Russian Leica copies?

Sleepy

Toying with the idea of treating myself to an old leica-like camera on ebay and wondering what recommendations you guys have?

Don't have a lot of money to spend so the Leica's are well out of range, looking at the FED's, Voigtländer's etc.

Any suggestions/pointers?

ThOnda

This baby is built like a tank and always makes me happy:

DK32

I got this the other day in St vincents charity shop for €20


Haven't got a clue on how to use it though

Sleepy

Funny! I was just looking at that in your Flickr stream Thonda!

Kintarō Hattori

Sleepy wrote: »

Funny! I was just looking at that in your Flickr stream Thonda!

Join the Fed club, a few of us have them. Of course Vlastik is Mr. Fancy Pants with his Fed 2, while the rest of us have mere Fed 5s.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/liamandagnieszka/sets/72157622676583956

DaireQuinlan

DK32 wrote: »

I got this the other day in St vincents charity shop for €20
Haven't got a clue on how to use it though

I can't -quite- make it out, I'm on my phone, but is that a helios 44 on that zenit ? Thats a nifty lens I went on a splurge of helios shots last year, check my flickr stream for examples. It's probably still my favourite portrait lens, if a little short.

thebaz

Lovely camera Thonda - how much would something like that be ?

i_am_dogboy

How much is out of your price range? You could get a leica III or even an M2 for cheap enough, with an old screw mount lens that would more than likely sell for close about the same price as you bought it. I initially spent €350 on my M2 body and got a voitlander 35mm lens for €220 euro so.

Old soviet cameras can be dodgey if you just go for any old ebay seller, the ebay user Fedka has a good name however. And this is a good resource for FSU cameras in general.

Good luck, the few I've played with certainely felt good to use, even with their quirks.

Sleepy

Think more "night on the beer" than a couple of days wages dogboy!

I'm seeing plenty of Fed 2's and 3's on ebay that are claimed to be in good working order or that claim to have been serviced and offer 30 day guarantees etc. for 50 - 80 quid... Lots more going for less than that but the higher calibre ads seem to be around that price range and given the amount of warnings I'm tempted to spend an extra 20 or so if something's already been serviced...

Cameras are going to be the end of me having 'disposable' income, aren't they?!

Kintarō Hattori

Sleepy wrote: »

Think more "night on the beer" than a couple of days wages dogboy!

I'm seeing plenty of Fed 2's and 3's on ebay that are claimed to be in good working order or that claim to have been serviced and offer 30 day guarantees etc. for 50 - 80 quid... Lots more going for less than that but the higher calibre ads seem to be around that price range and given the amount of warnings I'm tempted to spend an extra 20 or so if something's already been serviced...

Cameras are going to be the end of me having 'disposable' income, aren't they?!

If you know someone who can speak Polish you could try www.allegro.pl, I got my Fed there for €20. Of course I was going to Poland so got it delivered to the other half's folks, not sure what shipping would be like. But as I say, it might be an option if you know someone going there.

Sleepy

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

If you know someone who can speak Polish you could try www.allegro.pl, I got my Fed there for €20. Of course I was going to Poland so got it delivered to the other half's folks, not sure what shipping would be like. But as I say, it might be an option if you know someone going there.

Any significant advantage of that over eBay?

Kintarō Hattori

Sleepy wrote: »

Any significant advantage of that over eBay?

It's much cheaper for alot of things. It's the primary Auction site in Poland, most Poles use it instead of eBay.

Sleepy

Well, I took the plunge on a FED-3 with Industar-61 L/D lens from a Ukranian camera shop via ebay. The guy claims to have done a full CLA, seems to be a FED specialist and has great feedback so fingers crossed it'll be a good example...

Total Cost €34.59 including international shipping:

sNarah

Oh I want some new one too

Like mentionned allright, yes the above ones.

I also like the Smena and Lubitels. I know Lomo sell the refurbished versions of all the Russian models like the Fed's, there not very cheap but they are guaranteed to proper function.

This guy is loves the russian cameras and has a very extensive site on them, I use his site to check out some of the models when sniffing around flea markets.

Sleepy

Seems like I've lucked out - the Industar-61 L/D lens seems to be one of the highest rated Russian lenses... I just went for the f2.8!

i_am_dogboy

Yupp, it's held in high regard, as are the Jupiter 12 and 9, but the 9 is hard to find in good condition in the M39 mount.

