[spacer]

Yeah, many street environments do mask noisy cameras pretty well, but there are plenty of times, at the River Market for instance, that it was obvious when an SLR photographer was at work.
When I did the candid shots at a friend's wedding, I sure could have used this here Canonet with its fast lens and quiet operation.

[séamuis]

Yeah, many street environments do mask noisy cameras pretty well, but there are plenty of times, at the River Market for instance, that it was obvious when an SLR photographer was at work.
When I did the candid shots at a friend's wedding, I sure could have used this here Canonet with its fast lens and quiet operation.

well a wedding is certainly something entirely different! I know with a heavy lens attached, my K-7 can be quiet enough that i have taken portraits of people sleeping, from close up without so much as a twitch. I think the K-5 is even quieter. I know some SLR's Pentax in particular have always been known to be) are pretty loud, but unless you are machine gun firing, I really can't imagine how any street scenario could ever be too quiet for such a camera. unless you live in a monastery or something... even at low level of noise a typical street has so much noise all around that one SLR at normal speed I can't imagine is any more of a 'noise' attraction than any other camera. and I think I have enough experience between SLR's and rangefinders on the street to say so. honestly, its always more the visual presence of the camera that will attract attention, than it is the noise.

[séamuis]

but my street RF of choice is now the Petri 7S with 45/1.8 Amber-C lens, a cult classic and for good reason. Fast lens, silent shutter, solar-powered selenium meter (no batteries!). I have Dad's 7S also, but it's only with the 45/2.8 C lens.

I love the 7s! but isn't the film advance rather loud? mine always makes a vey satisfying 'clunk' when I advance the film. and as far as I know this is pretty common among Petris of all models.

Still, anything you hold up to your face to use, will be perceived as a camera. So for stealthier street shooting, use something with a top VF.

you mean a waist level finder? they are pretty hard to use in practice, but this is precisely what I have on my nikon F. it makes a world of difference to be able to take photos without ever having to put the camera up to your face. this is where and SLR like that shines. it wouldn't draw the same attention as a TLR just in body design, and people are used to seeing an SLR being raised to the face. to tae photos without that last step opens a whole new world of 'stealth' mirror slap or not.

[RioRico]

@séamuis,
The 7S does go 'chunk' but that's IMHO less obtrusive than a SLR's 'click' (different sonic overtones). My Praktika FX3 with top VF (my eyes won't let me use it at waist level!) certainly clicks loudly enough! I also use a silent Olympus XA (original) with 35/2.8 lens, but there's just something about the 7S's 45/1.8...

Yeah, the trick with effective stealth shooting is reducing both visual and auditory impact, using a lens with the desired quality and character -- and if a film camera, then with sufficient capacity (12 frames per roll just ain't enough, ruling out 120 TLR's). Hay, if it was easy, then everyone would be doing it, eh?

[Nesster]

and if a film camera, then with sufficient capacity (12 frames per roll just ain't enough, ruling out 120 TLR's). Hay, if it was easy, then everyone would be doing it, eh?

who was that female photographer 'discovered' last year with the thousands of street shots made with a 120 TLR? ... vivian... Vivian Maier.
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/general-photography/127809-more-regarding...tographer.html

The point? there's an excellent exception to every rule. Which should encourage us to do the 'wrong' thing, go against the consensus, and make what we have work instead of buying another bit to work it. As Pentaxians we're already 1/2 way there

[séamuis]

The 7S does go 'chunk' but that's IMHO less obtrusive than a SLR's 'click' (different sonic overtones). My Praktika FX3 with top VF (my eyes won't let me use it at waist level!) certainly clicks loudly enough! I also use a silent Olympus XA (original) with 35/2.8 lens, but there's just something about the 7S's 45/1.8...

I don't know, maybe mine is louder, but I would be more afraid of people hearing me advance the film in my 7s on the street that hearing the mirror on my K-7! but I agree, that 45 1.8 is a stellar lens. I think Petri's lenses were always under appreciated. in all honesty the whole brand was under appreciated really. the color35 is what the famous rollei 35 should have been!

[ColdEye]

One thing to look out for the Canonet are sticky shutters, tho they are fairly easy to clean.

RF's are my go to when I shoot at night (I have a canonet19). It is the only camera that I can shoot at like 1/4 or 1/8th of a second and get acceptable results. With SLRs 1/30 and sometimes 1/60(!) is pushing it for me.

