Camera type

35mm rangefinders

A rangefinder focuses by lining up two images of your subject in the viewfinder. Turn the focus until they merge and the lens is sharp. You look through a separate window, so there's no mirror, no blackout at the moment of exposure and less noise, and the body can be small. The catch is parallax. The window sits off to one side, so close-up framing is approximate and long lenses don't suit it. In the 1960s Canon, Konica, Minolta and Yashica made fixed-lens rangefinders with fast, sharp lenses, and they make up most of this group.

5 cameras we cover.