Which to buy?

[David Hughes]

I'm with you both.

I'm with you both.

Well, I'd like to repair them all and use them all but I've too many of the things. By giving a lot away mostly P&S's and APS's I've cut down on the film expense but those I have left (about 30 or 40) include several with expensive repairs.

Here's a "f'instance" I've a nice 1952 Zorki 1c with a known history going back to someone's uncle in the 3rd Polish Corps on the Rhine who bought it from a Soviet soldier. I've spent a lot of time taking the ERC down to a collection of bits of leather, CLA'ing the leather and picking bits of thread out with tweezers, then restitching by hand and mouth (that means swearing at it a lot) and then I give the shutter a work out, put film in it and find 4 or 5 pin holes have developed. So it goes on the repair list but there's the Leica II and the M2 in front of it and we all know what they cost to repair. And as for the R5 which no one in the UK will touch because only Leica in Germany can do it, well...

I think they are all worth it. If only for the look on people's faces when I use them at airshows but affording it is another matter and I have to justify it from time to time to a young lady I met years ago, who thinks they are all the same so why worry about one of them?

Regards, David

 

[wolves3012]

Here's a "f'instance" I've a nice 1952 Zorki 1c with a known history going back to someone's uncle in the 3rd Polish Corps on the Rhine who bought it from a Soviet soldier. I've spent a lot of time taking the ERC down to a collection of bits of leather, CLA'ing the leather and picking bits of thread out with tweezers, then restitching by hand and mouth (that means swearing at it a lot) and then I give the shutter a work out, put film in it and find 4 or 5 pin holes have developed.
Regards, David

Be a shame not to get that running again then. I've re-curtained a FED 1 NKVD and a Zorki 3M so far, with a FED 4 waiting for a rainy day or two. It's actually not too hard a job on the FED/Zorki 1 models, just tedious and fiddly. Jay Javier's site is very helpful on the matter too.

 

[estudleon]

Wow!!!

I learned more in this topic about russian RF than anywhere before.

Thanks for all guys. Really thanks.

to julio1fe

Hi, hermano rioplatense like me. If you come to Argentina post me and i will tell you some places where you can find lenses and cams. Regards.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

>I was talking to the only person I've ever met who was in a position to know about them
>and he said that the optics of the FSU ones are made to very tight tolerances and on a
>par with the originals. This based on proper bench tests.

I've shot with a lot of FSU lenses, and found a variation in performance. Most are very good, some are great, some are mediocre. Some of the lenses were quite close together age-wise.

This 1953 J-3 is one of the best that I've ever used.

Wide-open on the Bessa R2:

But: when received, the helical had been moved from its original setting. Second set of taps found for holding the helical in the mount, I moved it back to the unused set. It has two Red Dot index marks for the focus. They both look like they were done at the factory. The "unused" ones came back up once the helical was positioned correctly in the mount so the lens would focus to infinity. Repositioned the focus ring using the long-unused taps for it. After that, new shims for focus.

I think the FSU bodies and lenses were not all "standardized" for use, and some custom adjustments were required to match the body and lens for use. When labor was cheap, and Technician's were widely available, this was easy. Now -decades later- pick up a combo that is tested and working, or send it in for a CLA.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

This is with a 1956 J-3, the "field-curvature" is "unusually high" with it, made focussing off-center very difficult used below F4. The focus at the edges shifts closer to the camera, more than I am used to with other J-3's. No signs that the lens had been opened or worked on before. I tried re-seating the optics, and will retry it. It is not the first J-3 that I've seen this in. Moving the optics closer together helped that problem. Of course, it is not as bad as a CZO Sonnar that I received with the rear group in backwards.

1956 J-3, Wide-open at F1.5 on the Bessa R2.

 

[David Hughes]

Many thanks, Brian, for the reply and the great photo's.

I wish I could argue with you but I can't as my experience is just like yours except I would say that the best lenses I have had were from Leica (R5 & C3), Minolta (S-1 APS lens), Olympus (35ED) and Konica (Z-up110: a P&S). And I'll add that the all time worst lens I own has "Ernst Leitz Wetzlar" on the front and is in the paperweight class. (It should be uncoated but has been coated and I think that was when it was wrecked. So I don't don't blame Leitz in any way but had it happened to a FSU one, it would be seen as the factory's fault.)

All my other lenses, German, Japanese and USSR are on the right side of good. Probably I should say "favourite" instead of "best" since I've no serious way of comparing them. Instead I try to start each cassette of film with the same two or three shots because the first 2 or 3 are often ruined and it gives me a standard for the set.

What you say I'll add to my opinion ie that people have tinkered with them and ruined them and now I'm adding, thanks to you, that the factory produced a few bad 'uns.

Somehow I feel that this thread will add to the poor reputation the FSU ones have and will not alter Leica's reputation.

Thanks again for the pictures.

Regards, David

PS I just wish you hadn't mentioned the R2... ;-(

 

[Sonnar Brian]

> PS I just wish you hadn't mentioned the R2... ;-(

Just to be fair, I use a Nikkor 5cm f2 on the "just CLA'd" Zorki 3M and a German 5cm F2 Sonnar converted to LTM on the second Zorki 3M...

 

[Murray Kelly]

My FED-2 which I think is just great (have IIIg and Bessa-R etc) - with its very quiet shutter. Nice camera. Been well used and the paint is chipped but that doesn't affect the pictures! Mine is 'not' a bottom feeder as stated above. The whole back is removable and loading is like any other non-Barnack camera.
I say this in case you are deterred by the thought it may be difficult to load. It isn't.
Murray

 

[photobizzz]

I have had several Kievs (4a & 4) a Zorki 4, Fed 2a, and Zorki 3C (still have it) and I liked the Zorki's best. Mostly for the larger/brighter VF & RF patch. The Zorki 3C I have now is probably the nicest I have had and feels solid.