mpaniagua
Newby photographer
motormike900
Newbie
Wow
Wow
Thanks everyone, you all are a wealth of information.
Thank you for responding
Wow
Thanks everyone, you all are a wealth of information.
Thank you for responding
alexandru_voicu
Established
David Hughes
David Hughes
I'll second that; by the way, how did prices of everyday things compare? Also I know musicians who fled west found problems as they weren't expecting unemployment due to USSR policies.
It would be interesting to get the USSR version of prices in the west...
Regards, David
PS Loved the table in kg of potatoes.
valdas
Veteran
David,
You can't look that way... Many things were quite affordable (price-wise), but shops were empty. Some places were better, some worse, but many of us (who lived inFSU) remember queueing to buy the toilet paper (yes, it was cheap when you manage to get hold of it
). "Exotic" fruits (bananas, oranges) were available only during short period around New Year Eve (again - queueing for hours). As a kid I did not memorize most of prices, except for icecream and fixer/ developer . Quality icecream was 20 kop. - fixer or developer was about the same . 20 kop was something I could get by returning empty glass bottle from the lemonade (deposit). Milk bottle deposit though was only 15 kop 
btgc
Veteran
Speaking of slides, I've found and scanned one. People say it weren't Soviet or ORWO film.
Lost champions by mm35exp36, on Flickr
David Hughes
David Hughes
David,
You can't look that way... Many things were quite affordable (price-wise), but shops were empty. Some places were better, some worse, but many of us (who lived inFSU) remember queueing to buy the toilet paper (yes, it was cheap when you manage to get hold of it
Hi,
Very interesting, thanks.
For what it's worth, as a kid oranges were only available for me around Christmas and the same for some apples and so on. Nowadays, of course, we have plastic supermarket apples and fruit and it's available all the year but not worth bothering with, imo.
Regards, David
btgc
Veteran
Don't forget dried bananas - probably Castro's Cuba paid with them in return for supporting their economics. Occasional pack of cane sugar and adults having some Havana Club bottle, that's what I recall, too.
Since then I truly hate queues and can pass on good event if I have to queue for longer than couple of minutes. And don't ask me what I think about waiting overnight to enter a shop and get....um, just a phone!
efinglada
Established
tunalegs
Pretended Artist
Tangentially, I do wonder about Chinese cameras. I understand the Seagull TLR was sort of a standard design which ended up being produced in several different factories with slight variations. The Great Wall SLR was intended to be a cheaper (more accessible?) alternative aimed at photography students, but seems comparatively rare. 35mm cameras were apparently very uncommon in China until the 1990s, even soviet made ones.
As I understand it most common cameras in China were very simple things along the lines of the Holga (which was of course from Hong Kong, but initially intended for sale in China). The Holga of course became exported around the world, whereas the equivalent native Chinese products were rarely (if ever?) exported.
As I understand it most common cameras in China were very simple things along the lines of the Holga (which was of course from Hong Kong, but initially intended for sale in China). The Holga of course became exported around the world, whereas the equivalent native Chinese products were rarely (if ever?) exported.
Ko.Fe.
Lenses 35/21 Gears 46/20
With my ESL I'm not so sure what you are interested in to know. USSR prices comparing to West prices?
I was getting married around time of USSR collapsing, while it was still under soviet control of pricing. Dollars just became convertible for general public.
I was giving chance to do unofficial work for German documentary which was done with help of one guy we used to work together on Russian TV. He wrote the music, I did the closing titles. And was paid 150USD.
On 150 USD we purchased:
Two small beds to have them bolt together, queen bed sizes were hard to find. Made in USSR. New.
Electrical cooking stove. Made in USSR. New.
TV "Rubin" Made in USSR, with imported tube. Used.
New dining set. Made in USSR.
Man dress suit for wedding. Made in USSR. New.
Man and Women pair of shoes. Made in USSR. New.
We paid from same 150$ for furniture, stove delivery. We purchased food and purchased spirit Royal
http://spoki.tvnet.lv/foto-izlases/90-to-gadu-smiga-Latvija-un-Krievija/616511
to make with my mother in law home made vodka. We were parting for three days with it. First day with relatives, second with co-workers and third with friends. On the third day I took of from the table and collapsed on the bed for one hour or so.
On same 150$ I purchased flash, Made in USSR, used, but couldn't find the cable. All three days I was taking wedding party pictures with FED-2 in one hand and triggering flash by another hand. Developed ORWO slide film came with one visible, not in focus frame.
Steve M.
Veteran
I suspect that 6x9 folders were more valued than 35mm cameras. Back then, most people just contact printed the negs, and a 6x9 camera gives a good size pic for showing people. A 35mm contact print, not so much :[
radi(c)al_cam
Well-known
No, even before the 1990s, they made quite a number of 35mm cameras; cf.: Douglas St. Denny's «Cameras of the People's Republic of China».
But true is, they appear scarcely on the second hand market.
nukecoke
⚛Yashica
You just need to find the right entrance:
https://s.taobao.com/search?spm=a230r.1.0.0.oykcdR&q=国产旁轴相机&rs=up&rsclick=4&preq=国产相机
radi(c)al_cam
Well-known
nukecoke
⚛Yashica
LOL; I can see only tons of convenience food, but no photographic stuff at all
Strange.
Well, you can search 海鸥相机 on www.taobao.com . There are a lot of them.
I wouldn't touch them.
Roger Hicks
Veteran
Exactly. Moscow, 1990. Good tomatoes, on the free market, 2 roubles/ kilo. Controlled price tomatoes, 35 kopeks/kilo -- except that on the rare occasions you could find them, they were wizened/ shrivelled/ broken...David,
You can't look that way... Many things were quite affordable (price-wise), but shops were empty. Some places were better, some worse, but many of us (who lived inFSU) remember queueing to buy the toilet paper (yes, it was cheap when you manage to get hold of it
The prices are from memory but I'm pretty sure they are accurate.
Cheers,
R.
Roger Hicks
Veteran
In the 1950s, and even into the (very) early 1960s, Soviet cameras were astonishingly expensive in the UK. This comes from my finding (and reading) magazines and catalogues from that era in the 1970s and 1980s. As they became more and more outdated, though, prices fell until they were basically regarded as cheap junk. Unfortunately this is based on memory as I cannot easily find the magazines and catalogues in question, and I'm quite busy.
Cheers,
R.
Cheers,
R.
nzhang
Member
In 1986, I have my first Seagull camera. Basically a Minolta sr copy with a 58mm f2 lens. The price was 400 yuan. The amount is about half year of average salary. 120 cameras were not preferred at that time since color 35mm getting popular. Seagull tlrs were selling half of SLR 35mm cameras. 10yuan I can buy 10meter back white films to play with.
Roger Hicks
Veteran
Fair enough, and thanks for actual numbers, but how meaningful was "average" salary in a wildly unequal society such as China in 1986? Or even today?
Cheers,
R.