Why I dont like FSU cameras.

[rxmd]

Well the issue was I didin't make a mistake the camera did.

Well, you did have "shoot a test roll" as part of your moral, so I find it hard to blame the camera for the other fourteen 😉

 

[JayGannon]

Well, you did have "shoot a test roll" as part of your moral, so I find it hard to blame the camera for the other fourteen 😉

Well I was not as versed in FSU cameras then as I am now. I have shot hundreds of rolls on various cameras without issue before. This was the first camera ever to ruin a roll on me. Guess I;ve just been lucky.

 

[wolves3012]

Well the issue was I didin't make a mistake the camera did.
I guess I'm just used to equipment that works. New or used.

Silly me.

Actually, sorry to correct you but you made mistakes with the 14 rolls after the first one. You made a mistake by using an unchecked camera. The camera made no mistake, it just had a fault. You've been exceptionally lucky to have had no other used equipment failures. Look through the other sub-forums to find the folks that have. FSU cameras were cheaply made and heavily subsidised. Their low value means that few ever got serviced. Throw in a rather vague quality control from the manufacturers and you'll end up with an old camera that's a lottery.

For the record, I've had my Leica IIIC ruin a few frames because the shutter capped on 1/1000th and 1/500th. I've had a frame-counter die on my Minolta X-700 (admittedly a minor fault). The light-seals were shot on it when I got it too. I had a Minolta XG-M that just stopped firing at 1/500th-1/1000th and went back under warranty. The Yashica I have came with a jammed shutter because it had been unused for 30-odd years (my auntie's loft probably did that to it). No make is immune from old age and lack of use and servicing.

Of all my cameras, my FSUs are the only ones NOT to have ruined frames (other than a few test shots). That's because I checked each one over and serviced it to whatever extent needed before using it "seriously". I do that for any other make though, they're no exception.

This "I hate FSUs because" has been done to death before, not to be rude. If you do your homework they're actually fine but you just have to accept they're a lottery in as-bought condition. With a bit of TLC they're not far behind other brands in terms of usefulness.

 

[tlitody]

Is photography trying to overtake computing for using acronyms? I've been wondering what the hell FSU stands for for ages. And now I think I finally know.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

FSU= Former Soviet Union.

Just in case your imagination runs wild.

 

[tlitody]

FSU= Former Soviet Union.

Just in case your imagination runs wild.

yeah I had it figured. Not something I would naturally think of when people are talking about cameras though.😕

 

[pakeha]

Hmmm...you shot roll after roll without checking the first one? On a camera that you didn't know to be good? I don't quite follow the logic behind the fact that it was a russian camera and you made a mistake. That's a bit like saying "I hate my brand-x digital because I just wiped the images off the memory card by accident".

I think there's a lesson to be learned here!

Logic here is really easy to take on board, except i believe there are some who just don`t want to learn a lesson or let go.
Its a continental thing, that is most, if not all of these `dump on FSU' threads come from one continent..sad really....GM anyone🙄
regards
CW

 

[Valkir1987]

dump on FSU' threads come from one continent..sad really....GM

I guess thats true. They where somehow fed up against it mostly. People here too, considering every FSU or East German thing as worthless. Good and bad products can be found on both sides, just leave the cold war behind.

 

[JayGannon]

Jeeze you guys ain't half protective are you =)

1. I seem to have come across wrong. I have never said 'I hate FSU cameras' nor am I dumping on them.

2. I don't know where the only Americans seems to dump on FSU cameras came out of.... I'm European and have lived in a few of the 'stans. So yes I should have known better.

3. The aim of my thread was to warn other 1st time FSU'ers to get their camera checked out before they use it so as not to have an unpleasant experience like mine. And no its not the first thing that most people think of doing. Hence the aim of the thread. Title was misleading I guess.

And surprisingly with all the negativity on this thread, I had one nice and helpful response from someone in a PM who pointed me towards Oleg who only sells cameras that are good to use out of the gate, so I'll be buying from him from now on.

 

[JayGannon]

PS. The people who are saying oh well shoot and develop your film immediately, well its not my method of working. I actually enjoy coming back to film after a few years, I find it gives me more distance and objectivity. But yes I will be shooting a test roll from now on on any new purchases.

 

[David Hughes]

Well, I dunno about being protective or over protective but we do get a bit tired of seeing the same old tales about FSU's cameras with provocative headings.

I can't remember seeing a thread headed "I'll never buy a so-called Japanese camera" followed by a comment on a well known make/model that turned out to be made 25 to 30 years and had (gasp) "Made in Taiwan" on it and no instruction book!

