hugivza
Well-known
I have received from the FSU via e-bay: a Kiev 4B, a Zorki 1e, a Fed 2, and Jupiter 3 and 12 lenses. All have been exactly as described and hoped for, and have been from a variety of sources. Shipment from RedJoe who is based in Barnaul in Siberia took a little time due to Russian customs, but he kept me fully informed in excellent English! I am awaiting a Zorki 3 and 4, and a Moskva 5 which I would expect to be in the same conditions indicated at the time of completion of the sale. I received an email today from a vendor, who is no longer in current ebay membership (whatever that means) that he had shipped 3 SMENA rangefinders a week ago (I had contracted for 2 separately, but he combined the postage which saved money so he sent an additional rangefinder). I have yet to receive these goods but am confident that I will get, based on past experience, what I have bargained for. I have provided and received good feedback.
satbunny
Established
Zorki 4
Zorki 4
Zorki 4 from russcamerapro, seized on arrival, no take up spool. Repaired over a three month period, returned with no take up spool, ignored all emails since. Never sure if the speed dial is on 1/60th or 1/125th!
Will go to oleg or alex next time.
Zorki 4
Zorki 4 from russcamerapro, seized on arrival, no take up spool. Repaired over a three month period, returned with no take up spool, ignored all emails since. Never sure if the speed dial is on 1/60th or 1/125th!
Will go to oleg or alex next time.
satbunny
Established
Prague
Prague
I am going to be in Prague ina few months, do you have some addresses for shops? I found buying old cameras impossible in Budapest last time.
Prague
I am going to be in Prague ina few months, do you have some addresses for shops? I found buying old cameras impossible in Budapest last time.
boris_79
Newbie
Hi all
Does anyone have any good/bad experiences of an ebay trader called sovietepoch? I'm thinking of buying from him/her - ebay feedback looks good, but I'd like to maximise my chances of a working camera
Does anyone have any good/bad experiences of an ebay trader called sovietepoch? I'm thinking of buying from him/her - ebay feedback looks good, but I'd like to maximise my chances of a working camera
je2a3
je
boris_79 said:Hi all
Does anyone have any good/bad experiences of an ebay trader called sovietepoch? I'm thinking of buying from him/her - ebay feedback looks good, but I'd like to maximise my chances of a working camera
I think I posted my feedback on sovietepoch in this thread as well as in this forum regarding a Zorki 1d I got from him last summer. Try back tracking the pages of this thread and my posts.
boris_79
Newbie
Ah, found it - thanks very much.
kmack
do your job, then let go
tiger_1970
tiger_1970
Ordered a collapseable Fed lens from tiger_1970. Shipping only 15 days from the Ukraine. The lens was packaged well and as described.
tiger_1970
Ordered a collapseable Fed lens from tiger_1970. Shipping only 15 days from the Ukraine. The lens was packaged well and as described.
cameosis
word? up!
okay here go my experiences so far: grandseller is not really recommendable, as he for one uses generic pictures, and you cannot judge the quality of the offered item. apart from that, i once bought a fed-2 from him, but he delivered one with a different serial number, reasoning that i had paid rather late (true) and that he had sold the advertised camera to someone else. no problem here, except that the camera which i received did not have a working rewind lever, the take-up spool was jammed and therefore i had to extract the film manually after shooting the pictures (go figure). the best part was that i found a letter of complaint from the previous buyer still inside the package! haha, but i decided to leave it at that and buy a new one.
then, i bought a zorki 4 (first type) from someone else (but i do not remember from whom) whose finder is blurry. other than that, the camera seems fine, but i will consider mailing it to famous repairman oleg for a complete overhaul.
lens wise, i have had good experiences: i bought so far two jupiter-12, two jupiter-08, and two industar-61 l/d, all in very good or excellent condition and as described on ebay.
confdntart, kassiapeya, alex-photo, nago60ru are fine in my book. redjoe is too pricey for my taste, but his pictures | presentations are awesome. delivery sometimes is slow (i am in germany), but communication works well with all the gals | guys, they are responsive and informative in regard to questions.
i normally ask before bidding or buying instantly, and depending on the replies i decide for or against a purchase. just today, i received a cool soviet polarization filter for my jupiter-12 lens from netsend_uk. good condition, will let the local ophtalmologist clean the filter and then it should be nice.
polarization filter
i also bought a zorki 4 k with cyrillic inscription from ruscamera, and anxiously await its delivery, yay!
