Kodak TMX400 exposed with newcomer Canon P rangefinder.

 

I always wanted to have a rangefinder camera. Somehow most cameras I used in my life both formats film and digital were SLR. I heard many different opinions about Rangefinders and I saw a broad spectrum of opinions to this format. Some disadvantages, like the ability to forget the lens cap, covered the lens or slower shutter max shutter speeds – the “only” 1/500 or 1/1000 and poor focus with Tele lenses – all these are not an issue for me who is usually photographing with 28 or 35mm focal length and my “to go” shutter speed is 1/125. The lens cap I always remove when I take any camera from the bag. So I go around these obstacles smoothly.
 
But the advantages – they definitely suit my needs and habits the rangefinder cameras are smaller and lighter, their lenses are smaller and lighter (oh yeah), rangefinder cameras have no shutter lag (omg). “For wide-angle lenses, allowing lens designers to make lenses whose rear elements can come very close to the image plane lets wide-angle rangefinder lenses be much smaller, sharper and have less distortion than SLR lenses”. (i used this “useful Kenrockwell site”
 
I never wanted Leica, nor for digital photography due to the high prices, and nor film camera because of the high hype around them. Also I wanted something that is working without batteries as well. One day after watching the Youtube video published by “Jim Reed”
 
I was in no hurry about to have it immediately but wanted to finish the “project” before the prices will go up also for this camera, so it took me half a year to get exactly what I wanted “near mint ” condition Canon P camera body made in 1960 (!!!). To find an M39 mount lens was a simple task and in a week I was already equipped by Jupiter-8 and Jupiter-12 made by the numbers I found on them in 1976 and 1974 in USSR.
 
I exposed already the roll of Kodak Tmx 400 with this camera. Initially, I used Jupiter-8 50mm f/2 lens – it was the first lens that I got. 50mm was my favorite focal length many years ago before I felt myself shooting close-ups with it. So, when I got the Jupiter-12 35mm f/2.8, I immediately replaced the lens and stayed with it until the last frame of the loaded roll.
 
The information of my developing process i will write in the part ii with additional images from this roll.