Greasy box full of $3 Russian Lenses at flea market

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M. Valdemar

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Dirty, greasy box with about 20 busted up Russian enlarger lenses at the flea market today. They look like they came off one of those ancient Soviet "fold up suitcase" enlargers, if you've ever seen one.

$3 each.

Stirred up the pile with my fingers, one lens looked a little different.

"How about $1 for this one? It's got no lens cap."

"$2, OK.?"

"OK."

I handed over two dirty old dollar bills.

"Thanks, come back, I'll have more camera stuff next week."

"OK, I will."




1970. Never had one so late. Sharp as a razor. Multi-coated, I think.

.
 
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Do I understand from this that the serial number indicates the year? - I recently got one and the serial is 640588 - Do I presume this is 1964?

Many thanks.

Alan.
 
arowe said:
Do I understand from this that the serial number indicates the year? - I recently got one and the serial is 640588 - Do I presume this is 1964?

Many thanks.

Alan.
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That's the case with most FSU gear. FED's are the main exception.
 
Usually on FSU lenses, yes. The year is the first two digits of the serial number.

There are exceptions to every rule but generally you can assume so.
 
This is a fairly common occurrence for me. Like almost every week, or several times a week.

For example, at the remaining flea markets in NYC, there are a bunch of pro eBay "dealers" who arrive at 4:30am and scour the markets for something to buy and resell on eBay.

There's a husband and wife team who descend with walkie-talkies and try to buy anything photographic that they think is valuable. Most dealers hate them, they are arrogant, lowballing ignoramuses.

Yeah, they buy all the Nikons, Leica, and things they recognize, and so will the other vultures.

But they don't have the eye for the real rarities.

I'll come by a table that was already ravaged.

"Oh yeah, I had a bunch of old cameras, maybe they were Leicas. But they're gone, sold them right away."

I'll root around, find some little worthless looking gizmo or junky looking lens that was left behind, and offer a few bucks, and they're happy to unload on me. Like the junky looking Amotal lens in the cheap aluminum mount. Can't be worth more than five bucks. Or that weird "Hugo Meyer" (never heard of it, it must be worthless)

I can spot the arcane rarity or strange thing that not one buyer in 50,000 would recognize, if that, and that's how I mainly accumulate my stuff now.
 
M. Valdemar said:
1970. Never had one so late. Sharp as a razor. Multi-coated, I think.

.
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Congratulations with such a luck.

A little note: rangerfinder russian lens were never officially made as MC.
And a very little note: The following lenses are thought to be multi-coated:
- strange late black J-8s with Engraving and 00xx serials (I saw such - quite sharp)
- black J-12 of 89-90 made with quite multi-colored coating

By the way, MC lenses apperead in USSR in early 80s. And this O--15 is of 1970.
 
ErikFive said:
So for us that wants to lear, but dont know anything about FSU lenses. What is it? And why is it special?
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The Orion-15, 28mm f/6, is pretty uncommon. I've never seen one for less than $150, and usually closer to $180. It's a nice lens, sharp and lots of contrast. Very slow, though.
 
Greasy box full of $3 Russian Lenses at flea market

fyi

Re: the Orion-15 28mm.f6, Marc James Small, in his "Non-Leitz Leica Thread-Mount Lenses," 1997, says that its "Zeiss Derived" and is known to have been made at the ZOMZ factory.

Small wrote that he has one, among other Russian lenses, and says they are "fine picture takers" and that the "20mm Russar, the 28mm Orion and the 35mm, 50mm/f1.5 and the 85mm Jupiters are outstanding even in today's crowded marketplace.''
 
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Congratulations on this cheap find. It is better that you find such things than someone who just buys to resell [to us?].
 
You're probably right. It's not multi-coated. I thought I saw a greenish-yellow reflection which might have meant MC, but I think I was fooling myself.

I've had numerous Orion-15's, but most of them had mottled poor aluminum finish. The finish on this one looks near mint with no corrosion.


QUAsit said:
Congratulations with such a luck.

A little note: rangerfinder russian lens were never officially made as MC.
And a very little note: The following lenses are thought to be multi-coated:
- strange late black J-8s with Engraving and 00xx serials (I saw such - quite sharp)
- black J-12 of 89-90 made with quite multi-colored coating

By the way, MC lenses apperead in USSR in early 80s. And this O--15 is of 1970.
Click to expand...
 
Congratulation! An Orion-15 for just 2 $ is a mix of luck and loooong sight!


M. Valdemar said:
Buying and buying usually goes hand in hand with selling and selling.
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...mmmmmhhhh...i just buy and buy and buy and NEVER sell......should i be worried? 😕
 
When I lived and worked in Adelaide South Australia, almost every lunch time I used to visit a local camera shop owned by a lovely old Slovakian gent (who has long since passsed away.) The camera shop was of the old sort and had a loooooooong wooden cabinet full of tiny drawers right along one wall. How I loved that cabinet.

As I got to know him and his one surviving staff member, (John, I think) and become friendly they would invite me to go browsing thru this cabinet of teasures. I never found that one in a million treasure that was worth a fortune - and to be honest am glad I never did as these guys were so nice that I could never have taken him for it. But many times I found things that I wanted - lens hoods, lens cases, accessory finders, accessory shoes for old Spotmatic and Olympus cameras. You name it, if it was 20 years old, they had it. If you loved the old German SLR marques, then you would be in 7th heaven in this store. The kind of "junk" that camera gear addicts just love to collect and use, well, even if they never actually use it. They always let me have such small bits and pieces for just a few bucks and a chat about cameras.

One day he offered me his mint M3 with a Mint early Summilux for about $1700. He needed the money and was forced to sell it. At the time the price was good but not a huge bargain. Still I knew that in a bigger city I would have to pay much more to buy something in this condition - assuming I could find it. So I was happy to offer him the full amount of his asking price droolling at the thought of gettting some serious shooting time with this pristine beauty. But he had offered it to someone else who had first refusal and although he was long overdue on taking up the offer, the Camera store man felt honour bound to give him one last chance to buy it. And of course, you guessed it, the guy took him up on the offer and bought the camera.

I was disappointed but not p*ssed. After all the camera store guy was an old school "honourable man" and I had to respect his decision to honour his undertaking. He was that charming old world central European style of gent who you find hard not to like. In fact, the kiind you immediately like and respect.

However I was thoroughly p*ssed when the very next week I browsed the for sale ads in our local paper and saw what looked to be the very same camera advertised for $500 more. This jerk was not even a user - he just wanted it to resell. That annoyed me. And not just because I lost that chance to own a lovely camera. I felt the buyer had somehow betrayed the seller.

Andre, if you are looking down old chum, I still think of you and that damned store of yours where I spent so many happy hours rummaging thru those dusty cupboard drawers.
 
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