Clean, functional, great value
The camera was very clean. The is timed properly based on a few rolls now.
The focusing of the rangefinder was off when I received it. But many styles of rangefinder will have adjustment issues merely due to unavoidable mild bumps experienced during shipping. The Canon P is relatively easily put back into focus, which I did with a few minutes of learning (15 mins) and work (15 mins). Be prepared to do a little fiddling to get your rangefinder to focus correctly. It's easy, but should be expected.
For me, a total nut about the cleanliness of glass, the external elements of the rangefinder needed a slight (5 minute) cleanup, after which they are in very nice shape. The Canon P rangefinder flares a bit when the sun is around. But that's easily defeated if you point it a bit further from the sun while focusing. For a glasses wearer, the 50mm frame-lines are fine. However, be aware that for a 35mm lens, the frame-lines will not be directly visible for a glasses wearer. You will have to move your head around to see the corners, which can be done with mild annoyance.
With the Canon 50mm 1.8 LTM II (post Serenar, black barrel, acquired separately) on the front, I am confident I'm getting far superior results onto B&W compared to my Nikon AIs primes from the early 1980s. I just ran rolls of TMax 400 through both, and this 1950s Canon easily outshoots the 1980s Nikons by a substantial margin. It is visibly sharper, has higher contrast, a more accurate focus(!), and better looking Bokeh. A great example: snow defeated the intelligence of Nikon's TTL metering, coming out a muddy gray. Using a separate incident meter with the Canon (better technique forced on me by the lesser technology), I got some blindingly white whites where they should be.
Overall, this is an outstanding photographic instrument for a really good price. It's not historic Leica jewelry around your neck at 10 times the price. But it is functionally so close, that nobody is going to be able to tell once you have your pictures as a result.
Do yourself a favor. Step back in time another couple of decades, and get better photographs. You lose some nice modern user friendly features (SLR, DOF preview, TTL metering, etc.) that often get in the way of great technical quality. You just get better photographs at a really excellent price.
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