Homemade Photosniper

This is a homemade Photosniper camera.

Lens housing is created out 2 metal pipes that reside one inside another and sit on a cleverly designed based that consists of two handles on a base connected via two rods with spring on one of them. The lens itself is a large format camera lens I-37, which is a 300mm lens. The focusing is achieved by squeezing the front handle and the little thumb handle with the left hand and holding it while the trigger is pressed with the index finger of the right hand.

The end opposite of the I-37 lens has an M42 mount and the whole rig was designed to be used with a regular Zenit E camera. A trigger mechanism is routed inside the base then comes out in the back and goes up to the height of the camera and finally connects to the shutter release on the Zenit.

This homemade 'sniper suprisingly handles much better than the factory units in comparison. The focusing is a lot faster and much more efficient than rotating the knob on the FS-3/12/122 and it sit very comfortably on your shoulder and hands. A creator did a great job designing it. Obviously it was made for quick focus and shoot like sports photography since the focus is resets as soon as you let go.

The I-37 lens that came with it is from 1962

Also there seems to be some kind of serial production of these from possibly a small workshop as a few almost identical models were observed for sale on auction sites.

Collection of Vladislav Kern