Ansco Anscoset III

The Ansco Anscoset III is a rangefinder camera. It was sold to women photographers in the USA in the 1960s. It is the successor of the Ansco Anscoset II and part of the Anscoset series. It is the last model of this series. The model was produced by the Japanese company Minolta. They offered the model as Minolta Uniomat III.

A fixed lens is built into the 35 mm camera. The focal length is 45 mm. The largest aperture is f/2.8. The camera has no autofocus. The lens is focused manually. The coupled rangefinder helps with this. The minimum distance to the subject must be 91 cm.

The Ansco Anscoset III is equipped with a selenium exposure meter. Unlike the other two models in the Uniomat series, the metering cells are not located in a window next to the viewfinder, but are mounted around the lens. The light meter works without batteries. However, it can lose accuracy over the years.

When it comes to exposure settings, the Japanese company relies on a kind of program mode for this model. Shutter speed and aperture value cannot be selected directly. Instead, the system uses EV numbers printed around the lens ring.

The light meter controlled a needle in a window on the top that moved according to the amount of light detected, and the photographer only needed to turn the EV ring to adjust the exposure needle. When the red and green needles matched, the correct combination of shutter speed and aperture size was set.

The use of an external flash is possible via the PC flash socket. The flash can be attached to the hot shoe on the top. A thread for a tripod is built into the 35 mm camera. A connection for a cable release is also available and a self-timer is not missing either.

Films for the Ansco Anscoset III

According to the instruction manual, the Ansco Anscoset III is designed for 35mm format. 35mm films are still manufactured and are developed without problems at most photo labs. You can theoretically use all films for the format. The exposure meter supports films with a value between ISO 6 and ISO 1600. For color shots there is for example the Kodak Ultramax 400* for the 35mm format. An option for monochrome shots is the Ilford XP2 Super*. Both films are well suited for a wide range of everyday applications. This is also attested to them in reviews for the films.