| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| fotolubitel |
Posted - Sep 03 2018 : 11:01:49 AM
Hi everybody!
when I was a teenager I did shoot cheap viewfinders, and did dream of a Zenit SLR, I found them sexy. I wanted a Saab 900 for car and a Zenit for SLR. Time passed, photography was replaced by other stuff. Then many years after, I decided to do photo again, and it was digital era. But the level of automation in AF lenses and camera operating systems has upset me. I feel I don't take pictures, just frame and the camera does the job. Next step: full automated cameras, you unleash them somewhere out and they go pick scenes and do photos that they will bring back to you?
in fact AF isn't good in many cases, when they insist focusing where you don't want. Electronic can be flimsy, sensors are highly fragile stuff. Also it doesn't work when it's really cold, and well I live in Norway and travel often in Russia, so I better have cameras that keep working until lubricating oil and grease freezes over.
First I ditched my autocratic AF lenses, have kept my Pentax-k5 but with a M42-PK adapter all the time on. So it's basically a digital back for fine optics and I do the job of taking pictures, not some japanese engineers.
Last year, I decided to return to film and mechanical boxes. I will not be the slave of electricity, my cameras will work anyhow anytime, My cameras now must have no battery and no meter! I had sometime a Zenit-12, but left it for a Zenit-V.
Soviet cameras are also heaven when you want to try medium format. In one month time I acquired a Salyut, a Zenit-80 (same but export cosmetics), a Salyut-s, a Kiev-88 box for learning disassembly, two Kiev-6s, one Kiev-60. And non-metered prisms of course.
Last month, while on vacations in Russia, the small rangefinders seen at pawn and second hand shops caught my attention. You know, after one month driving around Russia with a big and heavy shoulder bag carrying a Salyut with a Vega-12, a Mir-38, a Zodiak-8 and the Pentax K5, I was wondering how it is possible to take pictures with these pretty small things and their minuscule lenses.
So I picked a couple Zorki-4, one Fed-2 , in an sold-as-is 100 rubles piece box, and a verified, working Kiev-4a.
Combing the web for some docs I found this site. Good job! Of course I had to register.
Big thanks to the guys maintaining this place over the years!
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Current working cameras:
RF: Fed-2, Kiev-4a. Zorki-4
MF: Salyut, Zenit-80. Salyut-S, Kiev-6S, Kiev-60
SLR: Zenit-V
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| 3 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| seany65 |
Posted - Dec 07 2018 : 2:34:05 PM
Hello and welcome to the forum, fotolubitel. Sorry for the late reply but I've been a bit busy recently.
You'll find this a friendly though fairly quiet forum.
I get the impression that some of the medium format fsu cameras have a few problems which need working on before they can be used reliably and well, but I don't know if that's the case. |
| Vlad |
Posted - Sep 25 2018 : 6:21:05 PM
Hi and welcome to the site! Sorry I am a bit absent lately, but site is there for the wealth of information and very interesting discussions! Hoping to see some interesting stuff from you!
Best regards,
Vlad |
| Luiz Paracampo |
Posted - Sep 04 2018 : 7:19:19 PM
Many thanks for coming !
You are in the right way of photography!
Art and knowledge
Priviet!
LP
Salute from Brazil! |
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