Special USSRPhoto Camera...?

after the little discussion of last week, may be it's better to move the discussion to the members only section... (if we want to find 20 cameras at a normal price...)

I checked ebay and a plain Zorki 4 seems to cost between 30 and 70$, they need
- a complete cla and may be new curtains
- disengraving regraving
- dechrome repain
- new leather (sober and chic... not too flashy)

I t could be fun to design a special accessory that would make this serie unique, I think of two easy mods :
- a 85mm cache to be adapted to the viewfinder (may be with a loupe on the other side, like the leica 1,25 loupe), but parralax managment could be difficult...
- a larger speed selection knob, it's really difficult to use with my big hands... ;-)

of course one could dream of a viewfinder that would suit the jup12, with frames for 50 and 85 ...but that's quite another mod...

if we are talking of mods... would ever a zorki 4 shutter gear fit into a fed 1 or 2... just kidding... I thoght about it while reading an article about an old minicooper fitted with a 150hp K serie engine...

Thats for the body...

Stephan

now for the lens...

a black lens is a must on black paint body...
and we have to make a special engraved front ring of course (that's not difficult since we all have seen sonnars engravings that are fake...)
the lens must be checked for quality and alignment, if possible best quality is a must too... and claed...

but which lens of lens kit...

a J12 ? (viewfinder problem... )
a J8 ? (quite common but always pleasant)
a J3 ? (my all time favorite)
a J19 (kidding)
a wel collimated Industar 50... (tessar chic)
a late helios something ?
and if the 85mm cache option is viable... a J9...

if money was not a problem I'll choose the following kit (in fact it's my usual contax kit)... J12/J3/ind50/J9

Stephan

Stephan

Well Stephan,

I think I can make it easy for you . I had only one person agree so far to do this in Russia. The only choices we got is FED-2 or FED-5. They use their own camera stock. I am currently finding out what kind of features we can order (like painting, engraving, taking off factory logos on camera and lens, rechroming etc.) And still waiting on the price.

They will need images from us with design like altered photos, etc and they will need some kind of prepayment (not sure for the whole sum or not) and about 2 months of time.

Now I like the FED-2 better than FED-5, but that means that the cameras may be less reliable mechanically as FED-5 since they are older. Also even though they may CLA them I would not expect these to be users (Even though they say they may be), since these are going to be made as collectable cameras. So try to lower your expectations and maybe even expect to re-CLA it if you are really planning to make it a user. The person making these cameras is going to most likely to concentrate on cosmetic aspect probably (I have no way of knowing this, they claim they CLA them but who knows...)

Lens is most likely I-26 on FED-2 and I-61LD on FED-5.. I will go with what majority chooses.

Vlad

never refrain when you make a wish list ;-)

a nice fed 2 would be ok... as for the lens I would prefer a nice i61LD... but that could be found...

I thonk that on the 'user' problem, it's a great challenge... the camera must be a user and not only a shelf icon... I think that we should include the price of a real cla of both a body and a lens... by a qualified tech... how much would fedka ask for that ? (the cla part only)

Stephan

Well if you need "real" CLA you can always to Fedka to do it after you receive the camera if you are not happy with it mechanically (but as I said the repairman who will be making these will also try to CLA but I do not know of their quality and not sure if I can get a guarantee on an old camera)... It just may not be possible to do all at once.. I, for example don't need a user camera, and just need a shelf piece...

Vlad,
It would be nice to be able to see a sample or photos of a sample of the craftsman's work. Maybe he can point us to a camera made by him that is on Ebay. I have noticed that some of these cameras are very bad quality, cosmetically, and some are very fine.

My vote would be for FED-2. (But I'm OK with FED-5 also;-).

If we would want a special set available, possibly it could be a black Jupiter 12, 35mm lens ($60-70.) and a Rostov finder for it ($20.-30.)

http://cgi.ebay.com/VIEWFINDER-35mm-for-RF-cameras-LEICA-FED-ZORKI-KIEV_W0QQitemZ280299243216QQihZ018QQcategoryZ3323QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/JUPITER-12-Russian-35mm-Lens-Fed-Zorki-Leica-EXCELLENT_W0QQitemZ200292503881QQihZ010QQcategoryZ3323QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Of course this would add big expense, but look great in a fitted box and on the camera. Or it could have the universal finder and then members can add their own black lenses in the amount they want.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Universal-Turret-Finder-for-ZORKI-Contax-Leica-Kiev-MNT_W0QQitemZ390020670270QQihZ026QQcategoryZ29965QQssPageNameZWD4VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em124

The finders always look so exotic!

Regards, Bill

Oh, I guess I forgot to mention that, sorry , actually it will be the same group of people who makes these custom cameras for moscowphoto, so the FED Zarya Sputnik is their work, which seems pretty acceptable to me.

Vlad

Also if anyone wants to customize their piece after you get it, I can issue an official USSRPhoto.com certificate of authenticity that lists the components of the set in it, so it is officially recorded just for the price of postage.

Vlad

Hello Vlad

I would not be very happy with a FED, I would absolutly prefer a Zorki. Maybe we should look around and ask other sellers? Or maybe we could spend a little more money and use a Zorki 1 as base? Or even all different models?

