Let's Have A Nice Chat About The Iskras (and some gossip too)

[ruben]

It's almost a month since I started to daily wear my Iskra for daylight shooting, and I am being conquered more and more by this camera. True, it is not a 135mm rangefinder size, but I feel it as a real compact and light Medium Format. And I feel it too quite light for carrying it from my neck.

Like with other cameras that attract me, I have "customized" it for my aesthetical and functional tastes, which I would like to share with you.

First I have painted the case black, and with the help of tapette I blackened some parts of the upper and lower chrome of the body. For the painting job I have used two liquids I believe are easy to find at any shop for fixing shoes: a black paint for changing the case color and over it a Kiwi polishing black liquid, to be applyied not with the built in sponge, but with a brush. With the latter polishing liquid you can bring alive also the original leatharette of the camera.

 

[ruben]

with the tapette I also covered the upper and lower surfaces of the door.

Then I carefully extracted the big original brown screw attaching the case to the body and exchanged it for the most beautifull and thin bottom screw ever, the one inculded in the Kiev rangefinders. Between the thin screw 3/8 and the case leather I inserted a thin metal O ring to protect the camera leather when pressing the screw.

 

[ruben]

finally, in the area of beauty improvement, but linked to functionality, I added a softie.

Notice that the softie elevates the height of the shutter release, and thus you don't have to fire with the tip of your finger, making the folks around aware, but rather smoothly with the joint.

 

[ruben]

Yes, the Iskra is a Medium Format leaf shutter camera, but the low noise of its shutter leaves behind many many 135mm rangefinders. At close distance from people, an Iskra will not go unnoticed like a compact rf, but due to its low noise people very close to you will never know if you have shot or not.

Now, I am aware that some Iskras have a rather relatively noisy shutter. In my humble opinion, and take into account I am not a camera fixer, this is due to the internal shutter compound around the lens being dry. So I have applyied a VERY TINY BIT of oil to the shutter compound, through the trigger release channel of movement.

 

[ruben]

In the above pic I am showing the trigger not the channel along which it moves. In order to apply the oil you will have in invert the camera and use a canister with a thin and flexible pipe. After you have done it, leave the camera inverted for some hours. Remember that oil migrates, therefore don't expect the best results immediately, and BE CAREFULL NOT TO EXCEED A TINY BIT. THERE ARE LENSES OUT THERE.

Then I expect the sound will be quieter and nicer. Another tip I can provide in this regard concerns the softie. Take care of inserting a bit of rubber or leather between the softie and the shutter release button. This, because in my opinion the wave of "turbulance" at the shutter within the lens goes back to the shutter button.

BTW, by this way I considerably quieted the shutter of the noisy Olympus SP rangefinder.

Owners of the Iskra II should be warned that the space left to a softie insertion in their camera is rather meager. My sofie is from Luigi and its top is too broad for the Iskra II.

Even for my common Iskra, when I push the softie I have to take some care to slide it a bit towards the winding button, in order to spare undesired friction with the other side.

 

[ruben]

Now let's deal a bit with having a good hood from the available resources. At times some Iskras are sold with a yellow filter. I bought one of these, disassembled the glass of the filter and sticked it to a 30.5~37 step up ring, on which I mounted a 37 threaded hood.

The great news is that such filter are available at Alex photo goods. He must have I suppose two or three.

 

[ruben]

Now the ethernal question about the hood: what to do with it once you have closed the camera. This has drove me crazy since I started to fiddle with the Iskras, but recently I found a solution, that I am aware not every one will be able to find. I am using a small case, originally dedicated to hold three close up lenses, and the case is inserted to the camera strap, rather tightly.

Therefore once I am walking with the hood mounted on camera I push the small case up, close to my throat, and forget it is there.

 

[ruben]

there is another issue, somewhat annoying, and it is the abrupt opening of the lens door, once you push the button on top of the top casting. All of us use to cushion this crude opening with the help of a hand. But some of us sometimes forget it and shake the camera to the bottom of our nerves.

There is a solution for this issue too. Use a rather thick tape and stick it to the lower side of the door as shown in the following picture. You should obtain a smooth opening of the door like a lady posing a glass of tea on a table. Otherwise your tape is not thick enough.

