What was the most popular soviet RF (or SLR) used by soviet photogs.

[gmail.com]

A very good friend of mine is shooting a movie about a soviet photographer in FSU. He asked me if I could find him what classifies as the most popular soviet produced RF or SLR used by soviet photopraphers/artists. I would be happy to get RF or SLR models names.

Thank you.

 

[VinceC]

Depends on the era. I imagine FEDs up until after World War II, then in the 1950 Kievs and FEDs. Starting in the 1960s, I imagine many serious SLR shooters used Praktica models from (East) Germany. Before 1970, both in the East and in the West, many photographers preferred larger format TLRs.

 

[rxmd]

A very good friend of mine is shooting a movie about a soviet photographer in FSU. He asked me if I could find him what classifies as the most popular soviet produced RF or SLR used by soviet photopraphers/artists. I would be happy to get RF or SLR models names.

Thank you.

I've done a little asking around for the project on the history of Soviet photographic practice that I'm pursuing. Here's some results:

- *Professional* photojournalists used Western equipment, Nikons and Leicas mostly. I was surprised to hear this, but I had it confirmed independently by four former photojournalists.

- In rangefinders, the models which photographers liked most appear to have been the FED-2, for simplicity and reliability, and the later FED-5 for features. Many of the models appreciated by Western RF enthusiasts (such as the Zorki-4/-6) had a reputation for capriciousness. Kievs had a good reputation, too, but appear to have been seen as increasingly outdated and also as somewhat complicated (you need a more qualified repairman).

- In SLRs, the most popular models were the generic Zenits that were produced in the millions. Get a Zenit TTL and you will be 100% authentic.

- In medium format the most popular *Soviet* models appear to have been the Moskvas (if you don't count the scale-focus Smena series). The Kiev 88 had a reputation for capriciousness, the Kiev-60 was apparently somewhat overshadowed by the East German Pentacon Six even though IMHO it is the better camera.

One photojournalist I interviewed started his career with a Zenit E SLR that his father brought him in pieces and that he himself repaired at home. Then he started using FED rangefinders while studying at the APN academy in Moscow, and APM gave them Nikon F2s and F4s, the latter shortly before the Soviet Union collapsed. Another was self-taught, he started with a Smena-4, then a FED-2 (that was when he still pursued photography as a hobby). Then he quit his day job and became a professional photojournalist, and his newspaper gave him a Nikon F2 and a Leica M2. This should give you a pretty decent idea. If you have more detailed questions, feel free to ask away.

Philipp

 

[MartinP]

I recall reading that the most produced model was the Zorki-4 - but possibly that means it was a camera for enthusiasts rather than professionals ? Of course, we have all seen the picture of Picasso (in a different part of the world) with his FED-2 . . .

There might also have been a lot of Flexaret's around. Possibly the Iskra would be another example of a serious MF machine although there were not many made. Maybe you can find a Russian professional association of some sort and find out from the horses mouth how the different cameras were perceived.

The key thing would be to avoid using something that was not built at the time of the story !

 

[mfogiel]

Well, you are being naive - I cannot answer precisely for the Soviet Union, but I can get pretty close - my father was a press reporter in Poland starting in early fifties and ending in the eighties. His, and most of his colleague's camera of choice has been the Rolleiflex... They were imported especially for the press photogs, to the extent, that at a certain point Zeiss was branding the Planar lenses on the Rolleis as "optons" for exports to the east block. There were some Leicas and Contaxes, as well as later on the Practicas and Pentacon Sixes. The Russian cameras were always considered junk in the east block. Generally speaking, the german cameras ruled, although I remember seeing one of my father friends using a Mamiya press. Later on, the japanese cameras have taken over, like anywhere else.

 

[VinceC]

Wonder how many pairs of blue jeans you needed to trade for a Rolliflex?

 

[Arvay]

Before the WWII mostly FEDs and Zorkis. After war a lot of Leicas were brought from Germanyby correspondets or officers. They were traded to pros for peanuts.
Later - Nikons.
If we are talking about real Pros, who worked for newspapers and magazines. Especially for sports.
Zenits were the cams for situations where was a threat of loosing, damaging or stealing the cam. And they gave only 1/500s shutter speed.

