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Hi all,

Very interresting edition this year.
Lot of Polish guys selling our favorite cameras...
I have met JED too... Very nice guy! Hi Jed!! You will see I have cleaned a little bit the Kiev.. It was grey painting!!!!

I have found some cameras, only soviet cameras, excepting one Japanese...But impossible to resist to this one....

Enjoy, and may be the best location should be "just arrived in my collection?"

Your comments are welcome, and I am sure Jacques will have some!!!!

Fred

Hi Fred!

It seems you have bought all the fair!
Your Fed s/n 140716 is interesting with a 2/50mm Fed lens.

The s/n 4184 is of course one of these curious Fed with a 1a s/n and a 1b body. Yours belongs to the last 1b series, with the special vulcanite (which we can see too on the early 1c). A very rare item.

The s/n 201578 is a fake Red Flag. Good serial number, but some errors in the engravings. The lens and the vulcanite are not correct. But it is an interesting camera. I just hope you don't pay it too much for it.

My last comments to morrow. But wow and congrats for the 0.95 Canon!! I do hope you will try it and tell me more about it!!

Amitiйs. Jacques.

Fred,

I know it's a bit OT here.
But I have a 1,1/50mm Sonnetar in M mount. It would be interesting to make comparisons with your 0,95 Canon ...

Jacques.

Thank you Jacques

About Red Flag, I have shown it to Princelle
He said it should be an original one, but who knows?
What are the signs that makes it is a fake, please?

For the price, no problem, I have bought it with the 4186 to same guy at good price..

Fred

Thanks Fred for all these photos. I see you found some special ones. I like the Caika and the Canon is a monster. That makes much work later when buying 9 cameras at one time. Sad if some sellers offer fakes there. Great you met Princelle, that would have been the highlight for me. Hope you had a good time.

Hi Fred,
nice cameras, congratulation! I hope they make you happy.
The only trouble is a FED-NKAP. This camera seems to be a fake. Here are some signs you can check:

1) as Jacques already noted, the vulcanite is wrong. These cameras have very special vulcanite and due to this vulcanite they are almost impossible to be confused. You must always think about it, if you take any FED-NKAP in your hand. We have already discussed it in this thread: http://ussrphoto.com/Forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2829

2) the next one is the engraving on the top plate. I show you mine and you can compare them:





Regards, Alexander

Hi all,

I was pleased to meet Fred We missed Francesco as we didn't have a phone number...

As a Kiev-Contax friend I bought this, three non working bodies plus a Jupiter 12

Congrats your kiev '48' is genuine to me

Wow, very nice cameras indeed!
I would love to know what is the real price level of such wonders in Bievres, but I am afraid that Fred will not share that information with us.

Best regards,
Juhani

quote:

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Originally posted by cedricfan

I would love to know what is the real price level of such wonders in Bievres

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Fred's Zorki-1 #40016 I never saw offered before. It seems there are sellers who don't use online auctions for sale and you can find unknown samples in Bievres. That's much more interesting to me if you are looking for special models like a Smena-5 or early Kievs which are kind of rare. Good if you are living close to Paris.

Hi Fred!

Your 1948 Kiev is an original mix (I think) of Dresden and Jena parts, Dresden for the arrow, Jena for the rangefinder wheel. It seems too that the "3" under the lens has a flat top, so, a Dresden part. Very interesting camera which should help us to discuss!

As for the "Red Flag", I think it's a fake, unhappily. Alexander's one is true (for me) and mine too, probably, even if there is a line of engravings which misses. On yours, the letters are really different... I don't insist on the vulcanite.
Of course, one never exactly knows with these very special series: there can be variations. But it's difficult to imagine variations in the design of the letters.

JL Princelle had a great merit: to write his famous book. Thanks to him, the FSU cameras were thrown up. But I sent him a letter two years ago about a question of number Fed 2/5cm lens vs. Fed S camera. No answer... I am not sure he is always really interested by our hobby, alas...

Amitiйs. Jacques.

