W
wlewisiii
Guest
What an interesting little beastie!
I got Alex-photo's lowest priced one with a serial from 1963. I opened the box, snipped the top half off of the neverready case, screwed a nice J-8 on in place of the hideous rigid I-50 it came with and all of a sudden, there's actually a nice camera here.
The VF seems quite nice - easily the second best FSU finder I've used (best being the one on the Kiev 5 & that one is almost western in its quality). It has a very smooth lever action that is far better than the Fed 5 & close to that of the Kiev 5. The nylon covering actually feels better than expected though I still think I'll pop for some Aki leather when I can afford it - presuming that his 4k leather can be cut to work without too much grief. The swing back & fixed spool are luxurious after some other FSU cameras I've used. The diopter lever is a delight as well. Over all, this is a very nice handling little camera. The shutter speeds are a bit limited yet for 90% of most people's shooting, 30 to 500 + bulb will do what is needed. Plus there's no slow speed escarpment to go south on me, either
It's not on the same level as even my CL, but OTOH, it is a camera that I can see using to teach my son the fundamentals in a couple of years. Got one of my last rolls of old Walgreens/Agfa 400 in it. That will give me some idea of where the shutter is at and if there are any light leaks. But overall, already, I'm rather happy with the latest toy.
William
I got Alex-photo's lowest priced one with a serial from 1963. I opened the box, snipped the top half off of the neverready case, screwed a nice J-8 on in place of the hideous rigid I-50 it came with and all of a sudden, there's actually a nice camera here.
The VF seems quite nice - easily the second best FSU finder I've used (best being the one on the Kiev 5 & that one is almost western in its quality). It has a very smooth lever action that is far better than the Fed 5 & close to that of the Kiev 5. The nylon covering actually feels better than expected though I still think I'll pop for some Aki leather when I can afford it - presuming that his 4k leather can be cut to work without too much grief. The swing back & fixed spool are luxurious after some other FSU cameras I've used. The diopter lever is a delight as well. Over all, this is a very nice handling little camera. The shutter speeds are a bit limited yet for 90% of most people's shooting, 30 to 500 + bulb will do what is needed. Plus there's no slow speed escarpment to go south on me, either
It's not on the same level as even my CL, but OTOH, it is a camera that I can see using to teach my son the fundamentals in a couple of years. Got one of my last rolls of old Walgreens/Agfa 400 in it. That will give me some idea of where the shutter is at and if there are any light leaks. But overall, already, I'm rather happy with the latest toy.
William
