which leica copy?

[kiev4a]

Buy a Leica or a Bessa. You can play with Russian cameras but you can never rely on them, believe me I had a series of Zeniths and Prakticas as a young man and they aren't worth the bother.

You've hit the nail on the head. Don't get me wrong, I love shooting with my FSU gear but if I'm planning to shoot something that absolutely, positively has to come out, I pcik up my FM or F3 HP.

I do have a couple of FSU cameras in which I have absolute trust but that's because I have personally taken them apart and put them back together (maybe more than once) and know exactly how they work.

 

[Kin Lau]

I'd still like to get a leica screwmount one of these days, and i'm certainly not saying that a leica is the same as a fed 1.

but whether it be a Leica, Fed, Hexar or Kiev... the lesson i've learnt is 'caveat emptor'....

My Leica IIIa was only about USD$120- or so. The slow speeds are off (less than 1/8 doesn't work at all), but everything else is fine... oh yes, it's heavily brassed, but I love it. It's got "character". I actually paid more for my Bessa R than the IIIa. All of my Leica glass are in user condition and all cheap, USD$100- or less for any of them... my 35/3.5 and 90/4 Elmar's were only about $60- each.