Sleepy

Are there any Irish re-conditioners or service centres for these types of camera? Just in case the one I've ordered is a dud or I pick up a problematic lens on ebay?

i_am_dogboy

If it's just a case of adjusting the rangefinder or shutter speed you should be able to have a go at it yourself as long as you have little enough screwdrivers. Even if you're just covering up holes in the shutter curtain you can do that yourself pretty easy. I don't know of anyone who does services in Ireland myself but I'm sure they're out there.

Sleepy

dogboy, if you see my o/h, run.

(currently looking for the Jupiter 9 after seeing some shots taken with it)

Kintarō Hattori

Sleepy wrote: »

Well, I took the plunge on a FED-3 with Industar-61 L/D lens from a Ukranian camera shop via ebay. The guy claims to have done a full CLA, seems to be a FED specialist and has great feedback so fingers crossed it'll be a good example...

Total Cost €34.59 including international shipping:

Congratulations Sleepy, I hope you have lots of fun with it once it arrives.

DaireQuinlan

Sleepy wrote: »

dogboy, if you see my o/h, run.

(currently looking for the Jupiter 9 after seeing some shots taken with it)

Try looking for a Helios 40 instead. It's an 85mm f/1.5 Unfortunately it's enjoying one of those inexplicable waves of popularity at the moment so is quite expensive ...

i_am_dogboy

Sleepy wrote: »

dogboy, if you see my o/h, run.

(currently looking for the Jupiter 9 after seeing some shots taken with it)

Well considering my earlier suggestion would cost you 550 euro or so you should be happy, no?

That helios the previous chap mentioned is probably a better bet, and is definitely more consistent quality-wise, more expensive but have a look and you might find one in decent nick. Another alternative is the old screw mount leicas, you wouldn't get one so fast but the old 90mm lenses dirt cheap by leica standards.

duffarama

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

Try looking for a Helios 40 instead. It's an 85mm f/1.5 Unfortunately it's enjoying one of those inexplicable waves of popularity at the moment so is quite expensive ...

Sorry to draw this off topic, but this really annoys me, and pleases me at the same time! Every camera I go for on ebay lately seems to be riding a wave of popularity and driving the price up :mad:

However, I suppose it means that lots of people are still shooting film so it's a good thing

Sleepy

I think I'll be sticking with what I've bought for now, 'dirt cheap' by leica standards is a bit much for my 'feel like a mini-splurge' standards!

DaireQuinlan

duffarama wrote: »

Sorry to draw this off topic, but this really annoys me, and pleases me at the same time! Every camera I go for on ebay lately seems to be riding a wave of popularity and driving the price up :mad:

Yeah it's a PITA all right, I've concluded its because I'm riding the same wave of popularity
My one exception was when I was looking for Pen F's and FT's about three years ago. They were really cheap but I just never got around to getting one. Now they're just ridiculously expensive :mad:

duffarama

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

Yeah it's a PITA all right, I've concluded its because I'm riding the same wave of popularity
My one exception was when I was looking for Pen F's and FT's about three years ago. They were really cheap but I just never got around to getting one. Now they're just ridiculously expensive :mad:

They are not going to go down in value for some time now I'm afraid, the micro 4/3 cameras can use them via an adaptor and they are very sharp lenses too.

As to your first point, ditto!

i_am_dogboy

Yeah, most fast lenses that can be adapted or mounted on micro 4/3 are going through something of a wave of popularity. In a few months you might well have a wave of impatient people selling off these lenses because they just can't handle manual focus, well worth keeping an eye out for them.

boardmann

Sleepy wrote: »

Are there any Irish re-conditioners or service centres for these types of camera? Just in case the one I've ordered is a dud or I pick up a problematic lens on ebay?

Hi,

Could always have a look at it if you run into problems,

I Restore & Recondition Rangefinders ,mainly Leica Threadmounts and early M's, M3/M2 etc.

Also would have some for sale at various times,or can source from contacts i have in Germany.

Also service Rollei Hasselblad Yashicas SL & TLR's if anyone's interested.



Noel

ThOnda

The price of my FED-2 was about 12 Euro few years back at the annual photography flea market.

Slidinginfinity

The Russians are grand, but you know you want:

:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

ThOnda

By the way, I know one place in the Czech Republic where you can find some nice Russian cameras

Slidinginfinity

boardmann wrote: »

Hi,

Could always have a look at it if you run into problems,

I Restore & Recondition Rangefinders ,mainly Leica Threadmounts and early M's, M3/M2 etc.

Also would have some for sale at various times,or can source from contacts i have in Germany.

Also service Rollei Hasselblad Yashicas SL & TLR's if anyone's interested.



Noel

Sorry to hijack, but

Do you or someone you know repair the leather cases? Like the one on the camera below.

