Iskra: what's the second speed scale for ?

[taffer]

Well, at last some parcel arrives ! It was the Iskra from Oleg, together with some 40.5 filters and 3 Kiev helicals 🙂

Curiously this one is marked Iskra, and not ИСКРА, maybe it's the export model but the lens is still marked In cyrillic, or maybe it's a FrankenIskra...

That said, I finally managed to figure how the aperture ring works, not trivial 😛 (lift on one side so it doesn't lose the coupling with the aperture pin, and so that's what the little tab is for, no?), but I've noticed that there are two shutter speed scales, one up to 1/500 and another to 1/125 that also has less speeds, what's that for... the ones for the flash maybe ?? 😕

The aperture/shutter dials look a bit delicate so I guess that part must be used with care, what I'm impressed with is the finder, if these FSU people would had come up with a real Leica M copy I think they could have made a good one.

Mine is retrofitted with a red ruby window in back (after all it was $40), and I've already thought about a solution for a homebrew red window removable cover using some odd stuff 😀

Btw just out of curiosity, does anybody know a source for an English user manual ?

TIA !

 

[rover]

I wasn't able to find one Oscar, but if I do I will let you know.

Maybe William can come to our rescue.

 

[Roman]

I don't know a source for an English manual, either (just know a German site with a self-written one) - what do you need to know?
My guess for the second shutter speed scale (the green one): those are full seconds for calculating long exposure times when using the camera on 'B' - check it out: set the shutter on f/4 at 1 sec. on the regular scale, and you'll see f/8 & 4 sec. f/11 & 8 sec. etc, which should be correct not taking film reciprocity into account.
And yes, the finder is really great, that's the one thing that makes it superior even to a Super Ikonta; from a German colleague who took his Iskra apart I heard that even all the inside glass of the camera was coated, rare for such an old model.
BTW, both of mine are the cyrillic logo type, I will take one of them along in May, I guess, so we can compare.
I'm looking forward to your comments and results from the lens - you'll be surprised how good it is (even my modern Mamiya glass isn't better!)

Roman

 

[taffer]

Thanks guys ! And thanks Roman, yes I think that's the purpose of the green scale. As for the finder, it's simply fantastic, even when you look at the VF window from the front, looks like a very bright, reflective piece of glass, reminds me of the one on the Canon P.

By some odd reason, the previous owner put a piece of leatherette (from a Kiev 4 I think) over the RF window, with a small hole in the middle, to get a smaller and round RF patch. The reason I don't know, but the finder is definitely a lot better with the normal BIG and BRIGHT square RF patch.

Didn't find mention to the 'Iskra' latin engraving on Princelle, this one is from the last production year, 1963.

I'll probably replace the worn leatherette (or vinyl or whatever) with some leather, any color suggestions ? Japanesque Gold maybe ? 😀

 

[Pherdinand]

guys you drive me crazy, you will make me sell my "new" super ikonta for an iskra 😀

Is there a rectangular-format Iskra? 🙄

 

[Roman]

T

By some odd reason, the previous owner put a piece of leatherette (from a Kiev 4 I think) over the RF window, with a small hole in the middle, to get a smaller and round RF patch. The reason I don't know, but the finder is definitely a lot better with the normal BIG and BRIGHT square RF patch.


😀

I think I know why he did that: the very big rangefinder patch shows different focussing distances (because of parallax?) when focussing either with the right or left edge of the patch - maybe he wanted to make sure he was only using the central part (though these small differences might only show up with pictures taken close-up & wide-open - but then the Iskra was popular in portrait-studion in the USSR).

Roman

 

[Pherdinand]

Roman, taffer - that's an interesting option. I had yesterday the same problem when checked the alignment of the super-ikonta. The top region of the patch showed misalignment, just like the bottom, while in the middle it was okay. Good idea, maybe i'll try the same🙂

 

[Roman]

guys you drive me crazy, you will make me sell my "new" super ikonta for an iskra 😀

Is there a rectangular-format Iskra? 🙄

Well sometimes you see them modified for 'MF APS' (=6x4.5cm - vertically oriented).
The Russian 6x9cm Super-Ikonta copy is the Moskva series - I have got a Moskva-5 myself, and while not bad, it is way below the Iskra, lens-quality-wise...


Roman

 

[taffer]

I think I know why he did that: the very big rangefinder patch shows different focussing distances (because of parallax?) when focussing either with the right or left edge of the patch - maybe he wanted to make sure he was only using the central part (though these small differences might only show up with pictures taken close-up & wide-open - but then the Iskra was popular in portrait-studion in the USSR).

Roman

Sounds indeed like an option Roman, at first I thought the patch was there to cover some sort of damage in the RF window and prevent it showing in the VF, but pleasantly discovered it was not the case. Curiously, the leatherette was very well put in place, and it's clear that it was made with the top cover off, nobody could fit it that well otherwise.

 

[taffer]

guys you drive me crazy, you will make me sell my "new" super ikonta for an iskra 😀

Is there a rectangular-format Iskra? 🙄

You know, we're impatient to see what modifications you can come up with an Iskra, a panoramic one maybe ?? 😀

 

[taffer]

Well, it has been brown leather in the end. The vinyl on mine was really in bad shape and it looks great in her new dress, only that I need some more leather patches as I only had for the front, luckily I have a leather jacket / factory very near.

I've taken her out for a walk this morning, as always, after happily ending the roll, I've come up with other composition ideas I could have tried on my last shot, but oh well 🙂 Roll was Ilford XP2 rated at 200.

I'll keep you posted.

 

[P C Headland]

English Manual

English Manual

There is a guy who occassionally has translated manuals on the auction site. They are translations he has done himself, so I'm not sure how good they are. The Russian manual is available on the KMZ web site. I tried using an online translator, which yielded the usual interesting interpretations, but it should be good enough as a starting point for you to translate it yourself.

BTW, I posted a couple of threads over on pnet in the classic camera forum with some recent Iskra shots. Maybe I should get around to uploading some of them here. I really like this camera, and am debating whether to get another, maybe an Iskra II this time.

The last camera fair here in NL yielded a few 33mm screw on filters, so it's now got a UV filter permanently attached.

Paul