Reccommend me a FSU

[Keith]

I can't really recommend any FSU camera, they are, in my experience, all heavy, clumsy and unreliable. Some of the lenses are a quite different matter, good performance and unbeatable value.

If you can't afford a Bessa now why not pick up a cheap fixed lens camera (Yashica, Minolta or whatever) and wait until you can buy a nice Bessa R2.

Boy ... you like to live dangerously don't you? I think you you can expect a Zorki with a note attached to it to come bursting through your window any day now! 😀 😀 😀

On a more serious note my Kiev II has amazed me since I got it. I know FSU's can have their issues but I have a Contax II which I used once and promptly went back to the rusky. I prefer its rangefinder and the direction of the focusing wheel seems easier to me! My Fed 2 is probably one of the nicest handling cameras I own and the only thing I find a little difficult is the rather squinty VF!

Cheers

 

[Welsh_Italian]

Hi Pepe,

I've only recently got into FSU cams and have a Fed 4 with Industar 61. The quality of the lens was very surprising and I would recommend it as a cheap way to start into the LTM world. It's certainly better than on any other camera I have (inc Olympus XA, Konica C35, Minolta 7s). Nice depth of field and bokeh. Others would recommend something like the Jupiter 8 lens but I have no experience of that lens (though I aim to).

And the camera? Well, it certainly is clunky, heavy, unwieldy and a bit ugly - but I quite like it! It has a built-in meter which seems to work well enough, and it's heavy enough not to "judder" when I fire the shutter - nice and steady in my hands. The viewfinder is a bit small but I find it ok in most conditions. If it's too dark to look through, then light probably isn't in my favour anyway! Might be different if you wear glasses and because of that, some folk recommend a zorki. I've heard Fed 5's are going cheap also. They are not the epitome of photographic elegance by any means (in other words, downright ugly), but you can get decent photos from them (as well as a nice I-61 lens!). Maybe their ugliness is also part of their charm?

Sorry I can't be of more help - my experience is limited, but I'm very happy with my Fed 4 although a Fed 2 is on its way. People who use FSU cameras often end up collecting more of them for no apparent reason - with a baby on the way, maybe it's a bad time to buy one or you'll want a lot more? ;-)

Best of luck, and have fun taking pictures!

Alan.

 

[Malcolm_J]

My first Soviet rangefinder was a FED2 bought on eBay more or less in a moment of distraction whilst I was looking for a "serious" cheapo Japanese film camera. I was astounded by the quality of the pictures from what was basically a clunky, rattly camera that seemed to date to the era of the biplane.

Since then I've bought a Kiev 4, Kiev 4M, Zorki 4K, Zorki 6 and a Zenith 3M. They all take excellent pictures. I would not have said that any of them were unduly heavy or bulky by the standards of their era. I mean, yeah, you can get a teeny digital nowadays, but actually any decent film camera of any origin will be about as heavy and about as big as a Soviet. Whether it will take such amazingly clear pictures is another matter.

I'd say the Kiev 4M with Helios 103 would be awfully hard to beat. Good rangefinder, loads of speeds, easy speed selection, nice chunky handling, not especially heavy, easy to load, and that fine lens.

The Zorki 4K has as many speeds, but selecting them is a pain in the neck.

I like the Zenith a lot, despite the lack of slow speeds and it is pretty heavy, plus stop-down aperture....

 

[alternatve]

Because any one of those with full manual controls will set me back the same amount or more, considering I want a 2.0 or faster.

Any Canon GIII QL17 goes for double what a Fed2+J-8 goes.

Unfortuanaly, the FED 2 isn't usually sold with a J8. The standard lens for one is the I-26, and while it's a good performer as well, it's a 53mm/f2.8 lens which makes it one stop slower. A Zorki 4 should come with a J8 as it's standard lens though.

 

[oscroft]

Given the requirements, I'd go for a FED-2 or a Zorki-6. I have both, love both, and I'd hate to be forced to choose between them. I'd avoid the Zorki-5 because it's a bottom-loader (I know lots of people are happy with bottom-loading, but I find it a pain in the, well, bottom).

Going for screw thread is very sensible in my view, because it gives you many options in the choice of lenses - Kievs may be excellent, but there are very few lenses available to fit them.