zorki 4 k
the best thing however, was an image manipulation | ebay con attempt that i stumbled over yesterday evening, see attached picture. it was a fed-5 that the guy sold, together with a so-called star-6 lens that i had never heard of (and for good reason). i googled, but did not find anything, until i noticed that the picture had been postworked (i highlighted the two areas). the company logo was removed and industar was shortened to star. unfortunately, i did not bookmark the auction, otherwise i would have linked to it -- it either already ended or he took it down. i just wonder what kind of lens this really is.
so much from me.
then, i bought a zorki 4 (first type) from someone else (but i do not remember from whom) whose finder is blurry. other than that, the camera seems fine, but i will consider mailing it to famous repairman oleg for a complete overhaul.
lens wise, i have had good experiences: i bought so far two jupiter-12, two jupiter-08, and two industar-61 l/d, all in very good or excellent condition and as described on ebay.
confdntart, kassiapeya, alex-photo, nago60ru are fine in my book. redjoe is too pricey for my taste, but his pictures | presentations are awesome. delivery sometimes is slow (i am in germany), but communication works well with all the gals | guys, they are responsive and informative in regard to questions.
i normally ask before bidding or buying instantly, and depending on the replies i decide for or against a purchase. just today, i received a cool soviet polarization filter for my jupiter-12 lens from netsend_uk. good condition, will let the local ophtalmologist clean the filter and then it should be nice.
polarization filter
i also bought a zorki 4 k with cyrillic inscription from ruscamera, and anxiously await its delivery, yay!
zorki 4 k
the best thing however, was an image manipulation | ebay con attempt that i stumbled over yesterday evening, see attached picture. it was a fed-5 that the guy sold, together with a so-called star-6 lens that i had never heard of (and for good reason). i googled, but did not find anything, until i noticed that the picture had been postworked (i highlighted the two areas). the company logo was removed and industar was shortened to star. unfortunately, i did not bookmark the auction, otherwise i would have linked to it -- it either already ended or he took it down. i just wonder what kind of lens this really is.
so much from me.
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jtzordon
clicking away
Got my first FSU cam, a Zorki-4, from Alex-Photo. Arrived quick in tip-top shape. Just got back my first roll and everything looks a-ok.
BillFoto
Member
cameosis said:
Auiction #7556324943? That is a Star-6 28/2.8, there aren't many of them around and I'm not sure if they RF couple or not.
ScottS
Established
cameosis said:
It's an industar-69 -- half-frame 28/2.8 which is the normal (and only) lens for the Chaika 2. It's a removable M39 lens, but it's not coupled and, from what I've read, is designed for a different film-to-flange distance than LTM. The only real purpose for making the lens removable with M39 threads is to use in an enlarger.
You can get this lens (with the body) for not much money on ebay. Without the half-frame Chaika body, it's not worth much at all (unless you need a 28mm half-frame enlarger lens).
Scott
cameosis
word? up!
bill,
yes, that is the auction i meant, i appreciate it: ebay auction link
scott, thank you for the info, i suspected as much. the point is that the fed-5 is offered along with this lens for US$ 99 (the buy now option starts at US$ 110).
as to the price, without the image manipulation, i would not bother -- but this is a different case (i do not see the point in doing this, anyway -- what will happen once the potential buyer gets the package and realizes that the lens inscription does not correspond with the ad picture?). given that the usual price for a fed-5 ranges somewhere from US$ 10 to US$ 30, this strikes me as weird, to say the least.
add-on: this is actually the guy i bought the polarization filter from, lol (netsend_uk).
yes, that is the auction i meant, i appreciate it: ebay auction link
scott, thank you for the info, i suspected as much. the point is that the fed-5 is offered along with this lens for US$ 99 (the buy now option starts at US$ 110).
as to the price, without the image manipulation, i would not bother -- but this is a different case (i do not see the point in doing this, anyway -- what will happen once the potential buyer gets the package and realizes that the lens inscription does not correspond with the ad picture?). given that the usual price for a fed-5 ranges somewhere from US$ 10 to US$ 30, this strikes me as weird, to say the least.
add-on: this is actually the guy i bought the polarization filter from, lol (netsend_uk).
ScottS
Established
cameosis said:
Image manipulation or black paint on the lens?
