It’s been a while since I played around with my collection of old rangefinder cameras. A while back I ended up buying way too many of the darn things, cleaning them up, and then shooting a few rolls through them. For the most part I’ve not used them a lot, tending to stick to a batch of Nikon SLRS I picked up the same way.
On Saturday, due to the tsunami keeping me home, I took out a few and checked which ones needed batteries I didn’t already have around. Later, when it was all clear – thankfully there was no damage anywhere – I picked up the batteries I needed.
But that got the bug going again. Apparently, just like bikes, one needs n+1 rangefinders. Thus I found myself on EBay again indulging that part of me. I lost out on a couple of FSU (former Soviet Union) models and perhaps that’s just as well. I may still order one from fedka.com. What I did win were these models:
Olympus Pen EE – Not a rangefinder actually, but a fun camera that uses half frames to double your pleasure.
Olympus XA – I have two, neither are reliable. I’m hoping this one actually works.
Rollei 35 SE – Again, not a rangefinder, but supposedly has a superb lens – we’ll see.
And today, I’m turning in a bit of film from another camera of mine, an Olympus Trip 35. It’s not a rangefinder either…hmmm…but is a cute little beast with zone focusing I’ve just run a roll of film through. Perhaps in an hour I’ll have a shot to put up!
Aloha!