| Construction: | metal |
| Lens Quality: | medium to high |
| User Controls: | moderate to comprehensive |
Rangefinder cameras are defined by the eponymous focusing system which uses a pair of prisms to superimpose a double image that, when properly aligned, will tell you the distance to your subject. Since the majority of them were on the more expensive side of the product spectrum, it’s uncommon to find a rangefinder camera that does not offer both quality optics and a sufficient amount of user controls.
Rangefinders started out as camera accessories in the early 1900s and it’s generally agreed that the very first camera to have a rangefinder was the No.3A Autographic Kodak Special. A decade or so later, cameras like the groundbreaking Leica II began sporting integrated rangefinders and although accessory rangefinders were still available, more and more cameras began including them in their design. The vast majority of these models have coupled rangefinders, meaning that the lens is linked directly to the rangefinder as opposed to calculating the distance first with an accessory rangefinder and then adjusting the lens based on the reading.
While expensive models like the Zeiss Ikon Contax I transformed the high end market, humbler cameras like the Argus C3 and—to a somewhat lesser extent—the Kodak 35 RF brought rangefinder to the general public. However, whereas many earlier rangefinders featured interchangeable lenses, more and more manufacturers began producing cheaper models with fixed lenses. By the 1970s, rangefinders began falling out of fashion as camera companies started flooding the market with SLRs.
Rangefinders have appeared in a huge variety of form factors over the decades. Apart from conventional 35mm cameras (example: the Minolta Hi-Matic), they have also adorned everything from enormous press cameras like the Graflex Crown Graphic to tiny shooters such as the Canon 110 ED. There are some odd rangefinders as well. The Bolsey Model C is believed to be the only twin lens reflex camera ever made that also has a rangefinder, the Polaroid Big Shot has a rangefinder but no way to focus the lens apart from moving the whole camera forward or backward, and several other Polaroids like the Spectra employ a sophisticated sonar-based rangefinder which fires a volley of sound waves and uses the echo to calculate distance.
McKeown, James M. and Joan C. McKeown’s Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras, 2001-2002. (Grantsburg, WI, USA: Centennial Photo Service, 2001), p 64, 104, 258, 322, 353, 417, 466, 546, 714.
The Polaroid Big Shot is an unusual portrait camera made by Polaroid in the early ’70s that is popular among photographers and collectors for its eccentric shape and singular purpose. American artist Andy Warhol was particularly fond of the ungainly Big Shot and used it for much of the portraiture that inspired his iconic paintings, drawings, and prints.
The KMZ Zorki 10 is a fixed-lens rangefinder produced during the Cold War by the Krasnogorsk Mechanical Works in the city of Krasnogorsk just outside Moscow. The Zorki 10 is recognized for being the very first camera with automatic exposure ever produced in the USSR as well as the first Soviet camera to disregard the government-established GOST scale by indicating film speeds with the American/German ASA/DIN systems that would eventually become ISO, the current international standard. There is also a Zorki 11 which is basically the same camera minus the rangefinder assembly.
The Balda Super Baldinette is a folding rangefinder and became Balda’s flagship camera in the early 1950s. Shortly after World War II, Balda moved from the eastern city of Dresden to B ünde in West Germany where founder Max Baldeweg opened a new factory and began manufacturing modified versions of existing models. Along with the Super Baldinette, there is also a “normal” Baldinette which has no rangefinder assembly.
Quite simply, the Argus C3 is one of the best-selling 35mm cameras in history. Aptly nicknamed “The Brick” for its size, shape, and weight, the C3 was wildly popular for much of its 27 year production run due to its simplicity, rugged dependability, and relatively low price. The C3 is the third C-series camera from Argus and the three of them are very similar. Argus’s original C features an uncoupled lens while the C2 and C3 are identical apart from the newer model having two holes on the side for the bespoke external flash unit.
The Kodak 35 RF was rushed to production in Kodak’s attempt to catch up with Argus who, at the time, were having great success with their C series of consumer-friendly rangefinder cameras. Unfortunately, their entire strategy revolved around simply taking the Kodak 35 and slapping on a rangefinder assembly. However, despite their seemingly simple and cost-effective solution, the 35 RF still cost well over twice as much as the ubiquitous Argus C3 and therefore remained eating its proverbial dust until Kodak finally stopped production in 1948.
The FED-2 is a 35mm rangefinder built in Kharkov, Ukraine in a factory that was once an orphanage. After the groundbreaking Leica II was introduced in 1932, Soviet leaders tasked the FED factory with building a clone. The FED-2 is a descendant of that first Leica copy. And if that’s not interesting enough, FED is named after Felix E. Dzerzhinsky who was the founder of the NKVD, the shadowy secret police organization that would eventually become the KGB.
The Argus Autronic II is an automatic fixed-lens rangefinders produced by Argus in 1962. Like many Argus cameras of that era, the Autronic II is fairly unremarkable at a glance with its simple but vaguely awkward styling.
In 1961, Canon—then an upmarket camera company—shocked the industry by debuting the Canonet line, a series of modestly-priced compact rangefinders. The very first Canonet model completely sold out in just two hours while worldwide sales hit the one million mark in a mere two and a half years, an auspicious beginning for what would be a wildly popular line of cameras that would span over two decades. The Canon Canonet QL17 G-III is the final high-end model of the Canonet series.
The original Minolta Hi-Matic is one of the first mainstream fixed-lens rangefinders and the first Minolta to feature automatic exposure. The Hi-Matic was also rebadged and sold in the United States as the Ansco Autoset and gained some notoriety after American astronaut John Glenn purchased one at a local drug store shortly before embarking on the Mercury-Atlas 6 space mission. Although there were other cameras on the Friendship 7 spacecraft, Glenn burned through five rolls of film with his new camera while on board, shooting many historical images including this photograph of the earth.
The Yashica Electro 35 GS is a variant of the wildly popular Yashica Electro 35, the first ever camera with full electronic automatic exposure. The GS model you see above also sports gold-plated electrical contacts and boasts a “Color Yashinon” 45mm f/1.7 lens which is completely identical to the standard (greyscale?) Yashinon but was named as such by their marketing department to capitalize on the growing popularity of color film at the time.
