Hello from California

... But "California" is just a nick, I'm from Milan, Italy, and just registered to this forum.

Some words about me:

My name is Davide Cavallaro, I was born in Padua, near Venice, Italy, some 42 years ago. I work as a service engineer in the so-called Graphic Communication Group of a big American company that really did the history of photography, and whose name starts and ends by K... guess it !
Since 2001 I live in Milan.
I have a wife, two little kids and about 100 old cameras, mainly from the former USSR and DDR. I'm also a Zuikholic, as proud user of a huge Olympus OM system, but that's not the place for this kind of stuff .
I don't consider me a real collector. I don't have a place to display them, I never tried to catalog them as well... I'm even not sure about the exact number of cameras dusting in my shelves .
Nor I consider me a real user: I used maybe 10 or 15 of my oldies, and just some three or four of them are more or less in regular use (a Fed-3, a Kiev-4, a Moskva-2 and a Pentacon Six).
I just like too much these old bunch of metal and glass!
Once I used to restore old motorbikes, mainly Moto Guzzi and Ducati. My favourite one was my 1971 Guzzi V7 California 850.
When my first son born and I moved to Milan I sadly had to quit all my bikes, so I started fiddling with old cameras and lenses.
And, yes, my nick name is just a memento of my favourite bike .
My first task will be now to catalog my cameras and share with you all the interesting things I will hopefully find out.

And, of course, ask you plenty of questions!

I wish everybody a nice weekend.

Welcome David! Now that you're here, you will want to start digging up all your Russian cameras, to see maybe you have some rare variations! ..

Vlad.

Welcomer to the group!
We all hope that you'll find a treasure in your boxes! I know I did
And keep eye on Juhani. He also have bike background

Hello David
We expect hot news from you! Cali= Hot Fornia= Stove
Wellcome Paisano!
LP

Davide,
Welcome, I hope that you have lots of fun discovering interesting things you never knew about your collection.
Regards, Jim

Thank you everybody for the nice encouraging words.

It's time to start digging in my boxes... One of the things I would like to show you: it's a micro-photographic set called, if my translitteration is correct, MFN-3. It's composed of a Zorki-4 camera, a mirror box and a couple of microscope adapters, all enclosed in a nice woodden box. The Zorki-4 itself is an absolutely standard one. Does someone knows something about it? Here's some pic:

Davide
Everything very interesting!
There exists a similar device also with a Zorki camera but made in Poland by PZO This device has a built in shutter 1/10 to 1/250 +B built in the rear of the observation barrel Another interesting.. the shutter is extraordinary similar (interchangeability of parts)to Smena Shutters (no self timer).
Regards LP

Luiz,
Actually ther's no built-in shutter in this device, just a switching lever to raise the viewing mirror and free the light path to the camera. By the engraved logo and S/N I guess it was made by "Zavod Progress" in Leningrad, in 1960.
By the way, do you think is this device worth a place in the wiki catalog? Is this a place where I can submit photos of some of my "pieces" not yet represented there? Or should I ask someone before?
Bye.
Davide

Of course Davide!
Zavod Progress was a branch of LOMO industries They were responsible for the first Russian microscope made in cooperation with Zeiss. See http://www.novacon.com.br/lenses08.htm Professor Mahlon Kelly comments.
Regards LP