UFK 2

Does anyone know if there is a UFK-1? If yes what camera is it based on?

Thanks,

Vlad.

i possess two slightly different :
- one coming whith toy set (enlarger etc...)
- and another one coming alone (whith matching case).
- the main difference is the finder whith or not flat glass.
they are based on a smena 8M body whith a half frame mask inside , so without rewind shaft and button.
would you like pictures ?

Thank you Alain,

No, that's not necessary unless other members are interested.. Bill and I both just purchased brand new UFK-2's so we were curious if there is UFK-1 possibly based on earlier Smena?

Vlad.

Vlad I had this set when I was little. They was sold in toy's stores. It was fun to play and made different set ups with it. But by my opinion it would be a good stretch to call this sets a camera.
The same like toy sewing-machines or toy binoculars this sets was only made for kids to play. But it would be fun to put roll or film throw this camera and see what came out.

In my opinion, if it can make a photograph using a lens, then it must be called a camera. In the case of the UFK-2, the set looks like it could make actual photographs, as well as print them or view slides or film strips.

Of course it would be a young person's first camera and would probably teach them quite a bit about the photographic processes, how lenses can be used, how to make the actual prints, etc. Many other cameras are very simple, such as Yunkor, Etud, Sholnik, etc., but they present to the young people the technical miracle of making an image from the sun's rays and the possibility of saving it permanently on paper or some other thing. This has been the dream of man for many centuries, finally realized during the 19th century, and has changed our culture, art, and way of thinking. So, I would say that perhaps these first children's "toy cameras" are very important!



Regards, Bill

The shutter looks like the metallic pinhole snapper that the early (1903?) Kodak box camera had fitted to it. Talk about simplicity. But it worked.
John

Okynek - whatever Bill said LOL. I had the same point to make in my answer to you... .. I still proudly display it in my collection, but since the kit is brand new I'm hesitant to open it to make a camera and put it on the shelf.. for now I put the whole kit in box on display.. maybe I'll buy another one just to assemble it to display with rest of my cameras...

Vlad

Guys, are you really serious? Are you truly believe that designers of this set was thinking about anything more then as a toy? Do you truly believe that buyers of this set was intended to make pictures with this camera? Let me disappointed you. Parents who bought this toy for they kids never think to buy a film. Mostly they was buying this set because nothing else was available at that time and you have to get something home this night. This set (correct me if I’m wrong) cost 20 rubles. Smena 8M cost only 15 rubles. And as we know Smena can make pretty darm good pictures. So if someone like to buy camera they was more incline for Smena. Would be you?
To call something a camera it must past few criteria. The main, camera is devise what able to control light. Am I right? The set above very loosely can fit to this criteria. As I remember it has 2 shatter speeds: B and whatever happens this day (or instant). Speed of the shatter mostly depended from the way you push button and the way you hold camera. No ways to predict how next shot will go. But even if you can,... with one plastic lens and no focus adjustment chances to make something better then blurry spots will be a huge success. I’m mean, yes, you can call it a camera.. It just not designed to make any pictures
As I remember the only way we can get any result when we cat photo paper and put it to the camera and then try to make pictures on B speed and then developed paper under red light to see how it came out. We have to go this way because it the only way to control process. No way you can use film and get picture with this set.

Well.. I know it'll probably create some craptacular pictures but it's still made with intention of being a camera - even for kids.. just like Yunkor and Shkolnik and Etyud - and to tell you the truth I think Etyud is even worse camera than this little thing... in what other camera have you seen film advance knob falling off which you're advancing the film?

I'm totally agreed about Etude. I can not buy one. I use to pick up on kids who have Etudes. So I'm ashamed now to buy Etude myself. Not proud about my behavior. But still can not call Etude a camera. By some reasons Etude was sold by camera shops. Not by toy shops. So many of them was on the shelfs and so few of them remain probably because not many dare to buy them

Buy the way this sets have great screwdriver. I use it to fix cameras, watches and other stuff. It crossed ocean with me. And it still with me after more then 30 years!

Well Okynek, you may be wrong about a few things.