Best wishes - Guido

The Zorki does have the classic "Leica" look if a model1 was to be used ... very nice.

Regards, Bill

Hi Guido,

so far I have not been given an option to use Zorkis, I did ask at first and was told no.. Apparently these people use their own stock for this and make their own conditions, at least that's what it seems... I do not even know the approximate price to make these custom FEDs yet so we first need to see if the price is even realistic...

Also this seems to be the group that does the best quality work, these are the ones that make all these high quality Leica copies that you see around on eBay.. I am waiting for reply from 2 other sources, but they do not have as much experience in making these pieces... they may be able to do engravings and maybe somewhat paint the cameras but beyond that their range of skills is limited. These guys I'm talking with right now seem to be doing this for a while, so honestly I think this is the source where to get a really high quality pieces... I can ask if we can all send in our Zorkis and for them to customize them as an option, but they all need to be the same cameras that we agree upon... I will ask about this option next time I talk with them.

Vlad

Hello Bill

Yes, it could look something like this one from my collection:

http://www.g-st.ch/privat/kameras/bilder/zorki/00016370.jpg

Maybe a black Industar-22 would look better, but I didn't have one.

Best wishes - Guido

Hi Guido and best wishes for the coming year my friend!

That is a beautiful Zorki! Something like that would be very nice with the USSRPhoto commemorative engraving and numbers on it.

I am wondering what the logo will look like on this special camera, Vlad? Any ideas yet?

Regards, Bill

Here's one idea.. Thanks Bill for the basic concept, I've placed it on black background and beveled it to look like an engraving filled with dark red. (Idea is to have the camera top painted black).

What do you think?


http://www.ussrphoto.com/UserContent/logo_ussrphotocamera.jpg

I also think it should have word (probably in Russian) - "2 Years" - to make it like a 2 year anniversary camera.

The cap could be similar design to this one.

Vlad

Hi,

very interesting idea indeed, but ... I would vote for Universal Viewfinder with UssrPhoto markings! Beeing a camera collector, I'm not fascinated if the particular camera will loose its identity forever. Not many of us are collecting all types of soviet cameras, but the most majority of soviet camera collectors like soviet rangefinders indeed ... so, it's quite easy to put your commemorative UV on your beloved camera

Best Regards,
Aidas

Vlad,

Logo looks good to me, but the Cyrillic logo on the top maybe should be " .kom" or, in any case the "com" or "kom" should be in the same block letter font as the rest of the name ... it would look better in my opinion!

The guys who make the cameras for Moscow photo seem to use Zorki's quite a bit ... so why not for us, if we need it?

I am somewhat in agreement with Aidas about the identity of the camera, which is why I first suggested Zorki-4 or 4K. With that camera the original engravings identifying the camera, serial number, etc can be left intact, but new USSRPhoto commemorative engravings can be added ... just like the commemoratives made by the factories.

Regards, Bill

Another idea is that we could start buying the all black FED-5 cameras that come up pretty often and then just have our logo (whatever it will be in finished form)engraved by a jeweler here in the US. This kind of engraving can be done by many places. Then when they are engraved we can recover them, fill the engraving with enamel, and custom box them ourselves ...

So, if the folks in Russia are too demanding about what camera they will use only, then we can do it ourselves (and probably better then they can do it anyway ... their work is good, but not great .... better engraving is certainly possible.)

Regards, Bill

Bill, yes I could make it block font, not a problem, although I'd prefer to keep it as .com and not .kom since .kom is not the real site address.

I do have the local jeweler here who can do the engravings... so yes if you decide to do it ourselves - we can. I wanna see what kind of coverings we can get for these, maybe Aki-Asahi has some stuff... but let's wait what the guys in Russia say first...

I know there are a lot of people here wanting different things, so we going to have to try to accommodate everyone, but I will have to go for the easier solution though otherwise nothing will get accomplished. If someone will tell me that I can get bunch of FED-2 cameras for a decent price I may just go for that... doing these things ourselves may most likely end up being very expensive considering custom covering, the engraving etc... so let me see what these people I'm talking to come up with...

And Aidas - we're probably gonna keep the original serial # and logo and these are going to be cameras that are very common and not rare and made in millions so I don't think anyone's gonna deface anything . If anything, we will make it into a collectible .

Vlad

If we're going to to it ourselves for Zorki 4K I like this covering, and it is available for about (I think) $15 for that camera:

http://www.cameraleather.com/colors/sgb_red.htm

I'd like to stay away for real leather and do synthetic since it's cheaper and more environmentally friendly.

Vlad.

OK Vlad ... although I doubt anyone will be using these cameras to navigate to the web site ... so I am guessing that the Cyrillic logo writing will be reading "USSRFoto.som" in translation? If "CCCP" = "SSSR", then, "com" = "som" ???

I am for synthetic covering too (especially since I am a vegetarian for the last 25 years, to be kind to the animal friends)!

Regards, Bill

Hey people!
I found everything a great the Idea.
Mr Puliaev (from our forum) is a personal friend of Mr Aleksander, director of Vilieika Zenit factory Belarus (now making door locks and motor cycle carbureters)May be this could be a good source. One can contact him directly. (In Russian Please!)
I shall give my first touch spell.
Regards LP