Arfo + Efte

Have anyone EVER seen Arfo or Efte being sold on eBay? Supposedly there were quite a few of them manufactured, did any survive?

Thanks,

Vlad.

Hi Vlad,

I bought an EFTE-2 on Ebay several years ago and I saw an ARFO also, but the condition was very poor (totally trashed) so I did not buy it. They are both rare and although there are high production numbers quoted in Princelle, I suspect that nowhere near that number was actually produced. They are the kind of camera that doesn't survive over the years easily because of the bellows and I'm sure many were discarded when the bellows became damaged. But if there were a million Fotokors produced and 130,000 EFTE & ARFO cameras produced, then you would expect to see one of them for every 10 Fotokors, and that isn't the case.

The EFTE and ARFO cameras were "5 Year Plan" cameras and so I have I think that it's possible that the production numbers may have been exaggerated in factory documents.

In any case, my EFTE-2 has a German lens (Rodenstock, Munchen /Doppel Anstigmat Eurynar / 13.5 cm - f. 4.5)and an AGC IBSO shutter, both of which look to be original.

Here are some photos:

http://www.nightphoto.com/images/efte1.jpg

http://www.nightphoto.com/images/efte2.jpg

http://www.nightphoto.com/images/efte3.jpg

http://www.nightphoto.com/images/efte4.jpg

http://www.nightphoto.com/images/efte5.jpg

Regards, Bill

oh wow! Thanks so much for these Bill! This is really encouraging that you actually saw on eBay, I was starting to think these are extremely uncommon.

What kind of price range were these 2 cameras listed on eBay?

Thanks,

Vlad.

Hi Vlad,

I think they are very rare as I have not seen another on Ebay or anywhere else for 4 years. The EFTE-2 I have came from a seller in Moscow and cost $152.00 in March 2005.

Some of these cameras may go unrecognized if the handle is missing, since they can have any number of different foreign lenses and shutters, but I would think that the production numbers quoted in Princelle must be wrong or else there would be more around.

The last photo I posted shows the little latch on the back of the camera which keeps the door to the ground-glass viewer closed.


Regards, Bill

Hmm.. that's not bad at all, I thought it would go in the range of $400-$500. That's actually pretty cheap for these kind of cameras. I am so glad I am collecting Russian cameras and not Leicas :).. Otherwise the way I'm buying up these cameras I would've been living in a cardboard box with just a blanket and hundred cameras. LOL

Thanks for the info Bill.

Vlad

You should add these pics to the Wiki catalog. Or I can do that. Excellent pictures!