A Ukrainian miracle camera

ErnestoJL said:
I agree with you guys!!!!
I´ll be really happy if those guys faking poor made Feds or Zorkis, do something better, it is to refurbish them and get properly working old CCCP cameras!!!!
I love FSU cameras as they are cheap and If yoú´re lucky yóu´ll get one that works fine from the very beginning, but this... OMG!!!!! this sucks!!!!!

Regards
Ernesto
Click to expand...

Makes me want to vomit!! BUT somebody must be buying these things otherwise they wouldn't waste their time "buggering up" perfectly good cameras!!! :bang:
 
Not only is there wasted skill but there can't be much profit in them either. I would really like to know how these guys do it. How do they get rid of the old engravings?
I appears to be a blanket job. Yesterday I saw one with the frame number arrow missing. I suspect perhaps they got rid of it and then forgot to put it back.
 
As long as someone pays for it, there will be anyone else doing it!!

People who make it are not interested in bringing old film cameras back to the market. They´re just targeted to obtain more money from a camera that otherwise would be sold for a few dollars.

I prefer (for myself of course) to pay $100 for a decent Kiev, Fed or Zorki instead of paying $200 for the fake of something that never existed!!
I know that a Kiev is not a Contax, that Feds or Zorkis ar not Leicas... but does it really matter?? Any one of them is a valuable camera in itself because it was made to last, it´s not made of plastic or have pieces that will be broken after 500 film rolls...
All this cameras are kind of collectible items that will still be in service may be 30 years in the future (if film still exists of course!)
That´s the reason why (I guess) so many of Us are interested in them...

The engravings can be removed by carefully flattening the plates and filling the vaults with molten brass, polishing and re engraving them later before being chromed again and painted. Remember the first Kievs which showed traces of the original Contax engraving in the reverse side of the front plate! A nice job to disguise a german made Contax assembled and renamed in Ukraine.

Profit?? Well ... not much be sure, it means the cameras were bought either by the pound or for pennies... so perhaps the price reflects only modifications costs.

Regards
Ernesto
 
Wow! That Mir is awesome! I too don't understand why the crafters would spend so much time creating a Leica design or faux Nazi paraphanelia while they could be replacing shutter curtains, CLA'ing the stuff, and keeping them in their once pristine (well, maybe not the ones made in the end of the quota years) factory origins. Nevertheless, the camera which started the thread is sweet. When you're travelling pickpockets will see that hideous piece and will leave you alone! Let's go bad taste!
 
At least they spelled "CM" correctly on the lens. On some copies, they put "SM" for some strange reason.

Tom
 
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