Editing Rangefinder camera (section)

{{Short description|Camera fitted with a rangefinder}}
{{more footnotes|date=February 2014}}
[[File:Foca-CNAM 43090-IMG 5270-gradient.jpg|thumb|A [[Foca camera]] of 1947 at the [[Musée des Arts et Métiers]] in Paris]]

A '''rangefinder camera''' is a [[camera]] fitted with a [[rangefinder]], typically a [[split-image rangefinder]]: a range-finding focusing mechanism allowing the photographer to measure the subject distance and take photographs that are in sharp focus.

Most varieties of rangefinder show two images of the same subject, one of which moves when a calibrated wheel is turned; when the two images coincide and fuse into one, the distance can be read off the wheel. Older, non-coupled rangefinder cameras display the focusing distance and require the photographer to transfer the value to the lens focus ring; cameras without built-in rangefinders could have an external rangefinder fitted into the [[accessory shoe]]. Earlier cameras of this type had separate [[viewfinder]] and rangefinder windows; later the rangefinder was incorporated into the viewfinder. More modern designs have rangefinders coupled to the focusing mechanism so that the lens is focused correctly when the rangefinder images fuse; compare with the [[focusing screen]] in non-[[autofocus]] [[Single-lens reflex camera|SLRs]].

Almost all [[digital camera]]s, and most later [[Photographic film|film]] cameras, measure distance using [[electroacoustic phenomena|electroacoustic]] or [[electronics|electronic]] means and focus automatically ([[autofocus]]); however, it is not customary to speak of this functionality as a rangefinder.