Top 10 Rangefinder Film Cameras for 2022

We go over the top 10 most searched rangefinder film cameras, as determined by YOU (and search engine data that you may or may not have participated in). Click the link below to see the text version with alternatives!

Time codes
----------
00:00 - Intro
00:28 - No. 1 - Mamiya 7ii
02:01 - No. 2 - Leica M6
04:02 - No. 3 - Olympus XA
06:35 - No. 4 - Yashica Electro 35
09:55 - No. 5 - Contax G2
14:09 - No. 6 - Mamiya 6
- No. 7 - Voigtlander Bessa R
16:19 - No. 8 - Leica M3
19:32 - No. 9 - Hasselblad XPan
24:13 - No. 10 - Leica M2

Shop over 7000 items at Kamerastore:

Buy, Sell, & Trade used film & digital camera gear at Kamerastore. Dozens of newly listed items daily. Our camera gear is always professionally tested and checked before reaching our online shop. Most items are in our showroom in Tampere, Finland. We ship worldwide - items arrive in your country 2 to 4 days after ordering, and even faster within the EU.

[linusfotograf]

Even though I’m not getting a rangefinder any time soon, I’m a fan of you just geeking out on cameras.

[erikpapp]

Thanks for the detailed and instructive analysis. I have been using my Yashica Electro 35 GTN camera for 45 years, which still works great!

[chicagochic]

I bought my Yashica for less than $100 and it works fantastic. It my top go-to rangefinder

[CasnioMiCasio]

Olympus 35SP & Minolta CLE are worth mentioning.
Ken Rockwell has written nice things about the 35SP and Ansel Adams was using one too.

[jonnyem.]

Love this presentation! I have a few of those. Agree with everything about the wonderful XA. Somehow, I also ended up with the XA 4. Sneered at first when I saw the Zone focus, but with a very sharp 28mm lens and a MACRO feature? Amazing! Found I could quickly & accurately guess the right zone and get grab shots I would have missed, had I been trying to match up the images in the XA rangefinder. Love them both!

[ThenameisAntti]

Yashica Electro 35 GS was my first film camera and it has a lot of sentimental value to me. And it is such an underrated camera for one of which there are so many around. The lens is excellent and it's such a durable bulky camera. I still grab it sometimes even though I nowadays shoot more full manual. Recently I've started using it more for bulb mode long exposure.

[rupedev]

The Olympus XA sometimes makes me wonder why I bother spending money on Leica cameras and lenses. I have my beloved XA and a second as a backup. If I ever come across cheap ones, I'll buy them as backups :P Foma 100 and the Olympus XA makes for the perfect camera in my back pocket.

[selzzaW]

Love my Canonet QL17 as a left eye shooter, and 40mm is god's focal length.

[BarwickGreen]

The Mamiya 6 does have auto exposure, Aperture Priority and Aperture Priority lock. Very nice to see the Yashica in the list, great value. Surprised none of the Minolta rangefinders are there too, very similar.

[VirtualGuth]

This makes for a really interesting take on things to learn what cameras (rangefinder cameras specifically in this case) people are actually searching for online. I tend to hang on to my gear for the long haul, so would be grateful if my favorite camera(s) were not to appear in a video such as this. Flying under the radar helps keep the demand down and the prices lower — both good things if you find yourself in need of an additional example to serve as a backup or for parts only.

[NeverToBeSeenAgain]

my daily shooter is a Konica Auto S3. It's 38mm f1.7 lens is perhaps the best lens of any of the fixed lens rangefinders in terms of overall performance and is has a focus throw that is just 90 degrees. It is small, lightweight, shutter priority and can flash sync at every speed. I highly recommend it. If you want to get it for half price, buy the Konica C35 FD instead; Same camera just in a silver finish for the Japanese market and often goes for far cheaper prices.

[ripemangosmdm]

I'm always surprised when the Olympus 35RC isn't on a list like this, or just more mentioned by photographers. Which helps keep the price down...I guess, but what a brilliant and wonderful little rangefinder with all the best qualities and functions. Woo! Great list you two. Thanks for Making it.

[tubecorr]

The Mamiya 7 and 6MF can shoot panoramas on 135 film too. Not the same shooting experience as the xpan but the format is pretty close.

[symmo]

I’ve only dipped my toe in the water so far with the canon P and Retina iiiC, both very different shooting experiences. I generally prefer the P but the Retina is very satisfying and enjoyable with a much slower shooting style.

