I want a quality LTM body for my I-61 ...

[Steve M.]

For the price of a IIIc or IIIf you could get a dead reliable R2a or R3a and have AE. Just use a M to LTM adapter. But if an all manual camera is fine for you a Bessa R would be cheaper (although these seem to be going up and up in prices lately). A Canon P or 7 are excellent cameras, but as old as they are I would figure in a CLA for them as well.

Least amount of outlay for a dead reliable LTM camera? Bessa R.

My choice for the best dead reliable LTM old classic camera? A Leica IIIa w/ CLA. If you don't mind the wider spacing on the RF and viewfinder, I think these are better built than the later cameras, and you can often pick them up for less to begin with.

 

[David Hughes]

Why not a properly serviced FSU?

I'll second that; just get the Fed 2 serviced...

Regards, David

 

[paulfish4570]

I am glad to see this thread rear its ugly head. I have been musing most of this morning about a dead reliable platform for my two FSU lenses. In fact, I took a few shots with my FED-2d.
Raid says Eddie Smolov is in poor health and not doing repairs right now. I understand Oleg is good, but $25 for shipping. Anybody closer other than fedka who would tune it properly?

 

[rxmd]

Raid says Eddie Smolov is in poor health and not doing repairs right now. I understand Oleg is good, but $25 for shipping. Anybody closer other than fedka who would tune it properly?

What do you mean, closer than Fedka? I thought the US was the US, shipping-wise?

Oleg, on the other hand, has about twelve FED-2s for sale for $50 each plus $22 shipping, which is not outstandingly cheap, but he CLAs the cameras he sells and for that it's a very fine price. If it ends up broken, Oleg will fix it, and an Oleg FED-2 will pretty much keep its price if you decide that you don't want it after all. I don't think you'll get yours CLAd anywhere for less than $72 including shipping both ways, so I'd say just go and buy a FED-2 from Oleg, rather than sending yours off.

If you don't fancy the idea, I'd go with a cheap sub-$200 Bessa R (sold mine for 99 EUR back then on RFF) and the lower part of a Kiev-4 case to make a cheap-but-good half case. You'll get the best viewfinder of any LTM camera, plus a meter.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

http://fedka.com/Frames/Main_Frame.htm

Fedka is located in New York City.

Oleg is overseas, two different repair resources.

Fedka's repair services:
http://fedka.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=48

 

[paulfish4570]

I poorly wrote what I was trying to get across on repairs. Let me try again:
1) Eddie smolov is in poor health.
2) Oleg is a LONG way away.
3) I wonder if there is a reputable fsu camera service in the states other than those offered by fedka and Smolov.
The FED I have now came from fedka.

 

[paulfish4570]

fedka is in Chicago, isn't it?

 

[ferider]

Brian, I sppreciate the thought on the older Canons, but I want something more common ...

Hmm. I recommend the Canon P too. Very, very sturdy, 1:1 finder with parallax correction. Should cost less than US 200.

BTW, made in roughly 100,000 copies. Not sure what you mean by "more common".

 

[paulfish4570]

I reckon, ferider, that is common enough ... 🙂

 

[rxmd]

BTW, made in roughly 100,000 copies. Not sure what you mean by "more common".

Well, the Zorki-4 was made in something like 1.7 million copies, so even if 9 out of 10 Zorki-4s were bad, this still leaves more good Zorki-4s than Canon Ps 😉

 

[paulfish4570]

🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

 

[healyzh]

What are people's opinion of Fedka? I see several items on their site that are of interest.

As for the original question, I'd personally go with either the Bessa or Leica, or you can do like I do with my Jupiter-8 and use a M-mount adapter. I use my J-8 on an M6 TTL, but have been thinking of picking up a IIIf.

 

[paulfish4570]

I have considered a iiif or iiic or M3 or Bessa r3m ...

 

[Brian Legge]

I've only purchased a J8 from Fedka but I am totally happy with it. Several of my favorite 35mm shots this year were taken with that lens.

 

[paulfish4570]

I may have a trade working for a CLA'd FED-2 ...

 

[Frontman]

To continue the FSU theme, but with a more interesting camera, the Zorki 3 is pretty neat. As for the Canons, the Canon 7 is also a good option. I've been selling a few of these (P's and 7's) on eBay recently, and the prices are lower than what most Bessas go for.

Here in Japan there are any number of interesting LTM cameras, such as the early Minoltas and Yashicas, as well as Leotax/Chiyotax/Nikka, etc. All are of considerably higher quality than the FSU cameras, and they aren't prohibitively expensive.