Where to buy Rangefinders?

[evilorgi]

Hi all, i am interested in purchasing a rangefinder since recently i'm venturing into film photography.

May i know where to buy a rangefinder? And to all old birds here, what would be a good recommendation? (i am still a student, that's why budget is quite important to me...)

 

[third3rdwheel]

Hi all, i am interested in purchasing a rangefinder since recently i'm venturing into film photography.

May i know where to buy a rangefinder? And to all old birds here, what would be a good recommendation? (i am still a student, that's why budget is quite important to me...)

Try Chiif cameras - he's got a good range of RF camera and lenses.

http://www.chiifcameras.com/site2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1&Itemid=2

 

[th1rt3en]

http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=600122

 

[evilorgi]

thanks for the info!

are there any more budget options? because 1.5k for a rangefinder isnt exactly what i am looking for... mainly i just wish to "test" it out...

 

[Cactus jACK]

Hi all, i am interested in purchasing a rangefinder since recently i'm venturing into film photography.

May i know where to buy a rangefinder? And to all old birds here, what would be a good recommendation? (i am still a student, that's why budget is quite important to me...)

might be worthwhile to state your budget so that others can more meaningfully advise on what model to look out for and where might be the best place to look. even a "students budget" can have quite a surprising range.

 

[third3rdwheel]

might be worthwhile to state your budget so that others can more meaningfully advise on what model to look out for and where might be the best place to look. even a "students budget" can have quite a surprising range.

Yah, didn't realised can be "phD student" "MBA student" :bsmilie:

 

[pixelbrain]

if it's only for trying out at this point, 2nd hand items from eBay / B&S section here will prob be your best option...

 

[th1rt3en]

Francis aka Muckafutha on Lomotion is letting a Yashica GSN go for $100 if you wanna try it out.

 

[raytoei]

Hi,

I do a bit of online buying (and a recent success of selling )from EBay and several US websites, notably Collectiblecameras and KEH. What really helped was having a VPOST account, this enabled me to buy goods from elsewhere with a US or UK shipping address.

I totally agree if you want to limit your purchase to a certain value, eg. < 50 USD or <100 USD and slowly work upwards. Buying from EBAY isn't necessary cheap, while it is getting safer, it can still be a bit of tee-kum of quality. Of course, there are additional work to be done to make online transactions more secure, eg, having a paypal account, centralising all purchases to one card with a small ceiling llimit etc.

One of the biggest cost factor comes after you receive the goods, eg. the camera and more often the lens may require cleaning, and this costs at $100 for a proper cleaning.

I like to use the fishing analogy when buying RF cameras, be patient until you get the price you want. Impulse is the enemy of the price-conscious. This is my biggest difficulty though I have gotten a good prices for old RFs.

BUT... before you go buying, I strongly suggest that you start reading up on Rangefinders, the history, the type and do various price comparisons. Learning about RF is just as fun.


hope this helps

raytoe

 

[evilorgi]

eh... my budget will be lets say... ard $200-300?

i dont mind a 2nd hand, provided it's working... but i have certainly no idea on how to perform a check because i am like so new to this!

 

[evilorgi]

http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=600122

thanks for your link, it's certainly helpful for a beginner like me...

 

[evilorgi]

Francis aka Muckafutha on Lomotion is letting a Yashica GSN go for $100 if you wanna try it out.

thanks, i will pm him on lomotion to enquire about it!

 

[azzurri]

A budget of $200-$300 is pretty decent; especially for a fixed length rangefinder. Some that you might want consider can be the Olympus XA or the Yashica GSN. You can read more about these classic rangefinders from here.

You may also want to check with this CS-er Shuttergal to check if they have any cameras like the XA or the GSN. Shuttergal usually do their own cleaning of the camera etc.