Pentax K mount lenses.
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Nope, nothing I know of. A Leica 1f with a CV 25mm f4 perhaps. Compact and all manual. But if you already have an M6 then I wouldn't mess around trying to find a 1f.

 

For compact I really like my half frame Olympus Pen. This is the first model introduced in 1959. It is all manual with a Copal leaf shutter with B-1/25-1/50-1/100-1/200 w/X-sync via standard PC, a 28mm f3.5 stopping down to f22 that will focus by scale to 2 feet and a .5x projected bright frame finder. Weight about 13oz. The 28mm on a half frame has about the same angle of view that a 40mm would have on a full frame 35mm camera. Not as wide as you want but fairly compact.

Edited by john_robison|4
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Les, I was speaking of the viewfinder model, not the Pen F, which I also have. No screen, just a projected frame VF. When The OP mentioned all manual and compact I also thought of the 35RC but it has a 42mm lens. Sounds like the OP wants a full frame 28mm angle of view. And all manual. And compact. And he would like the lens to be a 'pancake' lens.

Now, I have a 28mm lens for my M4-2.....but it's a plastic, 2 element, f11 swiped from a little plastic 35mm and mounted as fixed focus on a body cap. It's only the thickness of the body cap, about 1/8 inch. Somehow though I don't think that's what he had in mind.

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