Over the years I've bought a few duds from every maker: I've a heap to scrap (2 Olympus, 1 Nikon and 1 Pentax) and a heap to get repaired (2 Leica and 1 Pentax and so on).

Buying old second-hand cameras is always a gamble. Most turn out OK and a few are just long past the point of no repair. Buying film in bulk is cheap, getting it developed and scanned is also cheap. So why not do just that and accept it as part of the fun?

And, like many others I've bought new and had it repaired under guarantee.

Regards, David

 

[JayGannon]

I can't remember seeing a thread headed "I'll never buy a so-called Japanese camera" followed by a comment on a well known make/model that turned out to be made 25 to 30 years and had (gasp) "Made in Taiwan" on it and no instruction book!

No offense David but my thread is titled "Why I don't like FSU cameras". I bought an FSU camera, from the FSU, had a bad experience with it, and made a personal statement about my own experience with one camera and gave some advice at the end, to make sure no one had the same experience as myself. I didn't say DONT BUY FSU CAMERAS, or anything of the such.
So your analogy was way off the mark.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I bought a Nikkormat FTn used at a camera store, great price. Took it on an outing, learned about light leaks. Learned to shoot a test roll with every new camera bought. That was over 20 years ago. Learned how to put in new seals. Bought a Nikkormat FT3 that was near mint at a camera show, checked all the functions while there, took on an outing, only camera, it locked up on the first roll. That is when I learned to always drop a second camera into the bag for anything important. Took my always-been-reliable Nikon S3 out in the snow last year, did so before. Shutter capping at 1/1000. Leica IIIf, CLA'd when bought 15 years ago, shutter capping crept back in. New CLA. Canon 7, bought used, worked for dozens of rolls of film, locked up on an outing at the Smithsonian but I had a second camera.

I have a lot of stories like that. But I do not put up "why I do not like Nikon, Leica, and Canon". I still like them.

 

[JayGannon]

Yep fair point my title was misleading compared to the point of my post.

 

[David Hughes]

Well, OK, but you did say you didn't like FSU cameras and they are not all like your one which was in need of a little TLC. But I was aiming at all the posts that attack ex-USSR cameras on the basis of one or two duds and, I hope, pointing out that other makes don't seem to attract such generalised threads or heading.

So, if you haven't taken offence I'll add that I wasn't trying to give it.

Regards, David

 

[wolves3012]

Yep fair point my title was misleading compared to the point of my post.

I think you have a fair gripe with THIS camera, although it's undeniable that you assumed too much. As others say, the post title was inflammatory. Bearing in mind how many posts we see along the lines of "I just bought a <insert model> off fleabay for $<insert small number> and it's not working, all FSUs are cr*p" it's not a surprise we find this annoying.

As an analogy, try buying a Leica, use it for few years but don't service it. Toss it in a barn for 40 years and then try suggesting how cr*p Leicas are because your slow speeds are off, the VF is full of fungus and the curtains are perished. I doubt you'll get any more sympathy for that.

A post saying that you'd discovered a fault, ruined some shots and asking for help in what to do about it will, I promise, get constructive suggestions and helpful replies - even if the bottom line is "it's worthless, toss it and get another".

 

[wolves3012]

FWIW, I own/have owned about 30 FSUs. Estimates (from memory) would be:

About ten worked perfectly as-bought. Three had sieves for curtains (including the *newest* of them - I can forgive the 60/70yr old ones). Of the rest, they all needed some degree of TLC but were reasonably functional. Other than curtains, I've not replaced a single part in any of them, just CLA being needed. On the majority, they worked to the point of being usable but I'm a perfectionist so I felt compelled to tweak things like the fractionally-off RF and so on.

 

[ebolton]

For what it's worth, besides running a test roll thru new-to-me cameras, I also do one after repairs or CLA. Got film ready for two Pentaxes out now, one being a long-timer with me and the other recently bought and found to be in need on arrival.

 

[martinsmith99]

Out of a dozen or FSU cameras I have only had one die on me. I can only report a 50% success rate in about half a dozen German cameras though

 

[Frontman]

I've bought a few FSU cameras over the last year, and not one of them worked properly when I bought it. Fortunately they are simply constructed machines which are easily service. The main issue I have with them are the quality of things like shutter material and poor quality lubricants. The parts aren't machined as smoothly as their counterparts from Germany, but they do the job well enough. Even so, I like all of my FSU cameras, and working on them has taught me about the basic workings of camera mechanisms, and given me a vent for my urge to tinker.