Yak Hair - I thought you guys were kidding.

T

tedwhite

Guest
My Jupiter 8 arrived today. The mailman knocked on my door. "You have to sign for this he said, it's foreign. Can't tell where it's from."

As I signed, I said, "See that? That's written in cyllric. It's from Russia." "Whatever," he said, and walked off.

But I thought you guys were kidding about the brown paper wrapper and the string made from Yak hair. Clearly, you weren't.

You can see the package as it was before I opened it. Photo is in my gallery.

The box was clearly made from cut-up pieces of cardboard glued together in a very precise way. Package then wrapped securely in packaging tape. INside, the lens was sturdily wrapped in several layers of foam. Finally, you can see the package was wrapped in sections of shopping bag paper and tied up with tough string. Lens was purchased from ruscamera (not "russcamera.")

The lens goes right on my Bessa R. However, the metering system doesn't seem to like it very well, but the focusing seems OK. Focused on something 1 meter away. Lens was at 1 meter and rangefinder was there also. Same with 20 meters.

However, when you rotate the aperture ring the lens also moves, changing distance. You have to hold a finger against the focusing ring to keep it steady.

I'm not sure if this is endemic to the Jupiter 8. Probably not. Maybe it'll be different on my FED 2, which has yet to arrive? Probably not.

Anyway, I'll take some pictures with it.

Ted
 
Yeah Ted- the Yak has a special place in the hearts of FEDaholics everywhere. I for one have asked my wife to weave a fisherman's sweater from my collection.

I already have a scarf and a pair of mittens from the stuff. I usually wear them to the door when the postal carrier brings those special arrivals from Mother Russia. His/her response is usually "what...ever" (insert SoCal accent here) ;)

My J8 does similar stuff Ted, it's just wacky that way. Oh... but the images I get with it.
 
I also received my Jupiter-8 from ruscamera and it was similarly packed. Oddly enough I got a book in the mail this week and the seller had a Russian name. The book was packed in the same way with a custom cut & fit box wrapped around it - it came from NY state though! I guess making your own packages is a Russian tradition! :)
 
John Robertson said:
That string is probably hemp, and you can probably smoke it!!!!!! Wheeeeeeeeeee!
Click to expand...
No John we don't do that down here in polite SoCal, that's for Places like San Francisco and Berkley (Berserkley) :) and even then we claim it is for medicinal reasons. :angel:
 
Peter. Hmmm, never thought about boxing stuff up for shipment as a Russian style statement.
Now I can't wait to see how Alex boxes up my FED 2.

BTW the Jup-8 got here quicker than my order from Steve Gandy, which still hasn't arrived and was ordered on the 16th. Ruscamera shipped the lens on the 20th.

In all fairness, Steve was out of the country so I don't think he shipped until April 1. Still, California and Arizona share a common frontier and stuff passes through customs fairly easily.

John: I already smoked it. Wrong kind of hemp. Bob had a better idea: mittens.

Ted
 
I just got my latest bundle of "Brown Paper and Yak Hair" from Ruscamera.

My aluminum j9 is here complete with a bakelite case. It's focusing ring is stiff which I hope means that it has not been "repaired." The front element and aperture assembly comes free with a small amount of effort. There is a little oil on the aperture leaves. I am excited.

On Alex Photo's packages. He is very pragmatic in his packing. I think the yellow and blue boxes are something that can be purchased at the post office there in Kiev.
 
They had a "classic" car show today, blocking off Main Street in Old Bisbee (and in the process p*ssing off all the locals who have to wend their way through the narrow bypass alleys on either side of Main Street), and I took the Jupiter 8 for its maiden voyage (at least here in the US). Screwed it onto the Bessa R. The first thing I realized (perhaps too late) was that somehow it's not quite in synch with the RF of the Bessa R. When the camera's rf says it's in focus, and I look down at the meter scale on the J8, it seems to be at a very slightly different distance. So I need to be careful with the close-up stuff.

Setting the bright lines from 35 to 50 for the first time was a shock. I had gotten so used to the 35 bright lines that the 50 BL's seemed too limiting.

But then I put the whole kit away and returned with the Yashica GSN. I should use it more often; that is one sweet camera. With quite a bright viewfinder, I might add. If you've never used one, I suspect it's pretty much like the R3A. You choose the aperture, the camera selects the shutter speed (kept secret), and like the Bessa, you respond to the plus and minus arrows by moving the aperture ring until you get the go signal.

