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35mm Film Compact Cameras

In the last few months I was fortune enough to test a few 35mm film compact cameras. They were easy to handle and fun to use but at the end I was happy to get out with my Leica M3 or M4P again. But every compact had their own signature.

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Olympus mju-II (1997)

Called Olympus Stylus Epic in the United States, the mju-II (pronounced myu-two) bagged awards for its accurate autofocus, sharp 35mm f/2.8 lens, and built-in auto-flash, all in a small, lightweight, and splashproof body.

Olympus XA/XA2

The Olympus XA is a cult classic. A simple point and shoot, it hit the sweet spot for a lot of professional photographers. It has a 35mm f/2.8 Zuiko lens, is very compact, and best of all is a rangefinder, which is extremely rare for a camera of this size. Read more.

Rollei 35 (1966) 

When Rollei introduced the original Rollei 35 at Photokina in 1966, it was easily the world’s smallest 35mm film camera, measuring 97 × 32 × 60mm and weighing 370 grams. This precision camera became a favorite of many photographers for its elegant compact design, cutting edge CdS exposure meter by Gossen, and exceptionally sharp, high-quality f/3.5 40mm Tessar lens made by Zeiss.

Check this review.

Rollei XF 35 (1974)

First built in 1974, this camera only had a short and sweet production life, ending in 1980. It’s got a Sonnar 40mm f/2.3 lens and is a match needle automatic camera. This means it has shutter speed synched to aperture, so at f/16 the shutter speed is 1/640 and the bigger the aperture the slower the shutter speed goes, all the way down to f/2.3.

Rollei AFM 35

Just check this review.

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