I picked it for a few reasons:

This is part of my 52 Rolls project. I wanted the same camera and film for the entire 52 rolls. I wanted something cheap but still a little bit of a challenge. This fit the budget. I wanted something that met those requirements because the focus of the 52 Rolls project was my son. I started on 1/1/2015 when he was 3 months old as a way to still satiate the urge to take photos of my kid, but make them a bit more meaningful than forgotten cell phone snaps.

The plan is to edit together a book for the coffee table and the family and then put an additional copy in a nice box with the actual camera and gift it to my son when he's old enough to appreciate it.

What are we....48 weeks in? The camera started acting funny last week. Meter is getting wonkier and the shutter is now 'delayed' or sticky after I shot outside in the snow/cold. It seems like the self-timer is always on for a fraction of a second. Granted I beat the piss out of this camera.

Shit. What do I do?! I need to finish the project. I can't wait for a CLA (and mine was in a bit rough shape to begin with). I had to order another just to finish out the project!

My thoughts on the camera:

It's a great compact rangefinder, however, for some reason, I don't care shooting color through it at all.

It's simple and sharp.

I wish it had a higher shutter speed for kids (1/500) and using the flash.

I like that the meter is on the lens so if I ever was to shoot it with a red filter, the meter would automagically compensate.

For this project I wish it were a fixed 50 instead of 40. I'm not nearly good enough with rangefinders to shoot children close, indoors.

I also shoot a Bessa R3M with a Voigtlander Nokton 40mm. I will probably never shoot the QL17 again...