Hello From A Newby

Just joined and wished to say "hello" to all you guys in the Forum. I'm only a moderate collector numerically of Russian and Ukrainian cameras, with chronologically:
1937 FED-1 NKVD,
1939 GOMZ Fotokor
1955 KMZ Zorki 1e
1958 KMZ Moskva-5
1961 KMZ Iskra (2 of, 1 working & 1 bitsa)
1962 KMZ Start
1976 KMZ Zorki 4K; and
1979 Arsenal Kiev 4M.

Back in the late 60s I used a secondhand Zorki 4 with F2 Jupiter for a while, but the shutter gave continual tapering problems which the camera shop I'd bought it from couldn't fix - so they offered me an straight swap for a Zenit B with Helios F2. That was my very first SLR and it gave me great service for several years. My only gripe was the preset aperture ring, which I continually used to forget about when taking quick pics. My problem though, not the camera's! Thank God for the invention of semi and fully automatic lenses ..... Interesting also to note that the Start had an Exakta-style fully automatic diaphragm way back in the late 50s, but the Zenit B and E struggled on for years (80s?) with the archaic preset ring.

A couple of years ago I bought a secondhand Fotosniper outfit which I used successfully in my walks in the Aussie bush, taking pictures of birdlife although the Tair 300mm lens focussed close enough to take pics of wildflowers too. The outfit came with the latest fully automatic version of the venerable F2 Helios,although I never bothered to use it. Sure would have liked to have had it on my Zenit B 30 years before, though ..... I finally had to get rid of the Sniper not for any reasons of dissatisfaction with its optics or plumbing, just its sheer bulk and weight disagreeing with my advancing years. Carrying one of these around on a two hour walk is something for a 20 year old, not when you're pushing 60!

My small collection of Russian and Ukrainian stuff is more there to admire than to use, I have to admit. I would like some day to try out a film in each of the 35mm cameras though, especially the 1937 FED-1, just to see what they can do. (Regards from Pete In Perth)

Pete,

welcome to the site! This is a very fine selection of cameras you have. I can tell you right off the bet if you run a film through Start you will fall in love with it, it is a great camera! I keep coming back to it over and over out of all my cameras in the collection that I try to shoot, because it's just awesome!

And speaking of newbies, I think I am the biggest newbie here.. I just got all of my Soviet cameras in May of this year, and thought maybe building this web site will help me get some background on the cameras that I own. So you are not a newbie in any sense if you had a Zorki 4 back in 60s. :)

Looking forward to seeing you throughout the site!

Vlad

Hello Pete,

Welcome to the forum. Nice to have you here, and have fun when you put some film through your early FED. If you do, please post some photos in the gallery.

Regards, Bill

Hi Pete,
Welcome to the group!!

After reading your intro I recalled a cute, but frustrating story about my Fotosniper.
I had been looking for quite a while to purchase a complete gray Fotosniper outfit, in the aluminum case. Finally I found one from a rookie seller. He had a few sales by that time and a 100% Feedback on eBay. He also provided excellent photo's of the outfit so I felt safe enough to bid. I won the auction and when the outfit arrived I immediately took the components out and put them together. The only problem was that the stock must have been taken apart at one time and the springs that govern the trigger were not replaced. This made the lens useless as far as its original design was concerned.

I emailed the seller and explained the situation. He felt bad and said that he had no idea that the stock had been taken apart. He asked for a little time to see if he could find another stock and then he would ship it to me, if not he would refund the outfit and shipping both ways. Pretty nice guy!! Well, after a couple weeks I received another stock, fully operable. The only thing wrong was that it was black and not gray. Really no big deal. I was very impressed with his service.

I have yet to use the outfit !! :-)

Regards,
Steve