Well now your getting picky

What about a rollei?

 

They're not rangefinders, they only have focusing by scale.

 

Why do you want a rangefinder as opposed to, say, a Canon AE-1 or some other inexpensive SLR?

 

damn 7 hours later and still one vote.

 

Let's talk old school. Here is the camera that I started out with when I was in the 8th grade back in 1963. It was my Old Man's camera that he let me use.

Kodak RetinaII (approx 1951)

 

yes. very subtle.

 

Rangefinders are the ultimate walkabout camera and are prized highly by PJs due to ease of use and quality of image. They have their own unique flavor to them.

That would be like asking why someone would buy a 35mm SLR over a DSLR.

 

BTW of those posted I would get the Yashica and a good external light meter.

 

BTW I voted for the Yashica, had a couple a long time ago, both stolen when I was in the Marine Corps.

 

I already have a bunch of old Nikon SLR stuff. F2 Photomic, Nikkormat FTn, assorted lenses, etc. I already have a rangefinder too but it's a first-gen Canonet QL25 which is about as big as the Yashica shown here but has a dopey 45mm f/2.5 lens, and a crack in the viewfinder. Oh and I have an autofocus SLR too, and some assorted point-n-shoots, and...

While I do tend to like Canon EOS stuff more than comparable Nikon AF stuff, I like old Nikon MF stuff way more than old Canon stuff. For example, Nikkormat FT2/FT3 >>> Canon FTb; Nikon FE2 >>> Canon AE-1; Nikon FA >>> Canon A-1, etc. The Canon T90 is kinda cool (it's a manual foucs camera that looks like an EOS camera, only sold for like 9 months just before the EOS line came out) but I already have EOS gear, and if I really want to focus it manually I can do so with no fuss. It's kinda like a Nikon F4 since the F4's autofocus is so bad, and the F4 will work with all but the original non-AI manual focus lenses. So yeah, add Nikon F4 >>> Canon T90 to the list. h:

Anyway back to these rangefinders, I think I'm leaning towards the Yashica with its freakin nice ass lens. It has the best glass and the f/1.4 maximum aperture instead of the other three with their f/1.7 openings. Optically I'd rank them Yashica > Olympus > Canon > Minolta. Really though they're all quite sharp and contrasty lenses and f/1.7 is still a nice fast maximum aperture. There's just something to be said for having the only fixed-lens 35mm rangefinder with an f/1.4 lens.

Each of the cameras has something unique in its portfolio though. The Olympus is easily the best walking-around camera of the bunch because of its size. The Minolta has full-program exposure mode. No, it doesn't have a manual mode, but with the exception of the Yashica the others can't use their meters in manual mode anyway. The Canon has the cool film loading system and the trickest flash exposure setup (which would be good if i planned to use any of these for flash, which I do not since I have a full modern electronic SLR with multi-zone TTL auto flash and whatnot) and since there were so many of them sold, I wouldn't need to fix it if it broke. Just buy another one on ebay.

But man, that lens on the Yashica keeps drawing me back...