I also used the Bessa L with the 25/4.

Won't have prints until Monday. Nearest Target is 25 miles away in Sierra Vista, and considering the price of gas, I'll wait until then as I teach a photography class over there on M/W anyway.

A bit OT. Occasionally life brings one a pleasant coincidence. There was a truly lovely redhead walking about admiring the cars. She wore a low-cut top and every time I was about to photograph one of the cars she walked by and bent over to look inside the car.

What would you have done?

Ted
 
There's actually some method to the yak hair madness and packages wrapped in paper. One is that it's a cheaper way to wrap a package. The other, and possibly more important, is that the paper and string apparently discourages postal people from snooping to see is the contents are worth stealing. Oleg advised my to use the string and paper method when sending him a camera for repair.
 
G'man: Long jeans. It was an unseasonably cold day. Only the snowbirds wore shorts. She was probably down from Tucson. Definitely not a local.

AS I was wandering about with the R and the L hanging off my neck, I realized that everyone I saw with a camera, without exception, had a digital one. ONe tourist looked closely at my Bessas and said, "Are those film cameras? God, I haven't seen one of those in ages."
 
Ripped Off

Ripped Off

I got my Zorki today and I feel quite ripped off. It had actual styrofoam packing and celophane tape holding the brown paper. I've got a whole 40 bones invested in this raskal and not a yak in sight! Boy, a ruble ain't worth a dime anymore.

;)​

P.S. 10 days delivery - Ukraine to Illinois ....... not bad. I guess styrofoam flies faster than yak.
 
40 bucks? Lucky dawg. A Zorki 3m just went for $102 on ebay a few minutes ago.

I bought what appears to be a very nice looking Kiev 4am last night for $49. Maybe it's my imagination, but are Russian RF camera prices going up?

Ted
 
Definitely on the up, five years ago you could pick up a nearly new Zorki 4 in UK for less than $20. not now!!!! I remember being offered £5 in a trade in for my mint Fed2, which I have had since new, about 10 years ago, I'm glad I refused the offer.
 
My FED 2 arrived yesterday, but it was securely packed in the yellow and blue box, no yak hair.
Came from Komrad Alex. It's in quite good condition - I guess, I haven't run a roll through it yet - BUT there is one small problem. When I look through the viewfinder about three quarters of the way to the right, there is a vertical lblack line. On the right side of that line you can see objects on the LEFT SIDE of the camera itself. I have no idea what causes this.
Any knowledgeable comments will be greatly appreciated.

The rangefinder itself seems reasonably accurate, and I find I can still use it effectively.

That yak hair site (geocities) is a hoot. Very tongue in cheek.

Ted
 
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That site is what lead me to FSU cameras, the FED in particular.

It is also the fault of that site that I now refer to the twine as yak hair. It's fun, informative and for those who dream of an "FSU" tuner Jim Blasick's site is the best.
 
What does the little lever mounted under the rewind knob on the FED 2 actually do? It is currently in the forward position.

I figured out how to get film attached to the take-up spool! Anyone know where I can download a manual?

Ted
 
OOPs. Duh. I just figured it out. It's a diopter adjustment. Why don't all cameras have that?

Ted
 
Took the FED 2 for it's maiden voyage today (well, in the US anyway) after adjusting the vertical on the rangefinder. Used Fuji Superia ISO 400 so I can get it one-houred mañana for a look-see. Used a Gossen Sixtomat handheld. For the first 12 frames I used the collapsible FED 3.5/50 that came with the camera. For the second 12 I used the Jupiter-8 that I bought from ruscamera .

The J8 lens is much easier to deal with than the FED lens. Plus it has a lens cap. The FED lens doesn't. Don't know what size cap it takes, but it's very small.

Film loading was much easier than I expected.. I downloaded an English version of the FED 2 manual and thus learned how to rewind without breaking anything.

So far, the only complaint I have is that the shutter release is a bit stiff, i.e., requires more pressure than I am used to (Bessas, Oly XA, Yashica GSN), so I have to be careful not to move the camera body when I release it.

But the proof is in the pudding. Prints will tell their story.

Oh, yes, I punched out the permanent fastener on the neveready case so I can now carry it sans top.

Ted
 
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