Scott
cameosis
word? up!
i would say image manipulation (smudge tool in photoshop), but either way, the lens has been »fixed«.ScottS said:
Eastcolfax
Newbie
I learned the hard way to just buy from FSU sellers with at least 200+ positive feedbacks, and a feedback rating of at least 99%. Even better is 1000+ positive feedbacks and a rating of 99.5% or better. It's worth it to pay five bucks more for something from these types of sellers.
I also only buy cameras from sellers that specialize in them, because they know what they're talking about. I'd never buy unless I could see pictures of the serial # of the camera and/or lens.
I was burned several times buying wristwatches from FSU sellers -- the item would never arrive, so they'd refund the item cost, but not shipping (and I believe, now, they were just making money on the shipping for a product never shipped.) By sticking with highly reputable sellers, this sort of problem is generally avoided. You have ZERO recourse except for leaving negative feedback.
I also only buy cameras from sellers that specialize in them, because they know what they're talking about. I'd never buy unless I could see pictures of the serial # of the camera and/or lens.
I was burned several times buying wristwatches from FSU sellers -- the item would never arrive, so they'd refund the item cost, but not shipping (and I believe, now, they were just making money on the shipping for a product never shipped.) By sticking with highly reputable sellers, this sort of problem is generally avoided. You have ZERO recourse except for leaving negative feedback.
derevaun
focus free
More experienced, but maybe none the wiser:
Sergey566: The Fed-2 arrived with a missing inner VF lens. He sent a replacement free of charge. All's well that ends well.
kostik_p: Mir had no take-up spool--d'oh! Jupiter-8 in decent shape, and the Industar-61 was "clean and clear" notwithstanding some tiny cleaning marks (see attachment). He's unwilling to remedy the situation so far.
Sergey566: The Fed-2 arrived with a missing inner VF lens. He sent a replacement free of charge. All's well that ends well.
kostik_p: Mir had no take-up spool--d'oh! Jupiter-8 in decent shape, and the Industar-61 was "clean and clear" notwithstanding some tiny cleaning marks (see attachment).
He's unwilling to remedy the situation so far.suvorov_s
Newbie
Hi all!
I have the Ebay store with russian cameras, lenses and other accessories.
Now my rating is 683 unique feedbacks and 99.9%.
All my buyers were happy.
Visit my store, I am sure you'll find something interesting.
My Ebay store
Good luck with purchases, Vitaly Suvorov
I have the Ebay store with russian cameras, lenses and other accessories.
Now my rating is 683 unique feedbacks and 99.9%.
All my buyers were happy.
Visit my store, I am sure you'll find something interesting.
My Ebay store
Good luck with purchases, Vitaly Suvorov
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Aurora
Member
Fed 5C
Fed 5C
Just bought a Fed 5C, took about a month to arrive, but it´s Christmas time, plus it was stuck in Customs for ages (Iceland checks every single package), so not his fault. I do like that you can track the package.
The camera was as described, excellent, mint.
Just took the first roll, saw a tiny mark on the lense, wrote to confdntart, he offered me to send it back and he would send a new lense (which would probably cost me as much as the whole deal), anyway there was no visible sign on the photos. So I am happy.
Seems like alex, cupag and hero4g are the most popular sellers on here, but at the moment they don´t have that much stuff.
I also considered buying from embay93, but his photos were so dull and hard to see.
Now I´m looking for a Fed2 and a Zorki 4 - with engraved numbers.
I think it´s not a bad idea if you get a good deal to have it CLA - then you are good to go for ages.
Oleg didn´t reply to my mail about a question on a Zorki.
Who else apart from him repairs?
Fed 5C
Just bought a Fed 5C, took about a month to arrive, but it´s Christmas time, plus it was stuck in Customs for ages (Iceland checks every single package), so not his fault. I do like that you can track the package.
The camera was as described, excellent, mint.
Just took the first roll, saw a tiny mark on the lense, wrote to confdntart, he offered me to send it back and he would send a new lense (which would probably cost me as much as the whole deal), anyway there was no visible sign on the photos. So I am happy.
Seems like alex, cupag and hero4g are the most popular sellers on here, but at the moment they don´t have that much stuff.
I also considered buying from embay93, but his photos were so dull and hard to see.
Now I´m looking for a Fed2 and a Zorki 4 - with engraved numbers.
I think it´s not a bad idea if you get a good deal to have it CLA - then you are good to go for ages.
Oleg didn´t reply to my mail about a question on a Zorki.
Who else apart from him repairs?
Attachments
Jan Pedersen
Well-known
Aurora, The previous post was more than 7 years ago so response time may be a bit delayed.