I’ve been shooting toy cameras and my SLR since I started shooting some months ago. I had grown accustomed to the Minolta X-700 and that’s only after shooting more than 10 rolls through it (minimally)!

So on one occasion, @luc_sohow who is a Rangefinder evangelist as much as he is a Leica advocate, urged me to try shooting with his Yashica Electro 35 GSN. He had recently acquired a Bessa R3A and thus felt it was a good time to try and convert me into using an RF.

I was terrified at first, because the way that an RF focuses is completely different to that of an SLR. I couldn’t really grasp the entirety of the whole situation then, and honestly would not be the best person to explain the technical differences to you either but the main difference I saw was this:

Focussing

SLR: Views and Focuses through-the-lens (TTL) and in my case the X-700 has a circular view where the top dome matches the lower dome to focus.

RF: Focuses via rangefinder mechanism that is either coincident or electronic. Focuses by matching an overlay of the image.

You can read up more about the difference of an SLR vs RF here.

The best way to get to know something is to “get your hands dirty”.

I gave up after shooting 5 pictures, because 1) I was getting tired of holding the significantly heavier Yashica, 2) I was pretty sure my pictures were going to turn out bad.

Surprise surprise.

I picked up the roll 2 days ago after @luc_sohow finished shooting through after my initial 4-5 shots, and other than the light leaks the poor camera is experiencing, they turned out better than I expected.

professional sales artistry (by @arienvalo)

Yashica Electro 35 GSN / Kodak Tri-X 400

This shot was taken at Waterloo Street and it was crowded as usual! For the rest of the shots, see here.

My verdict?

I’m quite pleased with how the shots turned out and it seems like the RF is able to produce better pictures with more ease. (i.e. good for quick shots ala street photography), but then again, just 4-5 shots are not enough for me to decide if I can share my love for the RF. I would definitely try to shoot through a roll next time round before making any conclusion on using an RF over an SLR.

:3

arien