I Ordered This J-3 - Your Opinions Please

[Keith]

Earlier in this thread I said I paid $145.00 for my J-3 ... well I don't know where that data came from because I checked my records and discovered I paid $65.00 for it which does sound more sensible. Must be a short in my wiring somewhere and why my brain told me that $145.00 was good value mystifies me. (sorry Ruben)

I have noticed though that my ex girlfriends remain gorgeous in my memories even though they actually may not have been! More of the little red pills I think ... or maybe less! 😱

 

[ruben]

> The Nikkor doesn't fit a Kiev accurately.

You could shim it to work accurately reducing the main shim to move it closer to the film place, or even try moving the rear module out ~0.4mm. That is the reverse of what I've done to use the Helios-103's, Menopta's, Industar 61L/D and J-8 on the Nikon RF's.

I picked up a very good condition, EX+ with Perfect Glass, Nikkor 5cm F1.4 in Nikon S-Mount for under $100. Picked up a "beater" with perfect glass for less.

Nice to know, but too late for me. You still remain in the back up list !:bang:

Cheers,
Ruben

 

[ruben]

............ I paid $65.00 for it which does sound more sensible. ............. (sorry Ruben)

No problem Keith,
I have been following closely the prices of Sonnars and J-3s, and I am sure about my price estimations.

This doen't necessaril contradicts your purchase, but if mine is of good optics it will be quite a normal to low price for its cosmetics.

Cheers,
Ruben

 

[mravigna]

FSU cameras and lenses can be quite good

FSU cameras and lenses can be quite good

Kiev cameras such as the Kiev II and Kiev 4a type 1 are quite nice to use and not too expensive and very similar to the original pre-war Contax II. The lenses are also quite good. Why use them? The challenge of using an older type camera (pre-war technology); the pleasure of printing nice photos from old cameras and 15$ lenses, the history behind the Kiev camera and it's origins?

As for Zorkis and Fed's; the Zorki 3 is a nice camera; looks good and works. Its a cheap alternative to a Leica. I still use my Fed 1g) bottom loader. Don't know why, but I think it just brings me back in time and I enjoy the challenge. I also use everything that digital cameras can offer. Why not? I have learned by using both medias.

 

[zhang xk]

Hello Ruben,

If you have used a J-9 wide open, the J-3 will produce similar results wide open. Perhaps a Summilux ASPH could produce sharp image wide open as it is designed for it. But I think you may just want soft night images.🙂

Kind Regards.

 

[gb hill]

I think thats the first contax mount J-3 that I have seen. I paid $65 for mine about a year ago. Mine needs to be shimmed. Brian gave me some good tips on how to go about it so i'm in the process now. Hope yours fairs better and btw I don't think you paid a bad price for it. Lately I have noticed all fsu stuff on the rise.

 

[giovatony]

Well, I haven't kept all the J-3's, I have a few really nice ones, and a few 1949-1952 ones which are superb.

I also don't understand the crazy spending on FSU equipment. It's really fine stuff, beautiful stuff, some of it, and there are some real rarities which appeal to the budding cadres of FSU collectors, but mostly I liked playing with them.

The best examples can give stunning results. Where I lived in Manhattan in the 1970's and 1980's, on East 14th Street in Manhattan, all these Russian guys set up "junk shops" where they gypped people on fake Icons (from churches), Russian "antiques", and so forth.

I bought CAMERAS and LENSES like a lunatic, for literally pennies. (Great WATCHES too, a whole other universe) I had more stuff and knew more about FSU stuff when it WAS the Soviet Union then most people can even imagine today. Nobody else was buying and the sellers didn't know what to make of it. They couldn't understand why anyone wanted that "garbage" when you could buy a nice Canon AE-1 in America. Poor slobs just off the boat from Russia would show up with sacks of cameras they thought they could sell for a fortune here, and they became bitterly disappointed when they found out it was considered worthless junk in New York.

When I read people "discovering" this stuff now like a bunch of naifs, it amuses me. I had 120 format cameras, Kievs, Hasselblad copies of every stripe, the East German Jena stuff, I had EVERYTHING. Mirror lenses. Suitcase enlargers. I fell in love with a Photosniper when I was 22 years old....I shot all over NYC with it. If I tried that now, some cop would probably shoot me down or I'd wake up in an orange jumpsuit in Gitmo...it looks like a rifle.

There was some stuff that was considered "rare", but the early days of eBay brought it all to the surface, fast.

I accumulated because it cost next to nothing and I was mesmerized by the "other worldness" of the stuff.....like some dropped down from an alien planet.

I even corresponded with the factories by mail and got answers and ordered things. Night vision too, 25 years ago.