 

[rxmd]

Before the WWII mostly FEDs and Zorkis.

Well up to WWII the FEDs were actually pretty rare cameras that only started to appear in significant numbers by 1936 or so. Leicas were actually quite popular wherever they were accessible. There's a reason why Rodchenko's picture is "Girl with a Leica" and not "Girl with a FED" 🙂 Max Penson, who took some 30.000 pictures of Soviet Central Asia in the late 1920s and 1930s, used a Leica II that is kept by his daughter up to this day in Tashkent.

Zorkis only started to appear after WWII.

Philipp

 

[xayraa33]

The Zorki never appeared till after the war.

 

[Arvay]

Well up to WWII the FEDs were actually pretty rare cameras that only started to appear in significant numbers by 1936 or so. Leicas were actually quite popular wherever they were accessible. There's a reason why Rodchenko's picture is "Girl with a Leica" and not "Girl with a FED" 🙂 Max Penson, who took some 30.000 pictures of Soviet Central Asia in the late 1920s and 1930s, used a Leica II that is kept by his daughter up to this day in Tashkent.

Zorkis only started to appear after WWII.

Philipp

Agreed with Zorkis.

FED was the "official" cam for NKVD officers and SMERSH.
Most of the first photographers in the battlefields who worked for newspapers used Fotokors.
Leica was not so common.

Rodchenko seems to have his Leica being brought and presented by Mayakovsky who was able to travel to the US. But he didn't bought it in Russia

After war salvage Leicas became a Pro's tool as it was a hard time and many of that-time-Leicas here could be bought for few ounces of bread...

 

[mfogiel]

Well. the prices were high, in terms of an average wage ( it has been remarkably constant for decades at around US$ 20 per month - real or "black market" exchange rate) a Rollei was something like 2 or 3 years of pay...But that was not the top expense - my father always dreamed of a Linhof Master Technika - that one with a couple of lenses cost like a big apartment...

 

[Arvay]

Speaking about FED it was not as rare as it seems. Here some statistics of FED production
1934 - 1800 cams
1938 - 30 000
1st half of 1941 - 16 000
Total FED production before the war - more than 160 000

And after war the production was able to be restarted only in 1946.


To those RFF members who are interested here is the link to a Russian resourse (has English version)

http://www.rus-camera.com/history.php?history=fed_factory_history_1

 

[Kapa]

What about the "Lenningrad", I thought that might have been a user....?

 

[Highway 61]

Good professional Soviet photographers who wanted their photos published and reknown had access to non-FSU gear (just wonder why... :angel🙂.

Igor Kostine, famous for his books about the Tchernobyl disaster, used a Nikon F3 HP.

BTW the F3 wasn't radiations-proof enough. Most of the films it was loaded with when Kostine flied over Tchernobyl a few hours after the explosion got spoiled to death by the radioactive rays.

 

[Bill58]

Maybe their spy cameras? Sorry- I just had to add this joke. I'm a child of the Cold War and won't ever be able to forget it.

 

[Spider67]

Good question although the answers may hurt.
I can supply some observations from communist era Bulgaria:

My brother worked as a photographer (photojournalism and doing pics for fashion mags)
He started with a Zenit E (they had a good reputation as a sound and simple design). Leicas had a great reputation among his older friends, although I never saw one of them actually using it. But magazines and Agencies tried to get their hands on western equipment. Main type used were SLR's.
The decision of the barnd and type of equipment lay in most cases with the editors of Newspapers and magazines or the heads of News Agencies. A western camera of ones own was a big asset. Canons and Nikons where used. My brother bought a Yashica FX D in order to use the lenses already available from the magazine he worked with.
MF: Pentacons were in great demand so that my brother even came to Austria looking for one second hand.
Zorkis and Kievs(35mm) had reached the bottom of their reputation at that time and were regarded as trash. This seems to have been due to the lack of repairshops. My brother bought me a Kiev 4 AM which had to go to repair right out of the box. eastern optics from the other hand enjoyed a good reputation.
.....Now in the age of "Eastalgia" even my brother mutters sometime about those "sturdy reliable machines" when it comes to FSU cameras