How's Canon 7 rangefinder?

Well, you guys know I am a rangefinder lover. I like the fact I can see things outside the frame in viewfinder. I will talk about the difference between rangefinder and SLR in my blog later.

Few months ago, I give myself $200 budget to buy a film rangefinder, and my requirement is:

1. It has to use mechanical shutter for durability

2. It would be good if it's a interchangeable lens camera

3. It has to have build in light-meter

Then I found this, Canon 7 rangefinder

The camera cost me about $120, and I paid another $60 for a Russian 50mm F2 lens.

Canon 7 is a rangefinder made in 1960s, It's a interchangeable lens camera, it uses leica ltm/l39 mount (Which is a kind of nice because leica M mount lenses are much much more expensive than ltm/l39 mount lenses). It has a build in light-meter, and one good thing is, the build in light-meter doesn't require any battery! So as long as I have film, this camera will works anytime anywhere. And because there is no electronic parts inside the camera, this probably will still working when I past it to my grandchildren.

It has all the things that a rangefinder camera should has. It even gives you 5 build in frame lines for 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, 100mm, 135mm which a lots rangefinders only give you 3 or 4 frame lines. The camera feels solid, like a tank in my hand, it's even heavier and bigger than my Canon AE-1 SLR (who says rangefinders are all small and light weight?). And there is a self-timer on the front which a kind of looks like Fuji X100's viewfinder switch (Oh I am sure Fuji made the switch that way on purpose).

The only thing I complain about this camera is, it doesn't have a hot/clod shoe. However I don't really use speed light on film rangefinder so it's ok for me.

The light-meter on the top looks cool, like some kind of old school equipment display (Oh I love steam punk). The other thing I like about the camera is the back film door. The design of the film door makes it's impossible to open the film door accidentally.

So if you have a budget like me and you want to try a interchangeable lens rangefinder system, I probably will recommend Canon 7, just make sure you find a model without shutter damage (It's a common easy-to-break part of Canon 7).