Super sweet and simple, just the way I like em'. This little thing almost fits into a coat pocket. The controls are simple but a little vague. My favorite part about this camera is the various ISO options. The max ISO is 400 so shooting anything faster will be overexposed. Shooting ISO 400 Tri-X in the snow needs a little overexposure. Typically the trick to over expose is to set your ISO one full stop down to 200. That might be too much exposure in some settings. The Hi-Matic offers a range of ISOs including 400, 320, 200 and 160. I completed this roll with the ISO set at 320 and developed as usual.
I'm accustomed to shooting with a 50mm lens so the 38mm on the Hi-Matic caused constant visual and mental re-adjustment. I found myself stepping closer or completely re-visualizing the composition. I have no opposition to cropping an image in the dark room and feel it's always better to capture more information than not enough.
My biggest struggle so far with rangefinders is making sure the focus is set correctly. The Yashica, Canonet and Olympus all have a true rangefinder focusing through the viewfinder. The Hi-Matic is more like a Holga, using icons of a person or mountain to give you an idea of the focal distance. That wouldn't be a big deal if the f-stop could be set manually. The f-stop and shutter speed combination is displayed inside the viewfinder so you'll at least get an idea of what to expect. The shutter speed and f-stop are directly linked to each other on a metered scale. If it's a bright setting, the camera will stop down and you'll get greater depth of field. If it's lower light, it will open up to a max of f2.8 @ 1/30-1/60th.
This is a fun little camera to take out for casual shots. You can control your exposure by adjusting the iso, but there no tricking the focus or adjusting the depth of field. You get what you get. The lens is very nice and I look forward to using this little gem on hikes and bike rides around town this summer.