Just bought a really weird camera, analysis needed

Ok everyone here's my video overview of the camera.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/U0nCKp4qNQw


Cheers,
Vlad.

Vlad!
A very good movie! I found delightful the shutter cocking cord!
also the gears for focusing and change speeds.
The top and bottom plates are vey well machined.
I noticed a broken pivot in the film cover side and some difficult in openings for loading.
The only part i did not understood was the little cube at camera bottom side near tripod mounts
An interesting piece of conversation!
Regards
LP

Hi Luiz,
Thank you for kind words, it's my first video of such kind.
I fear that I may have broken the fort door hinge while shooting this video, I will try to glue it but it's a pity! I am still not sure about the bottom peace, it almost look like it's a mount for something... The gear work on the camera is amazing!

Cheers,
Vlad

People in the USSR sometimes had a lot of spare time and a lot of resources at work, and being quite smart and handy could do some side projects (I know:-).
But this exceeds any reasonable camera modification.

I would think they meant to disguise this as a movie camera with the fake lens and that clock winding lever. One would expect a mirror in that viewfinder on the right, but it is not there, maybe lost and modified later?

The movie is great. It made me smile. Great entertainment:-)

Vlad,

Nice film you made. Thanks! Looks like KGB to me. The quality and complexity is present. I have had a few KGB disguise cameras that were handmade and this has many of the same construction features as far as the gears and mechanisms, etc. Also, the case for it is exactly the type used for some KGB cameras.

I have a movie camera that shoots to the right using an F-21 hidden in it. Much the same idea, but with yours you get a bigger negative and so more detail available.

Maybe there was a right angle viewfinder that attached to the accessory shoe on the top, but is now missing. The thing on the bottom looks like some kind of electrical plug, but maybe used to attach a movie camera grip handle, along with the tripod screw mount. Also the case seems to have a compartment where the handle would fit.

No doubt it would be useful to have the bubble level on top so that you would get the proper angle if you were taking the secret photo while looking down at the camera pretending that you were not even making a movie, while snapping a photo of the person or thing to your right!

You should make more movies for us!

Bill

Regards, Bill

Thank you very much Yura and Bill! Bill, that makes a lot of sense for this thing on the bottom to be for the handle! Too bad it's missing! Once again it's quite an ingenious construction! Thanks everyone for your input on this, I will place this camera in the wiki catalog under spy cameras section as soon as I take some more detailed photos as these are from the seller.

Cheers,
Vlad.