Shot my first Rangefinder!

A few months ago I bought a Yashica Minister D 35mm film rangefinder for $20 CDN from a young 20ish guy. I don't know how he came by the camera but he listed it up for sale in a local Buy & Sell group on Facebook. I met him (and I am assuming the woman with him was his Mom) at a local coffee shop to check out the camera. I wasn't expecting much for the price he was asking but the pictures he posted looked good. I had done some research on YouTube before messaging him and the camera seemed interesting. So I when I met with him I was shocked by the condition of the camera, it was spotless and came with the original leather case. I had to buy it.

The camera was made by Yashica in 1963. It has an uncoupled meter, which means the meter only gives you suggestions as to exposure but isn't needed for the camera to operate. The camera has a dial at the top that sets the ISO settings based on the film used, that also rotates the exposure dial.

When you push the button on the back of the camera it operates a "match needle" in the meter to give you the exposure setting and the EV number. Then you turn the dials on the lens barrel the set the appropriate exposure value using the EV, shutter speed, aperture. I haven't used the meter yet as it takes the old "Mercury" batteries and modern batteries would give a false reading. However you do not need the meter and I have been shooting the camera using the "Sunny 16" rule and I have been happy with the results.

I have to say that considering that this camera is almost sixty years old the camera works amazingly. The lens is unbelievably sharp! I have ran a roll of Kodak Gold 200 and a couple of rolls of Ilford HP5+ through it and I have to say this may be one of my favourite cameras that I have shot. 

If I had any complaints it would be that the rangefinder patch took a little to get used to. The patch is a light yellow square, is very small in the viewfinder and can be hard to see in bright conditions. I have been using zone focusing so it isn't a huge deal breaker, so other than that this camera is awesome and very fun to shoot with. This is the first rangefinder that I have used, and I want to get more! 

Here are some examples of some of the shots I have taken with this beautiful little camera.

                                           Kodak Gold 200 shot using the Sunny 16 rule

                                            Ilford HP5+ shot using the Sunny 16 rule.

Like I keep saying, this is an amazing camera, I am in love with the shooting experience that this camera gives me. This camera is an example of what people call the "Film Experience" and I am loving that experience. The whole way the exposure settings on this camera work really makes you take your time and think about what you are doing.

I am sure people will say there are better rangefinders out there, and I know there is, but I am very happy with this one. And isn't that what matters?

Kodak Gold 200 film

I have fallen in love with Kodak Gold 200 film! It is considered a "budget" film, but it gives you amazing colour. It is also the only film available to buy in Walmart's up here in Canada as far as I have seen. Like the rest of my reviews this is just a general impression of this film and not an in depth study of it's technical merits. All photos are scans of the prints I got back from the lab, with a little post processing to sharpness and contrast to clean up the scans. The prints look a lot better than the scans do.

Like I said it gives you amazing colour, especially the blues. Blues seem to be this film's strong suit, they are so bright. This shot was taken along the waterfront in Barrie, Ontario, Canada.

Minolta X-700 with 28mm prime lens

And I find that the film captures great detail for such a cheap film. This shot taken at a local wetland conservation area offered a lot of different "textures" and I think the film handled it pretty well.

Minolta X-700 with 28mm prime lens

I have shot it with my Minolta X-700 and my Yashica Minister D (and am waiting for my test roll shot through an Olympus Trip 35 that I recently picked up), and I am very happy with the results I got from this relatively cheap film. It will be my go to colour film for general photography.

Yashica Minister D

Yashica Minister D

Yashica Minister D

Yashica Minister D

Minolta X-700

Minolta X-700

Minolta X-700

Minolta X-700

Minolta X-700