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I am an Soviet and Russian camera collector residing in State of Illinois, USA. I have only somewhat recently started collecting (since May 2007) these fine examples of Soviet and Russian mechanical engineering and design that until late 80s have been closed off to the rest of the world. Now that these cameras have come to light, I want to share them with all of you. Recently I have decided to start cataloging Soviet and Russian cameras online, thus the USSRPhoto.com project was born, which is a Wiki catalog of Russian and Soviet cameras.
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Vlad's Soviet/Russian Photographic Equipment Collection
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F 21
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| Wiki Catalog Entry |
The F-21 is a famous Soviet-made photo camera for concealed use; a spy camera in simple words. This model was in production at KMZ plant from 1951 to mid-1990's. This camera was designed and made with its purpose in mind - it is very small, light, can shoot the entire roll of film from one fill wind of its spring-loaded motor. Picture quality was, of course, very important as well, so the F-21 features a very sharp, high-resolution lens and a reasonably large negative size. The frame is 18x24 mm, taken on a 21 mm film. So technically, using the 35 mm terms, the F-21 is a half-frame camera.
There were many attachments for the F-21, all intended to conceal it in different ways. There are belt buckles, coat buttons, purse and bag adapters. There are ordinary 35 mm cameras and umbrellas that could accommodate the small F-21. Some accessories, like the button, were made in small quantities, some - in single units. The standard lens is OF-28T, 28/2.8, coated. There are 4 shutter speeds - B, 1/10, 1/30, 1/100. Produced in 1951-1995. (source: www.fedka.com).
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