Sleepy

ThOnda wrote: »

By the way, I know one place in the Czech Republic where you can find some nice Russian cameras

Must... not... visit...


/browses to Ryanair.com

boardmann

Slidinginfinity wrote: »

Sorry to hijack, but

Do you or someone you know repair the leather cases? Like the one on the camera below.

If its only hand stitching thats required i could do that for you.
or
A GOOD Shoe Repair shop should be capable of machine stitching leather,if thats what's required,can't make out from your photo what the damage is though.

Noel

Beautiful IIIf by the way,are you a collector or user ?

Slidinginfinity

boardmann wrote: »

If its only hand stitching thats required i could do that for you.
or
A GOOD Shoe Repair shop should be capable of machine stitching leather,if thats what's required,can't make out from your photo what the damage is though.

Noel

Beautiful IIIf by the way,are you a collector or user ?

User, a camera in a collection is a a paper weight (to me, at least).

But then again I didn't have to pay for it. Was my grandfathers and has been dormant since the mid to late seventies.
Was give to me just this past Christmas.

Sleepy

Nice present!

And I agree about the paper weight comment - why people spend thousands on such beautiful cameras to just stick them on a shelf is beyond me!

boardmann

4 Leica.jpg

For those who appreciate "Mechanical Perfection".

All are user cameras by the way,
my bookends are strictly non metallic.

Noel

Kintarō Hattori

OK it might be a little early but has it arrived yet Sleepy?!!!

Sleepy

Nope

To be fair, the guy has marked it on ebay as dispatched and did say shipping takes 2-3 weeks. Having it shipped to my place of work in England so hoping that having Royal Mail in place of An Post might move things along slightly faster... still coming from the Ukraine though!

majiktripp

As an aside to this thread, I don't know if anyone has been to Michael's Camera Museum in Melbourne, but if you like rare film and vintage camera's, its definately worth a visit. Spent around an hour and a half just having a look around, some very unique items, like solid gold Leica's and 1st world war Leica spy camera's etc with the background story on most of them.


An example

The main website page for anyone interested : Here
And a flickr search page with tons of photo's of more of the museum's contents
Well worth a browse.

DutchGuy

On the subject of russian cameras look what I got in the post today:



Unfortunately it does not have a film take up spool so I can't actually use it at the moment In fairness the pics on ebay didn't have the spool in them either, but I didn't realise there was supposed to be one....

Sleepy

I got my FED-3 in the post today too...

Take-up spool?

i_am_dogboy

Sleepy wrote: »

Take-up spool?

It's the bit that you stick the film into when loading it, in some cameras it's removable.

So did you get play with it yet? When I get a new toy I drop everything to poke at it for a few hours...

Sleepy

Unfortunately not, I'm in work

Gonna pick up a roll of film on the way home. Found a video on youtube before showing how to load film on a FED 5. Assume it's no different on a FED 3? Instruction manuals I've found on-line make it look fairly straightforward at least...

Any suggestions for a film available from Tesco for a first run-through?

i_am_dogboy

Get the cheapest you can, shoot a roll or as much as you need, of random anythings to get used to the camera, then start looking into better films.

Do a search here for film recommendation threads, I'd say there are a few, I know there was one discussion of black and white recently enough. For black and white you can't go wrong with Tri-X.

Kintarō Hattori

Loading the film is easy enough, just make sure you study the video a few times before you do it. As dogboy said, get something cheap just to get you used to using the camera. After that you can experiment.

Sleepy

Gonna get something cheap and have fun with it. Will be interesting to see how many correct exposures I can get on this without a light meter!

Kintarō Hattori

Sleepy wrote: »

Gonna get something cheap and have fun with it. Will be interesting to see how many correct exposures I can get on this without a light meter!

Ah you should be OK. I never used a light meter with mine and generally things worked out fairly well. I'm sure you've taken many a photo on your DSLR so you get pretty decent with guesstimating.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/liamandagnieszka/sets/72157622676583956

Sleepy

One of the main reasons for buying the FED is to improve the accuracy of my guesstimates

Sleepy

So, picked up and loaded some Kodacolor VR 400 and had a little play...

Build quality seems what one might expect from old Soviet gear. Backplate is loose but feels like it'll stay in place. Shutter speeds look accurate and action is smooth. Focusing with a rangefinder is a new experience but I like it so far.

Is the rewind knob as exposed as it seems? I reckon it'd be very easy to accidently re-expose a frame (or part of a frame).

bernard0368

I collected my Zorki 4 from the old lad today cant wait to start messing with it.
He even gave me his sekonic lightmeter now to try and find the instructions for it.