You hear it a lot nowadays: "You know, they just don't make 'em like they used to…" This quaint old phrase is increasingly being applied to an ever widening range of consumer products with depressing frequency, and with more and more truth behind it as well. I'm a great believer in new technology, having embraced computers, pocket computers, electronic communications, etc., all products new enough that there are no older equivalents to measure quality against.

But when looking at cameras, products that have been around for over 100 years, there are definite yardsticks to which we can measure that subjective character we call "quality". While the newest cameras have done much to bring photography to the masses by automating almost every facet of the picture taking process, the cameras themselves, being expensive, leave a lot to be desired. Plastic bodied for the most part, they break easily; they don't stand up well to the daily rigors of living that we should be able to expect them to. Heaven help you when they do break, because the repair cost (if they can be repaired: they appear and disappear from the market faster and faster) is often more than the cost of another new camera.

There is little manual control for creativity: film advance, rewind, focus, under powered flash, exposure…all of these are determined and set automatically for you by the camera. Some of the higher end cameras give you selective options for a little control, but more often than not, only after multiple presses of tiny buttons to access the menu of features programmed into their computer chips. Give it up if the battery that powers all these features dies, as it inevitably will: you now have a very expensive brick in your hands. Many of these cameras run off expensive little lithium batteries ($3.00 to $8.00 or more, depending on type and where you are at the moment), good for perhaps 12 to 24 rolls of film. Ever try shooting through a window with one of these little autofocus wonders, or perhaps an object in a museum display case? Autofocus is very easily, and often, fooled by glass, but you have to pay much more for a higher end compact camera with a manual focus override.

I could go on, but by now you're probably starting to get the point: today's modern cameras leave a lot to be desired in terms of the amount of money you end up paying for them. Fortunately, there is an inexpensive, elegant, and eminently satisfying solution to these problems: those "classic" compact 35mm rangefinder cameras of the very late '60's and early to mid '70's. These cameras were cutting edge, "state of the art" products when introduced back then, with features that made them a joy to use. Strangely, some of their best features (rangefinder focusing, "flashmatic" guide number flash systems) have disappeared, being replaced on the newer cameras by temperamental autofocus and under powered, easily fooled on board flash units.

If you're under the age of 30, you probably won't remember them; if you're over 30, you may enjoy this fond look at some of these "classics", and, as I have done, rediscover the joy of owning and using them for all the fun they bring back to photography. Available on the used market in abundance, these cameras are still working as beautifully as the day they were made; given a good cleaning, lubrication and adjustment (CLA) by a competent camera repair facility, they will more than likely outlast you.

These are the cameras of my youth, the ones I drooled over with all the lust a 13 year old teenager can muster for something other than a girl. I spent countless hours poring over product brochures I'd written away for, and magazine advertisements I treasured, carefully comparing spec after spec, looking for the one camera that would be perfect for me. Because of this, my selections here, almost 30 years later, are very subjective: you may not agree with my choices, nor should you. Instead, read these reviews in the spirit they were written in, with an appreciation for quality and features in unique little cameras that were the very best of their time, and enjoy the look backward. And if you find your interest piqued, more the better: go out to sites like www.cameraquest.com to name just one, and read the extensive profiles there: the cameras listed here are by no means all that that is out there, and you will undoubtedly find the one closest to being perfect for you.

Let's look at the advantages these cameras offer over today's wonder junk:

(1) Cost: most of them can be had on eBay in excellent to mint condition for between $60 and $100

(2) Rugged reliability: made back in the days when cameras had more metal than plastic in them, they stand up well to life with minimal care. Much easier to repair and service when needed (and more inexpensively, too).

(3) They still function when the battery dies! The battery on most of these cameras simply powered the built in exposure meter; the mechanical shutter and apertures on these cameras allowed them to be used in the fully manual mode without a battery. The battery was good for a year or more through countless rolls of film (although better photographers made a point of changing out the battery every year). The ability to manually set your own shutter speed and aperture allowed instant creative control over your pictures; but for fast, casual shooting, the shutter preferred automation (you pick the shutter speed, the camera automatically sets the proper aperture for you) virtually guarantees proper exposure.

(4) Rangefinder focusing still can't be beat for speed and accuracy. For all the talk about autofocus, the human eye is still the most remarkable focusing device (indeed, the most remarkable camera) out there. Rangefinder focusing is fast, easy, accurate…and reliable, even when shooting through glass that would otherwise fool an autofocus camera. In the centre of the viewfinder, you'll see a small rectangular, yellow coloured patch. When you place this over a subject, you'll actually see a superimposed, double image of the subject. As you turn the focusing ring on the camera, the two images will come together as one, and at that point you are sharply focused. In low light situations, simply look for a vertical line (if you're holding the camera horizontally, a horizontal line if you're holding the camera vertically) to focus on; sometimes, in dim light I might ask a subject to just hold up one finger next to their face to make it easier to focus. This quick and accurate focusing feature is at the heart of all rangefinder compact 35mm cameras, and one of their most outstanding selling points.