1/8(or 1/15), f1.9 and iso 400.

[guinnessman]

I have nothing to really add, but RF's are pretty neat to use; I've been meaning to pull one of mine out (I have a FED 2 and Kiev 4), but always forget to. I have a Jupiter 3 for my Kiev, and IIRC, it's a pretty sharp lens, very small as well.

[ChrisPlatt]

I found it quite hard to use, and not very fast to focus, as people usually rave about with rangefinders...

I have tried many compact 35mm rangefinder cameras, perhaps a dozen models listed on Cameraquest.
Even at their best (i.e. serviced) the viewfinder and RF patch on most leave a lot to be desired.
Instead I recommend zone and scale focus models as they are considerably easier to use.

Chris

[rt22306]

A little tidbit from me to add to this excellent thread; be mindful of your top shutter speed. A lot of RFs have a 1/500 top as does my Yashica Electro 35 GS. I recently shot a roll of 400 ASA black and white on a cloudy bright day that sometimes opened up and cleared. About half the shots were blank or otherwise kaput (the lens cap was in my pants pocket so that wasn't the cause ). I was using f8 or f11 and concentrating on subjects. In the future if shooting XP2 or Tri-X, I plan to carry a neutral density filter and be more mindful on my f stop on those bright days.

[Swift1]

A little tidbit from me to add to this excellent thread; be mindful of your top shutter speed. A lot of RFs have a 1/500 top as does my Yashica Electro 35 GS. I recently shot a roll of 400 ASA black and white on a cloudy bright day that sometimes opened up and cleared. About half the shots were blank or otherwise kaput (the lens cap was in my pants pocket so that wasn't the cause ). I was using f8 or f11 and concentrating on subjects. In the future if shooting XP2 or Tri-X, I plan to carry a neutral density filter and be more mindful on my f stop on those bright days.

1/500s and f/11 with 400 speed film on a sunny day is only 1 stop over the sunny 16 rule so you should have got decent exposures even at f/8. I have found that I like my exposures better if I use "Sunny 11" instead of sunny 16 so with that the f/8 shots are only plus 1 stop. C-41 and true B&W films should have more than enough latitude for that overexposure. If you're getting blanks I would check your shutter.

[Nesster]

+1 on what Colton says - in fact f/11 @1/500 is what I also use... just drop 2 stops for shade shots, and you're good to go. This in fact has some thought - it's sort of rating the film at ASA 125 (or a third stop off of ASA 160)... But vintage cameras that top out at 1/500 or less is why God made ASA 200 and slower films

But with the Electro it's auto exposure. I don't have a working Electro any longer, but as I recall you'd just get progressively brighter / over exposed shots, rather than blanks. Did the meter light go on to show over exposure? That is a mystery.

[rt22306]

+1 on what Colton says - in fact f/11 @1/500 is what I also use... just drop 2 stops for shade shots, and you're good to go. This in fact has some thought - it's sort of rating the film at ASA 125 (or a third stop off of ASA 160)... But vintage cameras that top out at 1/500 or less is why God made ASA 200 and slower films

But with the Electro it's auto exposure. I don't have a working Electro any longer, but as I recall you'd just get progressively brighter / over exposed shots, rather than blanks. Did the meter light go on to show over exposure? That is a mystery.

Thanks for the feedback Nesster and Colton; I'm going to shoot another roll of XP2(and one color) this weekend. Mid roll, I had six blank shots (no lens cap) preceded by three great images (and the blanks from loading); then several underexposed shots, and then a good shot or two, then underexposed. I had the camera serviced, etc. two years ago. I don't recall the meter light coming on while shooting, but checking it with no film the over/under lights do come on. Battery is an A544 in a Yashica-guy adapter. The battery came out of another camera I'd used the weekend previous. The 5th shot had a blank area on one side of the print.

I'll shoot the color first, run it to Walgreen's...and go from there.

[Super A-wesome]

Hello everyone, sorry for the wait. I've finally gotten the first roll processed; it's been missing for the last few weeks and it turned up yesterday. The pics turned out well; I nailed focus on most of them, even at f/1.7. It's certainly a nice experience using this camera, not necessarily better than my SLRs, but it's refreshing.
Thank you all for the suggestions. Here are a few of my favorites from the roll:

[rt22306]

All right! Street rod photography...