Minolta AL

The Minolta AL is a heavy weight rangefinder. It weights a pound. Worn around my neck, it feels like my Canon DSLR with a big plastic zoom lens. If this thing had a faster lens, I'd need to wheel it around in a cart. My Mamiya 645 feels feather weight compared to this.

Interestingly, this tank of a camera is a delicate piece of photographic equipment, and deserves to be treated as such. With enough respect and elbow grease, this heavy weight can turn out some of the sharpest images I had ever seen. I paid 15 dollars on eBay, shipping included. I had to clean and adjust the rangefinder. The focus was off by 8 inches at 6 ft. The light seals had to be replaced and the screen mask behind the lens needed to be reattached (the adhesive they used back in 1961 came undone). Elbow grease aside, this is a totally underrated classic from 1961. If you decided to check one out, get a lens hood for it. The lens isn't sunken in far enough to avoid flare.

With a wet lens.
Taken at 3ft, f/5, 1/60 shutter Fujicolor 400
If you don't think this is sharp, edge to edge, I don't know what is.

Taken at 3ft f/2, 1/60 shutter Fujicolor 400