Soviet Union Cameras

This article on cameras from the Soviet Union is long and I'm not a collector. I only read a little bit of it, but it looks quite interesting so I thought I'd make folks aware of it. It has great photos of some old unique cameras and lots of descriptive text. Check out the full article here: Article.

movingfinger said :

This article on cameras from the Soviet Union is long...

 

But very informative and a worthwhile read for anyone into FSU cameras. Thanks for the link.

Thanks. I have a Zorki 5 and Fed 2, both from Goodwill and both seem to work,

though the rangefinder calibrations are off.

Nice. LOTS of good stuff at the site.

 

Thanks.

 

Most of my Soviet cameras have worked right out of the brown paper and twine wrappings

Like so many products of the Soviet Union, the parts that need to work do, and the rest is pretty rough.

Thanks for posting the link. I currently have 15 different Soviet cameras o_O and have had at least a dozen others in the past.

 

Also worth visiting is Thierry Hacquard's site, which has some very good technical info on Soviet cameras and lenses, including some uncommon models.

 

Thierry HACQUARD's collection of photographic devices: Site Map

Edited March 3, 2021 by m42dave

If you're interested in Soviet Leica copies, you might want to get in touch with Dave at Vermont Camera Works. Last I knew he had a big bunch of them and was aiming to sell them pretty inexpensively - possibly as a lot. Lots of other stuff, too. A good place to stop in if you're ever passing through Pittsford, Vermont on a Thursday through Saturday (north of Rutland on Route 7, so if you're a skier, make a detour).

“Zenits were usually brought... by Soviet merchant seamen who would sell their cameras for cash to buy some Levis or Adidas. It would be worth mentioning that cash from a sold Zenit was enough to buy just one pair of Levi’s and perhaps a dozen sachets of dried mango preserves.”,- been there, done that.