Hi, was curious to know if anyone here is using a rangefinder camera. i'm interested in knowing what it's like to use on a daily basis, the pluses and minuses in using it and any other observations or comments you may have regarding this type of camera. thanks :)

My little point&shoot digital has both an LCD on the back and a rangefinder. It's a pretty clever rangefinder, as it works with the zoom. Often easier to use; the LCD isn't in focus until the camera auto focuses. Through the viewfinder can keep watching the subject. I've heard the same reason given for using a rangefinder for candid photography.

hi misha, sounds interesting. may i ask what camera it is. at the moment i'm thinking along the lines of a film rangefinder...the rd1 is waaay beyond what i can afford :)) but i would be interested in hearing about other options as well.

little canon A95

thanks for that, i see yhat it also has an underwater mode...may not need that for street photography:))

That new digital rangefinder from Epson sure does look interesting though..... pity it's $5,000.

Going back in time when the question was between "SLR" or "Rangefinder" - there were several plusses that rangefinders brought into play (as well as several plusses that SLRs introduced). First off, a rangefinder typically uses a leaf shutter - much quieter and smoother than a focal plane shutter/mirror combo - no mirror slap to blur images in the 1/4 sec. range. Also, no maximum flash sync speed (way back when, you had to be at 1/60 or lower for electronic flash - any faster than that and you had to resort to flash bulbs (M3, press-25, etc. - the burn was actually longer than the short duration of the shutter speed). SLRs, on the other hand, eliminated parallax problems that many rangefinders had - you could see exactly what you were getting on film (or at least, 97% accurate, anyway). They also allowed you to change lenses without having to adjust the viewfinder - not to mention they allowed you to see what your filters were going to look like in the final shot (try using a polerizer on a rangefinder and you'll see what I mean. Today, cameras that use an LCD screen don't (in my opinion) qualify as "rangefinder" cameras - you're seeing what the sensor is seeing - more like an SLR.....but really an SLV (single lens view - just made that up - cute huh?) Anywho - my $3.62 worth Wolf

"Today, cameras that use an LCD screen don't (in my opinion) qualify as "rangefinder" cameras" Last I looked, there was a very fine viewfinder on the little canon A95. Even works without the batteries... course, nothing else then works... There is NOT a "rangefinder" in the sense of split optics to enable adjusting focus. With batteries it even plays a nice recorded shutter clock sound.

Point taken - let me clarify what i meant. Most modern digital cameras have some sort of LCD screen, which pretty much eliminates the problems (such as parallax correction) that you normally would have with a strict "rangefinder" system by giving you an accurate representation of what the lens is actually seeing. BTW - just out of curiosity (not familiar with the camera), does the rangefinder (or viewfinder...?) adjust focal length as you zoom the shooting lens?

"adjust focal length as you zoom the shooting lens?" Yes it does. Rather amazing.

Wow - that sounds pretty cool! I may have to check that sucker out! (Been looking for a smaller camera to carry around - for reference shooting or family gatherings, etc.)

looks like we've stumbled onto something here :) i think i'll be having a look at one of these the next time i'm in a store.

Hey guys ... just remember that there's a difference between a camera with a rangefinder viewfinder and a rangefinder camera. As Wolf says above, good rangefinders have a shutter lag time so small that it's usually not worth talking about. I mean, you're talking some that have 1 millisecond or lower lag times. Looked it up real quick and the A95 has a shutter lag time of 90ms when prefocused (870ms when in autofocus mode). Compare that to what I think is Canon's fastest DSLR, the EOS 1D Mark II. It has a shutter lag time of 40ms. And I think the Nikon D70 has an insane lag time of only 10ms (of course, there's still viewfinder blackout on those). Did a quick search and it looks like many of the Sony CyberShot point and shoot digital cameras (like the 5mp P100) have 9ms lag times. Big thing with rangefinders is getting the "decisive moment". The instant you want to take the shot, it takes it and you never lose sight of the subject. With prefocusing, they have to be the best street photography camera there is. Too bad I could never get use to the parallax. Just never felt comfortable with one. -=>Donald

i've been looking up on rangefinders purely because of the size and wanting to stay with film. they are less obtrusive than the slr that i have. i have two olympus xas' which i'm getting accustomed to using. the image quality looks good (when i remember to adjust the focus..lol)