The pricipal difference of a rangefinder camera is the focusing system which is used. It's quite different than that of an slr. There are no mirrors, no pentaprisms... With an slr the focusing is done through the lens which is connected on the camera, it works as one system. With a rangefinder the focusing is done through a seperate optical system within the camera. When you look through the viewfinder you will see two seperate images. In a traditional rangefinder as you focus the two images merge together. There is more than one type of rangefinder, which I won't go into, but the basic principal is the same. These cameras have the advantage of being smaller than their slr brothers, and they are nice and quiet which makes them nice cameras for street photography IMHO.

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