 

[ruben]

Finally let's improve that ackward protruding eye piece, a fierce enemy of glass wearing folks.

I have just extracted by simple force with circular movements, and replaced by a rubber O ring. A pleasure.

 

[ruben]

Have I said anything about improving the yellow patch through the Lee ND filters ? No need, you already know.

Cheers,
Ruben

 

[Chris B]

It seems like you are turning your beautiful Iskra into some sort of stealth camera with the shady black colourings and noise reduction.....I guess no one will notice the unusual vintage Russian looking folding camera you are pointing at them because it is now so black and quiet.....!! Each to his own but the thought of defacing my perfect Iskra gives me the shudders.

 

[JoeV]

Thank you, Ruben, for your thoughtful post. I haven't handled an Iskra, but can see the obvious benefit that a stealthy leaf-shutter rollfilm camera can provide. Big negatives and elegantly simple for candid street photography.

My only 35mm leaf-shutter street camera is a Retina IIIC; it is so much quieter and vibration-free that I much prefer it to the Zorki IV, even though the Zorki has a bigger VF.

Of course, my Bronica ETRS is technically a leaf-shutter camera, but the mirror slap is more like the wind blowing open a large barn door, so it's not exactly quiet. Although used in waist-level viewfinder mode it can be rather stealthy, only because one doesn't hold it up to one's face.

And then there's my Yashica Mat LM TLR; now you've done it, Ruben; you have me thinking about medium format street photography. Good thing I don't have a Holga; those are "leaf" shutters also, no?

~Joe

 

[ruben]

Hi Joe,
Since I daily go to work with a back pack, containting two boxes (breakfast + lunch) you can easily understand two features of the Iskra I do enjoy. Its almost no weight for a man like me carrying it from its neck in the morning alonside my backpack, and my belly pack with a Kiev rangefinder, plus a dismounted Jupiter inside, wallet, keys, etc. And its compactness when returning home, my Kiev rangefinder out, and the Iskra within my back pack.

If you follow my posts at the FSU subforum, you will notice I am very touchy about smoothness and silent operation of shutters

Now, in order to balance this whole thread, take into account we here are dealing with the Iskra honey but not everything is necessarily honey.

Cheers,
Ruben

 

[Joao]

Thank you for your comments and sugestions on the Iskra. I have the privilege of owning and using one of them - one of the last Iskras that Master Oleg has CLAed - and it is indeed a beautiful camera and an excellent performer.
Your sugestions include several options that depend on personal taste, but I read them with interest. I still prefer the original brown ERC, but I may be using in the future your option of the screw to attach the camera to the ERC (mine had no screw, I made one from a plastic gear I recovered from an old printer...)
Keep posting your comments, the Iskra deserves them !
Best regards
Joao

 

[Ernst Dinkla]

It can be a beauty

It can be a beauty

It seems like you are turning your beautiful Iskra into some sort of stealth camera with the shady black colourings and noise reduction.....I guess no one will notice the unusual vintage Russian looking folding camera you are pointing at them because it is now so black and quiet.....!! Each to his own but the thought of defacing my perfect Iskra gives me the shudders.

Stripping the Soviet skin that was damaged. Cleaning the bellows, the rangefinder internally. Repainted where the black was lost with an UV curing very tough urethane paint. Selecting a nice leather from the bag with leather pieces a befriended orthopedic shoemaker gave me. Adding correction glass in the eye-piece. It could be more pimped but with the old Lunasix exterior and the more or less matching chainpod it gets a bit of class. On the street they still declare anyone using that kind of equipment as mentally retarded but that's the price one pays.

http://www.pigment-print.com/Tijdelijk/PimpedIskra/IskraIndex.html


Ernst

 

[ruben]

On the street they still declare anyone using that kind of equipment as mentally retarded but that's the price one pays.

Ernst

Dear Ermst,
Being seen as a mentally retarded folk, i, e, a harmless one, is for me one of the most important qualities, shooting enabling, a street photographer may want to inspire around.

Cheers,
Ruben

 

[ruben]

And one last comment still hammering my head: Medium Format within a small package !

Cheers,
Ruben