Will Kiev and Fed camera prices go up thanks to Putin?

[CameraQuest]

I wonder if the Russian invasion will create a new interest and fondness of the Ukranian made Kiev and Feds?

which in turn translates to higher camera prices ....

 

[xayraa33]

I wonder if the Russian invasion will create a new interest and fondness of the Ukranian made Kiev and Feds?

which in turn translates to higher camera prices ....

It might, but that is a small niche of a small niche and only for RF camera fanatics...not too many new film users opt for these RF cameras when many better quality SLR film cameras are still around for sale and for not much money.

 

[mapgraphs]

I ordered a lens on Feb. 11 from a vendor in Poltava, Ukraine, shipped the 12th and got it on Mar. 2. So, yes, there might be some interest that would boost prices. Not necessarily because of interest in photography gear though .. Which reminds me, I need to order a couple of LTM-M adapters.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I suspect it will be a long time before sellers from Russia and the Ukraine will be selling on Ebay to most of the world again. Even during the 1950s lenses and cameras were made for export, with "Made in the USSR" in English on them. I have a Zorki made in 1952 with a rigid Industar-22 marked "Made in USSR". I think it will be years before things are back to that level of commerce with Russia and Ukraine.

 

[farlymac]

Well, everything is going up now days, so why not FSU gear? I'm pretty sure Fedka will be strapped for his usual inventory as he'll have to start buying up cameras in the local market. But then for the time being I'm not going to worry over any of that as there are far more important things to worry about. The survival of Ukraine being at the top of the list.

PF

 

[JeffS7444]

Hate to say it, but I didn't make the FED - Ukraine association until very recently, and I imagine that I'm not alone.

Late-model Kiev 88CM have been scarce on e**y for some time, and I sold mine for a handsome price long before the current conflict. I had a particularly good example of a Kiev 60TTL which also fetched a higher-than-expected price around the same time.

FED, Kiev 35 mm cameras: While it's true that much of the supply is currently unavailable to buyers in the USA, it coincides with relatively low prices on Nikon and Canon RF and SLRs! Although I'm very pleased with how my FED-1 and -2 restorations turned out, they were more labor-intensive than freshening-up my Canon 7.

 

[das]

This is all very tragic. I would like to believe that both Ukrainian and Russian camera sellers and enthusiasts both would prefer that this war were not happening. I've got a great condition Praktica BX20 from a Ukrainian seller just before the invasion. My heart goes out to everyone caught up in this tragedy.

 

[joe bosak]

Supply is diminished. I can't see pro-Ukr sympathy increasing demand nor anti-Rus sentiments diminishing it, for this kind of niche. There will be a few scalpers no doubt. Dealers will face a dried up source, but mainstream dealer prices for FSU products are all over the place anyway. Prices will rise, everything else is.

 

[landstrykere]

Supply is diminished.

I was looking at a couple listings for a Leningrad RF, all in Russia. The point is, Ebay has blocked all russian sellers. They have this banner now: away until 31 decembrer 2030.



Ebay has been a good source for soviet gear. Ukrainian sellers are kept, russians are banned, and belarusians are limited and may be banned. Kazakhstan, and the Baltics have some gear also. But Russia is an important source.

this kind of bans are silly, people are no more responsable of governement policies in Russia than at any other country. And when USA makes wars left and right there are no sanctions of course.

I contacted couple russian sellers on Ebay before the total ban, when they were still active but buying from abroad was disabled by Ebay, and was told many sellers got tons of offensive messages to the point that some just stopped dealing with foreigners at all.

I used to buy sometimes from russian site Avito.ru, but the problem now is that SWIFT has banned Russia, so not possible to wire money from the UE/Schengen zone. There are work-arounds, but expensive.

As I live in near russian abroad, I have been spending week-ends and holidays in Russia countless times in the last 15 years, so an alternative is to pick gear in advance from Avito (contact sellers, etc) at one of the main cities, then arrange for cash payment and collection. Yet some interesting item may be in Novosibirsk at the time I spend a week-end in Nizhni...

So things are not trivial anymore for enthusiasts of soviet gear in general.
FED, Zorki, Kiev and lenses are a good way to go into RF at a reasonable price and also to play with disassembly, maintenance.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Russia invaded the Ukraine, not the USA. The collapse of the Soviet economy ended the USSR. Even under Stalin's regime you could buy Zorki cameras with "Made in the USSR" in English, export models. Easy rebuild on that one.

As for Russian gear, I did a CLA on a ZOMZ J-9 yesterday made in 1962. Year of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The day before, finished up a CLA on a 1943 CZJ 5cm F1.5 Sonnar bought from a Russian seller 2 weeks before the invasion. First time a seller messaged me to "Make Sure" I was happy with the condition of the lens. I sent him a link on the basket case Sonnar I rebuilt.

That will be the last item I buy from Russia as long as Putin is in charge.

 

[mpaniagua]

This would be sad. I have a weak spot for Ukranian cameras (Kiev 88 and Kiev 6s/60 on particular). I would expect that much of the remaining cameras on Ukraine would be destroyed on the invasion. Can hardly imagine something carrying some cameras instead of food or other essential goods, so most likely they will end up trashed. A pity for botht the people that used to sell them (an income souce) and the cameras. Also, people that made a living on restoring them may end up dead or working on a more stable income source.

