Somewhere in the world, it's Red Oktober!

There is something oddly relaxing about shooting this camera. For some reason I just don't feel the same amount of self-imposed pressure to produce really good images. Instead I just feel free to go and shoot anything I want. Maybe my expectations are lower but I don't think that is it. The camera and the lenses, at least the one I have used so far, are very capable so I am pretty sure whatever I shoot is going to come out pretty decent. I think I am just having fun.


K4a-Train.jpg


Kiev 4a - Helios 103 53mm - Kodak TMAX 100
 
Pioneer said:
The camera and the lenses, at least the one I have used so far, are very capable so I am pretty sure whatever I shoot is going to come out pretty decent. I think I am just having fun.
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Totally agree with this. I have so much fun when I'm out shooting with my Zorki, and I find the camera and lenses often give me results I would be just as happy with if they come from my Leica.

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1957 Zorki 4 rangefinder
1987 LZOS Jupiter-12 35/2.8
Expired Ferrania Solaris 200
Epson V750​
 
Perhaps time to take out my Zorki 3M. I'll need to find a small soviet hammer to adjust the cold shoe grip as the poor old KMZ Zeiss finder copy is exceptionally loose (whereas I can hardly get it in to the one on my Zorki 4).

zorki3m-1-of-1.jpg
 
A Little Soviet Flare

A Little Soviet Flare

Colton, you are absolutely right about the Jupiter 12. I do need to get mine out more often than I do. Right or wrong, I seem to be far more likely to pick up a 50 then one of my wider lenses.

During a walk thru the desert behind my house the other day with the Helios 103 53mm lens I was shown a bit of that Soviet Flare. I think everyone knows that the Helios will flare quickly under the right circumstances but I thought that I would offer a up a couple of examples from my own recent experience. Just for the record, my Helios does carry a nice 40.5mm lens shade almost all the time, and it was certainly wearing the shade during this walk! :)

Try a little setting sun in the corner of the frame.
KV-Helios-103-Flare-Example-1.jpg


Kiev 4a - Helios 103 - Expired Kodak Gold 100

Or maybe you would like it in the center!
KV-Helios-103-Flare-Example-2.jpg


Kiev 4a - Helios 103 - Expired Kodak Gold 100

I know that not everyone is enthused with flare, and not all flare is created equal of course. I do have at least a couple of shots from this walk where the image is so veiled with flare I can't even tell for sure what the subject was in the first place. But I don't think these turned out terribly bad. I know that they would benefit from a bit more work in Photoshop but I did only a minor amount of global adjustment this time around so that I could show that marvelous Soviet Flare. :D

BTW, for those who may care, these were scanned with my old Plustek 7600i. They were then moved into Photoshop where they were subjected to a minor crop, a bit of dust spotting, some minor sharpening and then a small amount of brightening.
 
I gotta dig out my J12. Forgot I had one....
So many of these Soviet lenses are great -love my J8s, the 50 2.8 on my Fed2 is sweet, as is the 53 1.8 on my Kiev as is the Zenitar 50 f2 on my Zenit 212. And the Orion 15 - oh my!
Yeah I need to get out and shoot.
 
The J-12 is definitely one of my favorite lenses. I keep mine parked on a Zorki-6 now that I have all the flare issues (actually light leaks through the side of the rear element) fixed. But this year since I had used three cameras for ICCD I decided to just use one camera, the Zorki-1e, and put a J-8 on it instead of the I-22 that normally resides there. And I only exposed one roll of film. Will get that to the lab sometime this week, and should have the scans back by the end of the month.


Lots of good images here no matter the lens used. Keep them coming, and yes, you can post photos from other Oktobers.


PF
 
CharlesDAMorgan said:
Perhaps time to take out my Zorki 3M. I'll need to find a small soviet hammer to adjust the cold shoe grip as the poor old KMZ Zeiss finder copy is exceptionally loose (whereas I can hardly get it in to the one on my Zorki 4).

zorki3m-1-of-1.jpg
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Just put some paper under the finder shoe as you install it to take up the slack. My Nikon 35mm finder has the same issue, and I haven't lost it yet.


PF
 
farlymac said:
The J-12 is definitely one of my favorite lenses. I keep mine parked on a Zorki-6 now that I have all the flare issues (actually light leaks through the side of the rear element) fixed. But this year since I had used three cameras for ICCD I decided to just use one camera, the Zorki-1e, and put a J-8 on it instead of the I-22 that normally resides there. And I only exposed one roll of film. Will get that to the lab sometime this week, and should have the scans back by the end of the month.

Lots of good images here no matter the lens used. Keep them coming, and yes, you can post photos from other Oktobers.

PF
Click to expand...

Took my J-12 out a couple of evenings ago and for some reason all the shots were out of focus. I was pretty certain that most, if not all, of them were properly focused but I must have been doing something wrong. Even the images where I used hyper focus didn't seem to work as intended.

I'll figure it out but it caught me by surprise. That is one of the things I really like about these FSU cameras, trouble shooting is usually pretty basic. Sometimes, even when you think they are broken, the problem turns out to be easily repaired.

The only Kiev I have that actually seems to be truly out of order is my Kiev 4AM Olympia. But even that one may not be permanently broken. After all, it did work when I originally picked it up, and it hasn't been used that much since then.
 
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