Canon Demi EE17

With styling way ahead of its time, Canon’s top of the line half-frame camera from 1966 is a stunner. It is even smaller than the second generation QLs but still easy to handle and fully manual. It has a very bright viewfinder, fast f1.7 lens, and shutter speeds from 1/500 - 1/8.

The 6 element 4 group lens is sharp and clear, renders bold colour and good contrast. All the quality you can expect from a QL but with a wider AOV and the fun of half-frame. Well made it feels solid but much lighter than one might expect.

Unlike other cameras in this collection, [but like many of the smaller generation of the Hi-Matics such as the G], the Demi EE17 does not have a coupled rangefinder. However, it is more advanced than most of its half-frame peers as it has focusing pictographs for near, medium, and far subject distances with a match needle coupled to the lens focusing at the bottom of the image area in the viewfinder, so you can see approximately what distance you are focusing at directly through the viewfinder.

Zone focusing is a good skill for candid street photographers who need to react quickly, typically shooting with a small aperture and high ISO. Although it can be difficult to achieve the precise focus you can get with a coupled rangefinder, when you hit the spot with the Demi EE17 results are tack sharp.