 

[valdas]

There are still some FSU cameras offered by ebay sellers in Eastern Europe - Poland, Baltics… Not as many as in Russia or Ukraine (and not as cheap), but nevertheless. Local flea markets in those countries are still full of Zorkis and Feds. Surely, it’s not an option for overseas buyers, unless you find a reliable “dealer” in that region.

 

[ZivcoPhoto]

I dont know about pricing but I was about to send a somewhat rough 1936 Contax II to Oleg at OK Camera in Russia to repair/restore, but now that is on hold for the indefinite future. Now I’ll have to rely on my “Made in USSR” export model 1956 Kiev II to exercise my Contax mount lenses. My other Contax cameras are in repair shops here in the USA.

 

[landstrykere]

There are still some FSU cameras offered by ebay sellers in Eastern Europe - Poland, Baltics… Not as many as in Russia or Ukraine (and not as cheap), but nevertheless. Local flea markets in those countries are still full of Zorkis and Feds. Surely, it’s not an option for overseas buyers, unless you find a reliable “dealer” in that region.

from here in Oslo, I can easily spend a week-end or just a day in Narva, Tallinn, Riga, etc, looking at flea-markets but for a specific more or less verified camera the net is the only option.

sometimes on ebay there are items from Moldova, Armenia, besides the usual Russia-Belarus-Ukraine-Kazakhstan main bulk.

the point is that some specific interesting gear is often more avaiable in Russia (for instance Leningrad RF, or Start SLR, Elektra 112 RF, lenses, etc).

as I said there are work around but not trivial and I won't mention of course

 

[landstrykere]

I dont know about pricing but I was about to send a somewhat rough 1936 Contax II to Oleg at OK Camera in Russia to repair/restore, but now that is on hold for the indefinite future.

you should have some repair people in your country? Otherwise there are guys elsewhere in Europe.

In fact Oleg Khalyavin could keep going his camera sale and repair business in the $ and € ecosystem, at some added cost, through a man in the middle for the payment, at places bridging chinese and russian payment systems with the $ and €. Postal service keeps working as usual, so this practical aspect is not impacted.

 

[Benjamin Marks]

In a certain way, I thought of the general availability of old Soviet gear as a sign that Russia was enjoying the benefits of being open to the wider world. Call it a canary in the coal mine of international relations. However, recent events remind us that the totalitarian impulse is never far from the surface in places with weak checks on executive power. I would not be surprised if the "canary" is less healthy than it has been in recent years.

 

[landstrykere]

among others things (couple LF lenses, a Smena-2 for the fun) I have ordered today an Elektra 112 from a seller in Moskva.
Price: 2000 rb.
So, business almost as usual.

 

[KoNickon]

Somewhat off-topic, but who repairs Kiev 88s these days? Mine (CM) seems to have jammed mid-wind and I can't free it up. I say "seems" because I had put it away a few years ago and when I pulled it out this morning to check on it, it was jammed. I was sure I had put it away in working condition. Really nice camera, and problem-free until now.

Anyway, I'm not happy. Oleg does not work on these (check out his website about the current situation -- the sanctions are a problem for his business, sad to say. And his comments are worth reading -- he is a Good Guy.) And I thought of Arax, but they are in Kyiv and I reckon they are just not operating right now. Kiev USA is out of business -- owners retired. Any suggestions? Thanks.

 

[JoeV]

I bought a Zorki 1E off US eBay just after the start of the Ukraine War, paid maybe twice what they would’ve asked prior to hostilities. It may have been one of, if not the very, last one sold in US eBay.

I made some videos about this camera and my friend Ethan Moses who did a CLA and replaced the shutter curtains.
https://youtu.be/wZaApDX67Ps
https://youtu.be/qrbeB0yM0QI
https://youtu.be/wZaApDX67Ps

~Joe

 

[landstrykere]

Somewhat off-topic, but who repairs Kiev 88s these days?

I answer late after your post, so you maybe found already. Anyway quite some people still do it in Europe.

There are quite some in Poland. I recall one in Krakow outside downtown, I guess just called Fotoserwis, one in Łodz, and there have to be in Warzsawa anyway. You have to deal with polish. Just google.pl in polish to fish addresses.

In Tallinn, Estonia, a guy used to do, but last time I was in contact he told me he was not longer interested in fixing them, besides an issue can be availability of some parts but you can try, he can communicate in english : https://fotoremont.ee/en/eng/ .

In Ukraine I dealt with this guy from Dnepropetrovsk, who does all kind of cameras, he used put online partial video insights of repair jobs, and he sells full detailed commented step-by-step disassembly/reassembly of some camera ( I bought the one for the Kiev-60): http://fotoremontnik.ru/contacts in russian only (and possibly ukrainian too).
Postal service is worklng but very slow and there's some risk of worse in case full scale destruction of hubs and bridges is launched..
Have you contacted Arax to check they are working? No particular reason not. Also, and possibly some of the guys subcontracted by Arax for repairs, outside Kiev, these people with that Ebay shop, do also repair. In fact what they sell is stuff they have overhauled or fixed: https://www.ebay.com/str/yuretsperfect being on ebay they can communicate in english.
Of course same issue with postal service.

around the corner, in Transnitria, ie. deserved by postal service as Moldova, these Ebay shop, they do sell Salyut/Kiev that made overhaul, themselves or local technicians. Could ask: https://www.ebay.com/usr/www_tirasphoto_com

In France you can ask here: https://appareil-photo-argentique.com/index.php/infos-pratiques-contact/

There are of course some in Russia but there's the payment system issue.