(5)X-synch at any speed: the mechanical Copal and Compur shutters on these classics allow you to set the X-synchronization (the speed at which your camera's shutter needed to be set when using electronic flash) across the entire range of shutter speeds, from 1 full second up to an action stopping 1/500th of a second. Most SLR and other cameras had but a single X-synch speed, usually 1/60th or perhaps 1/125th of a second. This is a tremendous advantage when you want to play with sophisticated effects like outdoor fill flash.

(6) Fast, extremely sharp lenses, usually F/2.8, with a number of mid to higher end cameras routinely offering F/1.7 or F/1.8; a wide range of shutter speeds, often 1/15th to 1/500th, with many offering a full second all the way up to 1/500th, make these cameras excellent low light shooters, particularly with today's improved grain ISO 400 films.

(7) Flashmatic guide number system for effortless, and beautifully exposed flash pictures. Basically speaking, every electronic flash unit (manual or automatic) measures its power output in terms of a "Guide number" which is usually based on ISO 100 film. A flash with a GN of 100 with ISO 100 film is obviously more powerful than a smaller flash with a GN of 50. The GN changes when the ISO film speed changes. Calculations were done in the old days of manual flash units in order to determine the proper f/stop to use with a particular flash/film speed/distance combination, until automatic flash units were invented. Auto flash units, once you had set the proper film speed on them, and set your lens to the proper F/stop (as indicated on a little chart on the flash unit), would send out the light, while a built in photocell sensor measured the light reflected back from the subject. When the proper amount of light had fallen on the subject, (in theory), the flash turned off the light. While this worked for a large amount of the time, it was still possible for the automatic flash units to be fooled all too often. With the "Flashmatic GN system", the user moved a lever or setting on the camera lens to the proper GN for the film they were using…that was it: from that point on, the camera's exposure meter was disengaged, and the aperture was now linked directly to the focusing ring. As you focus on your subject, the aperture changes automatically for the proper distance, resulting in appreciably better flash pictures more often than not: the flashmatic system simply can't be fooled by shooting subjects near a light coloured wall, or someone at night time, as auto flash units are.

(8) ISO film speed ranges of 25 to 800 or higher, and 35mm film size give you an incredibly wide and varied array of film stock to select from, universally available in every corner of the world. Even as APS is starting to die away, 35mm is still going strong after 60+ years, and will be around for many, many more years to come. Poster size enlargements to 20 x 24 inches or larger are possible with good 35mm film, something you can't get with APS or digital yet.

There's a lot to be said for the advantages of a good 35mm compact rangefinder camera, which is why I recently went back to them, and have been having far more fun with them as a result, than I ever did with the "modern" cameras. Before we start looking at some of the better ones, give some serious thought to this advice:

Before you start shooting any classic camera, you should send it off to a competent service facility for a complete CLA. This can cost between $60 and $100 depending on where in the country you are and the type of camera it is. Bear in mind that the lubricants that were originally applied to precision shutter and aperture mechanisms 20 and 30 years ago when these cameras were first made have often dried and solidified into a mass of crud. You can actually break some of these mechanisms by trying to trip the shutter through this mess. A good CLA will clean all of this out, re-lubricate precision parts, check, calibrate and adjust as needed shutter speeds, exposure meters and apertures, clean, check and adjust rangefinder focusing mechanisms, and, if you make a point of asking, will adjust the exposure measuring circuitry to account for the newer, 1.5 volt battery replacements to the original 1.3 volt mercury batteries that are now outlawed. This voltage adjustment will mean more accurate exposure meter measurements by your camera. In addition, even though a viewfinder looks bright and clear, you could very well be amazed to see how much brighter and clearer it actually becomes when it has been thoroughly cleaned. A good CLA will restore your camera to like new condition, and guarantee years and years of useful, and enjoyable life.

One other thing: never, and I mean NEVER, cock the shutter on your fine camera and then walk away with it left that way for a day, or two, or eight…these mechanical wonders are spring wound and driven, and will last a lifetime with proper care. On the other hand, leaving them wound under tension for days on end or longer will cause them to "take a set", meaning they get stretched out of adjustment and the shutter speeds will lose their accuracy.

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© May, 2002 by D. Scott Young