Advice on Canon Rfd's

[james_baker6]

I need a little help on picking a Canon rangefinder camera to go with

my lonely Canon 50mm f1.2 lens. It looks like my choices are L1, L2,

L3, VL,VL2,VI-L or the P. I don't care for the trigger wind or a

built in meter. I wear glasses so I was also wondering if any of

these units are any better in the viewfinder area?? I have also read

that some of these Canon's have problems w/ wrinkled shutter

curtains. Advice would be appreciated.

[victorm.]

You might be better off asking your questions about Canon rf's here: http://www.rangefinderforum.com/. For eyeglass wearers (I'm one) who use mostly 50mm lenses, a P is hard to beat. However, I used mine with a 50/1.4 and found the lens shade blocked some of the 50mm area in the finder (but then it didn't seem to need a hood). I suspect these later, large diameter lenses work best on a Canon 7. The shutter wrinkles never seem to matter much, as long as no one has tried to straighten them out. Doing so causes pinholes.

[back_alley_.]

wrinkled curtains are not usually a problem.

they are common because of the metal material they are made of combined with clumsy fingers.

maybe check out cameraquest website and read up on the differences in the cams.

 

i use canon p's along with a couple of bottom feeders and have had no real problems to speak of.

 

if i could have only 1 camera it would be a p.

great vf for a 50, hard to see the lines for the 35 but still workable.<div></div>

[monsoonphoto.net]

The wrinkled curtains are very common on these; it doesn't affect the pictures.

[john_shriver]

<p>Dante Stella <a href="http://www.dantestella.com/technical/canon7.html">notes</a> that the VI-L and 7 are eyeglass eaters (scratch the lens). I think the V and L series have the same knurled magnification knob over the eyepiece that the VI-L has.</p>

 

<p>He does not <a href="http://www.dantestella.com/technical/canonp.html">note</a> such problems with the P, since there is no wheel to switch mangifications. But you can't really see the entire frame for a 35mm lens with glasses, but this would be no problem with a 50/1.2.</p>

 

<p>The bottom load Canon cameras (II, III, and IV) series will lose too much viewfinder and rangefinder to this lens to be practical.</p>

[peter_evans4]

<p>The L1, L2 and L3 won't have problems with wrinkled shutter curtains as their curtains are cloth.</p><p>I've heard that the VI-L (together of course with the VI-T) is prone to unrepairable problems with the finder: if you come across one that's good, you might buy it; but don't start to think about getting one via the web without a knowledgable description of the finder and a money-back guarantee in case of misdescription.</p><p>I have an L3 without an eyepiece cover, a VL with, and a 7sZ with: the first looks as if it would be lethal to specs but hasn't been so to mine (with glass lenses). (Actually it has been rather useful: specs retailers hereabouts are terribly keen to sell specs with plastic lenses -- higher profit margins? -- and are disinclined to take no for an answer: when I wave the L3 at them they very quickly change their minds.)</p><p>Examples of the P and 7 are very easy to find here. Unless you need flash synchronization or 1/1000, the L1, L2, L3, VL and VL2 are very similar to each other and as each was made in a small quantity you'd be a bit silly insisting on any one of them rather than the other four. Which is best among the entire set that you list is perhaps a matter of taste, a question of whether you dislike the size and weight of the 7(s(Z)) (if you're considering that at all), and a matter of the state of the range/viewfinder of the particular example of the camera (any model) that's on offer; but in the unlikely event of finding one of each of these in first-rate condition, and wanting to use it with 50mm alone, I might spring for the P.</p>

[james_baker6]

Thanks for all the excellent info. I actually have several LTM lenses to fit the Canon (35,100 and 135 canon,two 50 canon)but the f1.2 would be the main user. I also use a Leica IIIc and a Canon IVSB-hate the tiny veiwfinders. I use a Nikon Varifocus finder which is better but it offsets a bit on these cameras (shoe location) so one has to be careful in framing. Looks like the P model is the way to go---going to be expensive as they seem to be going up in value lately. any place other than Ebay to look for one??? Again--Thank you all for the help.

[Aoresteen]

If the 1.2 is your main lens then you want a P or a 7. The lens is huge and will cutoff the finder quite a bit with the other bodies.

 

The best body for the 50mm f/1.2 is a Leica M3.

[peter_evans4]

<p>If I wanted a second P I'd pop around to Kamera no Kimura (near Shinjuku station) and Sankyōdō (in Ginza) and see what they had. But that's in Tokyo. Where in the world are you?</p>

[floyd_takeuchi]

Pacific Rim Camera (www.pacificrimcamera.com) currently has a Canon L-1 body for sale for $350. I've purchased gear from them before, and have been very happy with the transactions. I have an L-1, and am enjoying using it. As someone who shoots with glasses (and grew up with my eye-glass lenses getting scratched by manual Nikon SLRs), I haven't had that problem with the L-1. As for viewfinder ease of use, I did get a chance to look through a P viewfinder during a trip to Tokyo last month (at Lemon Camera in Ginza), and it is bigger and brighter than the L-1. That said, the L-1 is easy to work with, and it shouldn't be a problem for you (assuming a clean viewfinder).

[jtk]

I just got an L1 from you-know-who.

 

I'm hoping the shutter, being fabric, is more quiet than the P ...more Leica-like.

 

(my P shutter is as loud as my F1s..WHACK...though at least there's no mirror slap...and the P's advance can be heard, while the F1 advance is butterlike, totally silent).