Leningrad RF - Manual? Advice? Tips?

[rxmd]

I have two of them- one now out of commission.
I seem to recall using the self timer and placing the camera on the table. The camera jumped a few inches off the table as it fired and advanced the film.
I see them as more of a curiosity rather than a useful camera. They are rather heavy.
Also why use the self timer to begin with- isn't the point of the camera its rapid advance ?

I have one and it doesn't jump when I use the self-timer, but maybe there are more and less "jumpy" ones.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Thanks to the mystery solvers!

I can see why I never had the problem, as it's quite hard to imagine why one would wind up the self timer and then change the shutter speed.

Jumping 'several inches' in the air is a slight exaggeration, but you could certainly see mine move when I did the same trick.

I've just remembered that I actually have one, but it's in Moscow... It was a swap for something several years ago, and I keep meaning to go and pick it up.

Cheers,

R.

 

[rbiemer]

"Remove dust from the lens with a clean soft brush squirrel."

I like that recommendation a lot. In future, all my lenses will be cleaned with squirrels. I'll pack one in my camera bag every time I leave the house.

Now we need to determine which squirrels are softest: Red, Grey, or Black?
Or is it, perhaps, a function of age?
Rob

 

[Dez]

I have two of them- one now out of commission.
I seem to recall using the self timer and placing the camera on the table. The camera jumped a few inches off the table as it fired and advanced the film.
I see them as more of a curiosity rather than a useful camera. They are rather heavy.
Also why use the self timer to begin with- isn't the point of the camera its rapid advance ?

I have one of these beasts as well, and do not know of any particular problem with the self timer. The only relevant advice I can come up with re the timer is to make sure that is wound all the way down after using it. Not doing so could cause problems with some designs although I have not examined the mechanism in a Leningrad to see if if would be the case here.

About dry firing it, I don't know if that is really a problem, but it seems like it could be. The spring is really massive in these things, and the advance is very fast, ending with a clank that sounds like things might break if done too often without film to slow it down a bit. It seems much more violent than the advance on a Robot for example. Subtle it isn't.

With the likely exception of the FED2 and the Zorki3 on a good day, people don't buy FSU cameras for their looks, and this one is no beauty queen, but it has some really good features other than the obvious winder. I think it has the best finder of all the FSU cameras: as I recall, it has 50, 85, and 135mm frame lines, with parallex correction, which is not too shabby at all.

Cheers,
Dez

 

[Coldkennels]

The spring is really massive in these things, and the advance is very fast, ending with a clank that sounds like things might break if done too often without film to slow it down a bit. It seems much more violent than the advance on a Robot for example. Subtle it isn't.

I'm starting to think the Leningrad would be better equipped with one of these:

Actually, that would be awesome - if impossible to use without getting shot in the head by armed police.

 

[john341]

Frame lines

Frame lines

As I said earlier, the viewfinder is great and although not marked, the whole viewfinder view is equivalent to the 35mm w/a view. Its a fun camera to use but I don't trust the self timer

 

[rbiemer]

Coldkennels,
I was reminded today about where I saw an English manual for the Leningrad: Rafael Pankratau is a dealer who I've bought some cameras from.
He has moved more into movie cameras but still does have some still cameras.
I was reminded about him because he sent me an email to let me know that he is upgrading his website.
Which is good.
But until he is done, the internal links are not working very well.
Which is bad.
But he does maintain an ebay store and has this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ENGLISH-Manual-LENINGRAD-Russian-camera-/140453020936?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20b3a70508
$9 for a downloaded file or $9 plus $4 shipping if you wanted him to mail it.
Rob

 

[KoNickon]

Oleg's website indicates he no longer works on the Leningrads -- too bad.

How about Essex? They seem to be able to fix anything; I'd be really impressed if they can handle Leningrads. Maybe I'll ask.

 

[KoNickon]

Got a reply from Essex -- they quoted $156 for a CLA. They really can work on anything.