Are Soviet lenses better than ours? Keppler says nyet!

By 1962 the Soviets had put a satellite and an astronaut into space. Americans wondered whether the West was falling behind in other areas. Modern Photography ask Keppler to look into this matter.

 

 

Nyet-1-sm-2

2 1/4 color: Worlds most flexible color system.

 

 

 

Color-1-sm-2

This month's 35mm column looks back at the quality of film from 15 years ago.

 

 

35mm-1-sm-2

Here is this month's Behind the Scenes column.

 

 

BTS-1-sm-2

Here are some folding camera bargains.

 

 

FCB-1-sm-2

The How Far Have we Gone column looks back at the 1954 Metz Mecaflex.

 

 

HFHWG-1-sm-2

Here are this month's Modern Tests.

 

 

MT-1-sm-2

Bennett Sherman looks at electronic film.

 

 

TT-1-sm-2

Here is this month's Too Hot to Handle Column.

 

 

THTH-1-sm-2

This month. May 1962, Popular Photography celebrated their 25th anniversary.

 

 

PP-25th-1-sm-2

By 1962 there was a Boom in Zooms.

 

 

Boom-in-Zooms-1-sm-2

Here is Pop Photos latest Test Reports.

 

 

PP-Test-Report-1-sm-2

Here are this month's camera equipment ads.

 

 

Ansco-1-sm-2

Here are this month's dealer ads.

 

 

BB-1-sm-2

A really great look back, Marc. Kodak and other labs were quick to encourage photographers to exploit the advantages of shooting color negatives and the article provides excellent proof. The early film article was interesting as well. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks -- and especially for the Keppler review of the lenses - I hadn't seen that one

Thanks Marc! This was an interesting time.

 

Soviet lenses had worse press at the time than what they have now.

 

We are told that the "super deluxe rangefinder Canon 7" is about to be launched.

 

The folding cameras article was moving. I remember nobody wanting folders at the time.. 122 Verichrome Pan film was stilll available!

 

Ihagee was getting licked but still fought. A thing called Nikkorex was out. And there is an ad for Zeiss-Ikon interchangeable backs, which I used with a Contarex.

 

Old timers can relate to these posts. Please keep them coming!

Back in the 1970's I recall reading about the best buys in used cameras. The writer also mentioned three used camera "dogs" to avoid. I don't remember which group the NIkkorex Zoom was part of but that article was the first time I heard of one.

Thanks Marc, much useful and entertaining information. Keppler's article on the Russian lens situation is a keeper, and I enjoyed a nostalgic return to the negative or transparency debate, something I often became involved with in my younger days. And what a mouth-watering lineup of second-hand folders...

Mike - it seems like that was more of an engineering driven product rather than a marketing driven product.

 

JDM - It is also one that I hadn't seen. I wonder if it helped make the Soviets get their act together and make better products.

 

Julio - This was about the time I started reading these magazines. It opened a whole new world.

 

Mike - I will have to see whether I can find that article. Wasn't the first version of the 43-86mm zoom also a dog?

 

Rick - I remember when I got out of the service in 1972. If I had had $1000 to buy all the used cameras I wanted I would never have had to buy another camera again. There were so many bargains of so many types of cameras. I guess each time period goes through the same thing.

By later Nikon standards some users might have thought it to be an "optical bow-wow", but somewhere in a back issue I saw some images made with the earliest version., IIRC, it didn't do too badly at middle apertures and focal lengths.

Interesting that they considered the Super Ikonta D to be in "extra demand", due to the larger negatives on 616 film. Things are different now, with 620, 116, 616, 122, and 828 film no longer made by Kodak.

Mostly, though, I think that Julio put his finger on the essential fact.

 

The Soviet lenses weren't that bad, but the pressures of the times made this difficult to acknowledge. I remember when some East German (or more rarely, Soviet) equipment was favorably mentioned, the rabid patriots would even cancel their subscriptions. Really!