This was such a nice camera to try after all the toy cameras, half-frames, and APS cameras. This is a good, solid rangefinder from 1967. You can find some more details here.

It is heavy, solid and fairly large. Swung correctly, it could kill someone – ssshhhhh. But honestly..it lacks that satisfying “thunk” of other rangefinders when the shutter is pressed. It’s more of a “pffffthhh”. How disappointing. The battery compartment has a great, springy connection spoke which means it can fit a variety of batteries. Unfortunately, no matter which one I used the light meter needle just wobbled all over the place. It was never really reliable. In the end, I decided to just use this example manually.

The winder has a short movement, not even 180 degrees. On this version, the winder does cock the shutter, but you can keep on winding to your heart’s content. I had to remember to wind on as soon as I had taken a shot. Otherwise, I forgot if I had or not and wasted film.

The 1.7f lens on this one looked pretty clean. The viewfinder was bright too. BUT the second image for the rangefinder was slightly dull, not enough that you couldn’t focus though. So I put in a roll of Lomography Lady Grey 400 and got to shooting. I took the camera with me on a walk I did for my other blog.

Holy shitake mushrooms! This camera is freaking awesome. Look at those photos. Now, admittedly my reaction might be because of the cameras I have used recently but sufferin’ succotash it is sharp. The film and the camera combination gives the photos a really pleasing look to me. The shadows are captured well, and I even like the contrast on the shadowy photos…and can you see how I am not swearing 🙂

Golly, I want to keep this camera. Toooooo maaaannnny keeeepers!!