The lens in this set has a glass lens... single element "meniscus" lens.
There is a simple dual aperture adjustment (wide open and probably 1/2 open) controlled with a lever.
Shutter is as you say, two speeds... B and another speed which is regulated with a spring mechanism which appears to be very even and looks to be about 1/60 sec. So not "whatever happens this day".
The instruction book has elementary lessons on the principles of light and optics, how to load the film, how to take photographs, projection, etc.

So, it does have all the same mechanical elements of many simple commercial cameras and was obviously made to use. Whether a child or their parents treat it as a toy or a camera-enlarger-projector is of course their choice. Because it may have been bought just to have something to give quickly means nothing. Many gifts are bought that way but it doesn't mean they are not functional. Point and shoot cameras, i-pods, telescopes, transistor radios, and many products serve both purposes... as a quick gift and something to be used.

Was a daguerreotype camera not a camera because the shutter was a lens cap and not exactly controllable? Was the Kodak Brownie not a camera because it only had "I" and "B" for speeds?

Maybe the parents who bought this camera never thought to buy film, but maybe some kids asked for film because they became interested and were able to get their parents to buy it for them. Or, maybe they did not get to have film and made experiments with printing out paper or photo paper, as you did. So, I can see that if you went so far as to put paper in this "non-camera" then it must have made you interested in photography! So that is the point of this thing... not to go out and shoot photos for exhibitions, Sovetskoe Foto, or "Soviet Life", but to teach a kid and to interest a kid in learning photography. Probably not every parent wanted to buy a camera, projector, and enlarger to see if their child would become interested.

So now we will come to your last statement that there is no way you can use film and get a picture with this set. I can not say the answer just now, but before the weekend is over, we will see as I will assemble my UFK "camera", load it with film, shoot the roll (if these things are possible), have it developed and then post the results here on the forum ;-)

Regards, Bill

Bill I'm not argue. I guess this is only matter of perception.

Okynek, I'm not arguing either, but I do think if this thing can make a photograph, then it would be called a camera. Even a pinhole camera can be a camera.

An online dictionary defines a camera as:

"An apparatus for taking photographs, generally consisting of a lightproof enclosure having an aperture with a shuttered lens through which the image of an object is focused and recorded on a photosensitive film or plate."

So, we will see if this thing works for me. I will let you know in a few days... after I have had an experience with it!

Regards, Bill

Thank you Bill! I would really like to see the results in a good way. Please post them as they came!
Before you do any pictures please check camera for light leaks from the loading door and especially from the shatter. If you dare to get camera apart then get to the shatter and refurbish parts and reassemble it. But use this advice at your discretion. I do not want you to ruin camera.

Okynek, OK! So far I have assembled the camera correctly from the pictures of in the instructions. I can see that there may be places where there can be light leaks, but I want to try this camera in the same way a user might, so for now I will not do anything different than original.
So tonight I will load some film into the cassettes, and put it into the camera. Tomorrow I will take photos with it like a good little boy!
By tomorrow or Saturday you can see some results...I will show my best and my worst. If nothing good... then not a camera / a toy ... if something good .... then a camera and a toy.

After all, is not collecting these things our play... and the Russian cameras our toys for grown men and women? ;-)

Regards, Bill

Bill, someone threatened not to open the seal on that set?? LOL

Vlad,
What can I say... now that the seal is opened ... the cat is out of the bag..as they say. Probably I will want to try the enlarger as well!
So, now, I just loaded the camera and it is waiting until the daylight comes. Then... Rodchenko, look out!

Regards, Bill

Hehehe.. well I'll try my best not to succumb to temptation with my set I unseal it carefully to take a look at it, but didn't assemble anything...

Vlad

quote:

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After all, is not collecting these things our play... and the Russian cameras our toys for grown men

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Can not waite until tomorrow. Best of luck!!!

Well, here are the results of my test of the UFK-2 LOMO camera (which I proudly built myself ;-)).

Here is a link to a page I made with results. The last photo has been cropped.

http://www.nightphoto.com/UFKTEST1.html

I will do another test with this camera after the holidays, using better film and trying other techniques.
It was fun to use! Happy holidays to all!


Regards, Bill