I can tell you for certain that the FSU gear you see being flogged now on eBay is the bitter dregs. MOST of it has been tampered with or "restored" by butchers, and it's being sold for extortionate prices.

.

So , how do you explain the 6 perfect working FSU`s I have ?
John

 

[M. Valdemar]

I never said all of them were bad, but as a general rule, the pickings on eBay are getting slim.

They were produced in the tens of millions, so obviously there are plenty of good ones as well as bad ones floating around.

If I were you I'd go to the race track and bet on a few long shots.

 

[M. Valdemar]

Well, at least in the past, the thinking seems to be "they're so cheap, I might as well open it up and try to "fix" it. If I ruin it, it's no huge loss, I can always get some more".

I don't know what it is about J-3's, but they seem to call out to folks to open them up and mess with them.

 

[ruben]

Well, upon making in the past kitchinette lens tests, I think that submitting the J-3 to a test along all other kiev standard lenses will tell quite quickly what I have got.

So let's wait and see.

Cheers,
Ruben

 

[ruben]

I never said all of them were bad, but as a general rule, the pickings on eBay are getting slim.

.........

I very much agree with you here. Then we are left with the issue of the sellers, are they to refund your money or not. As with any other nationality, FSU are varied in their attitude.

In general at eBay, I have met a single one I can regard as a straightforward crook (comfirmed by other buyers here at RFF) and she is not from the FSU, and resells "Black Beauty" Yashicas electro.

Most FSU sellers I have dealt with, are aware they cannot be a hundred percent sure about what they have bought and sold to you. Hence they may come to terms with you, to an extension depending on each one character, your own demmands and the mutual relationship established.

Cheers,
Ruben

 

[ruben]

This Friday the lens arrived.

Mechanically it is great.

Optically I will shoot with it on bW and say, hopefully within a week. Yet very curiously they came with both glass sided extrely clean and shining, as new from the box. I understand it as a good sign about the seller (Kubanoid).

Cheers,
Ruben

Should I post ebay feedbak at this stage, or optical performance should be part of the package?

 

[Sonnar Brian]

And in the meantime, I also picked up a J-3 in Kiev mount. I have a test roll in, using it on a known-accurate Contax to M-Adapter. After that, it will live on the Contax IIIa. It looks good. Especially now... Popped the glass and cleaned all the surfaces.

 

[brachal]

This Friday the lens arrived.

Mechanically it is great.

Optically I will shoot with it on bW and say, hopefully within a week. Yet very curiously they came with both glass sided extrely clean and shining, as new from the box. I understand it as a good sign about the seller (Kubanoid).

Cheers,
Ruben

Should I post ebay feedbak at this stage, or optical performance should be part of the package?

Don't post feedback until you've seen the images. If there's a problem, and the seller isn't helpful, the threat of negative feedback may be the only lever you have.

 

[Semushkin]

To support the cause and keep the red flag flying comrade

Thank you Comrade!


Semushkin

 

[Semushkin]

... a good sign about the seller (Kubanoid).

....

Comrade Reuben,

Kubanoid is a good man and a good comrade. I have bought from him and would buy again.


Valery Pavlovich Semushkin


(pseudonym) :angel:

 

[ruben]

Comrade Reuben,

Kubanoid is a good man and a good comrade. I have bought from him and would buy again.


Valery Pavlovich Semushkin


(pseudonym) :angel:

Yes, I have heard this opinion too in the past. He will get my good feedback.
Cheers,
Ruben

 

[gcoad@btinternet.com]

When I grew up in the 60s and 70s in the UK, there were a lot of FSU gear available, mostly imported by a company called Technical and Optical Equipment (TOE) and many people took advantage of its solid useable photo gear at prices WAY below the BIG COMPANIES.

(I understand that although us Brits would import almost anything from anyone, that the US weren't so keen to import kit from the Soviets......)

Anyway, a couple of months ago at a 'car boot sale' I played with a Russian camera which was totally jammed, yet it brought back fond emories.....Now I am collecting.an 'outfit'... I just like FSU stuff too, and my Canon DSLR kit is gathering dust while I wrestle with remembering how to load film in bottom loading cameras, wind on with knobs, and focus through a tiny viewfinder that scratches my specs.

I'm having fun making pictures with kit that was made while I was in my cradle, and the total cost of which wouldn't buy me a new lens for my DSLR!

 

[Bill58]

I get all my russian lenses plus CLA from Yuri and never got a dog.

 

[ruben]

I get all my russian lenses plus CLA from Yuri and never got a dog.

In my opinion, optics is the real strong side of Yuri. But he had not J-3s available.

Cheers,
Ruben