[linjicakonikon]

I've owned Leicas (M3 double stroke with a 35 F2 Summicron), but sold it for a couple new Nikon FM2 with MD12. 40 years later I am moving away from SLR and DSLRs and going light analog. I remembered a rangefinder my Leica rep showed me, handed down from his father: a Canon VT Deluxe with a Canon 19mm LTM with finder. Very, very nice camera. Now in 2022 I've picked up a couple nice VT Deluxe bodies with a couple Voigtlander Color Skopar 21mm f4 LTM lenses plus the Canon LTM 50 F1.8 They are a JOY to use, every bit as nice in build and ergonomics, and the optics are as good as anything Leica or Zeiss has to offer in that focal length and aperture. Everyone needs to find their soul camera. I've found mine.

[qnetx]

I was surprised the Canon P wasn’t on the list.

[paulv]

The Mamiya 6 and 6MF did have auto exposure. The 6 just had icons on the shutter speed dial instead of "AE" and "AEL".

[jw]

Electro GL - smaller, silicon diode light sensor in the lens ring, 1600 max ISO, 40mm F1.7 lens with updated coatings vs predecessors. :)

[rinusborg]

I like how you two talk about these rangefinders. Not many people are familiar with all the types out there.
Having been a commercial photographer i was quite familiar with most of what you discussed.
I am missing a serious omission and a minor one.
The Leica M3 and M2 have different viewfinders. The rangefinder base is the same but the M3 has a finder for 50 mm as well as outside the frame it is 35mm. It also sports frame lines for 90 and 135mm that switch when you attach the lenses with glasses.
On the other hand, the M2 has a 35 mm view finder that is 28mm outside the lines to the edge as well as a 50mm and 90mm frame outline when you attach those lenses, again with the glasses. The M3 may be more suited to street photography due to greater magnification in the finder. There is little else that differs between the two except the raised edge around the finder on one and not the other. That is how you can tell when you see them on a person or in the store.
Those differences are minor but in my educational courses for a retailer license (in the Netherlands) Leica reps briefed me on that.

Most important omission for most YouTube reviewers is the sync speed for flash.
For the pro that shoots weddings, and/or outdoor portraits and groups, is a leaf shutter. That was the single most important reason for Hasselblad to go through the hassle to put one in every lens.
The technique of fill flash shooting with larger or any format camera simply cannot be accomplished with a focal plane shutter. It is the first thing the APPA or any other pro photo association will teach you. Hence, Pentax 6x7 and a few other cameras that had focal plane shutters also sold a few lenses with leaf shutters. Pentax only had one, a 90 mm (or maybe I am wrong and it was a 65mm).
With most flash units outside it is hard to get sufficient light past 10 feet (3m) At 100 ISO sunny exposure is 1/125 @ f16 so on your focal plane Pentax 67 the sync is 1/30 which then requires an f stop of 32. Two problems here. Very few lenses have f32 and also the depth of field is far too much. If that was not an issue, your most powerful flash at f32 is likely good for about 5 to 7 1/2 feet. (1.5m to 2.25m)
A leaf shutter at 1/500 in the sun is good for f8.0 and the fill of your pro Metz or Braun flash is (GN 160 @ 100 ISO) is now reaching 20 feet (6m)
No more burned out backgrounds! It is why wedding shooters used Hasselblad and later Mamiya RB67. Even Mamiya made a leaf shutter lens for their 645. Maybe two. It is also why for 645 the Bronica ETR was so popular. 31 Frames on a 220 roll is quite an advantage shooting weddings. Today I see nothing but overexposed backgrounds in weddings. Self taught needs a bit of help sometimes.
So, nobody needs to know why but flash sync is still a #1 part of a review.

Keep them coming guys, I enjoy seeing these cameras get a second life.

[jeromearnould]

Excellent choice and very good video ...
I 'm a big fan off the rangefinger cameras. I do own few of your selection (M2 M3 M6 Fuji TX-1...) and also the Zeiss Ikon ZM and this one is missing.
I know not easy to find and prices a going up but the ZM is : much cheaper than any Leica M6 or M7, lighter than M6, faster than M6 (up to 1/2000 sec) Apperture priority mode like M7, and 28, 35, 50 and 85 mm frame, easy load film, on/off switch...