I went there, found nothing. For those who don't collect zorki or FED, there isn't anything really interesting.
There was only a russian seller selling OKS or Lenkinap lenses at insane price...
Also talked a bit with JL Princelle .
As Jacques told, I think Princelle is not really interested anymore in FSU cameras and lenses.

quote:

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Originally posted by Moxies

Also talked a bit with JL Princelle .
As Jacques told, I think Princelle is not really interested anymore in FSU cameras and lenses.

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That's understandable. Princelle's book "300 Leica copies" is from 1990, his russian camera book is from when, maybe 2002. It's hard to keep a hobby for more than 25 years when you only have one life. And now with all the online auctions the availability of information is just too much to keep track. And also, now it's much more difficult to get rare things than 10 years ago. But still great that he visited Bievres. Good if you had a chance to talk with him.

I don't understand how it is possible to speak of somebody when you have never seen him or discussed with him...

Back to the (main) topic, and specially the Kiev II.
It seems that the lens was wiped from the black paint. Not the first time I see that. Certainly, it's not an unfinished lens, as the s/n shows it is inside the series (=not at the limits).
About the body, it would be fine if you could examine closely the disc under the selftimer: are they rests of black paint (= Jena part) or of chrome (= Dresden parts), Fred?

Amitiйs. Jacques.

Hi there! Long time not here...

Imho there are two worrisome things:
- the chrome is finer then the surronding
- the edges of the top plate is not rounded (anymore), looks like after filing...

Cheers!

But I may be wrong!

quote:

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Originally posted by Jacques M.


I don't understand how it is possible to speak of somebody when you have never seen him or discussed with him...

Back to the (main) topic, and specially the Kiev II.
It seems that the lens was wiped from the black paint. Not the first time I see that. Certainly, it's not an unfinished lens, as the s/n shows it is inside the series (=not at the limits).
About the body, it would be fine if you could examine closely the disc under the selftimer: are they rests of black paint (= Jena part) or of chrome (= Dresden parts), Fred?



Amitiйs. Jacques.

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Thank you Jacques
I think the disc under selftimer has never been chromed.
It has black paint traces, but impossible to say if they were made later or not. Camera had grey painting on top when I bought it......
About Red Flag fake, I will disassemble it to see what's inside!!!

Have nice evening

Fred

quote:

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Originally posted by cedricfan

Wow, very nice cameras indeed!
I would love to know what is the real price level of such wonders in Bievres, but I am afraid that Fred will not share that information with us.

Best regards,
Juhani

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Hi Juhani
I bought the fake Red Flag and #4186 for 300 euros. The Fed with 2/50mm for 70 euros. The Zorki 1 for 60 euros. and the Kiev for 200 euros. Canon 7 with 0.95, much more expensive...

Fred

Hi
Both cameras are fake. NKAP already discussed. 4184 middle windows is square and accessory shoe there . It is much older camera. Also first camera combined together regular FED with fast lens. FED should be with shutter speed 1/1000.
JL Princelle, as he told me, not collector. He is writer.

He is more interested in music than in cameras.

Hi, re. your Kiev. I have 481100 in my collection - comparing the details with Minouru Sasaki's photos in 'Contax to KNEB'..
The focussing wheel is a hybrid in that it has the circular grooving on the face, but no slot in the milled edge. 481244 is like this.
The accessory shoe has quite rounded edges, again like 481244 - most likely a Dresden Contax part. I can't see the focus mount clearly but if the 1,3 meter mark has a flat top 3 and separated from the 1 by a comma then it is a Dresden part. The lens serial number looks about right - 481739 has No 002923
Looks like it is worth of a good clean and restoration as it is quite a rarity.

Cheers,

Steve

Thanks Fred. I think the Fed with 50/2 was cheap, 70 euro is the price for the lens alone. The Zorki-1 not cheap but also not expensive, it depends on the condition. It's great if you are looking for things which are hard to find.

Nice finds! Especially the Kiev, even if it looks very hard used. But as Steve says, a nice cleaning and carefully restauration and you have a fine piece for collection.

Ulrich

http://fotos.cconin.de