Spending the Day with Old Friends

It's another freezing day. Too cold to go out and shoot so I shot some of my cameras instead. I wish have more good days to take these old friends for some exercise.
I'm also wanted to try out a recently acquired collapsible screw mount Summicron 5cm on my Olympus E-PL1 digital camera before I send it out for a CLA. The lens looks almost mint, the glass very clean but the focusing and aperture rings are a little tight. It seems it sat unused on the shelve for awhile. Don't worry, when it comes back it will be used with the proper cameras.

Time To Wave The Flag

Yesterday, Americans celebrated their freedom. We are proud to celebrate ours.

Figures and Sculptures

Museum of Modern Art Sculpture Garden

To celebrate the Commie Camera Day last May 1st, I dusted off my
Fed-1g which I haven't used for awhile since I bought a Leica IIF.
The IIF recently developed some shutter problems so it was sent off for service.
The Fed-1 is a "Barnack" style Soviet copy of the Leica II but slightly smaller
and is a very capable camera.

camera: Fed-1g with Jupiter-12 35mm lens
film: Kodak Gold 200

Feds & Zorki

Fed 1g with Fed 50 f 3.5 lens

I have four former Soviet Union cameras, a Fed 1g, two Fed 2 and a Zorki 4.
The Fed-1g is a Barnack style copy of the Leica IID made around 1954 in Kharkov, Ukraine. My camera came with a collapsible Elmar copied Fed50, a Tessar formula 50mm f3.5 lens. The camera is slightly smaller than the Leica II but not as elegantly finished and with a rather small rangefinder for focusing and separate viewfinder for composing, nevertheless, it is a fun camera to use. This model unfortunately doesn't have neck strap lugs so I attached a wrist strap on the tripod mount underneath so it will be easy to carry around.

Fed 1g sample shots:

Rocks Water & Sky


Closter Pond


The Mailbox


Fed 2E with Jupiter-12 35mm f2.8 lens and finder

The Fed 2 is an upgrade of the Fed 1 made in 1955-1970. It has a combined viewfinder and rangefinder with a wide base. My Fed 2s came with an Industar 26M and Industar 61LD 50 mm lenses. Later I bought a Jupiter 12, 35mm f2.8 lens and a Jupiter 9, 85mm f2 lens for them.

Fed 2 sample shots:

A Bronx Street


Three Wheeler


Roots


Zorki 4 with Jupiter 8, 50 mm f2 lens

The Zorki 4 is made in KMZ, Krasnogorsk (Moscow), Russia in 1956-1973.
It has a bigger and brighter combined viewfinder and rangefinder than the Fed 1 and Fed 2. It also comes with complete slow and fast shutter speeds that goes up to 1/1000 of a second.
While these Soviet cameras are not as refine as the Japanese and German rangefinders, they are tough and rugged cameras. I should use them more often but lately they had taken a back seat in favor of my other cameras. The lenses I got for them are very sharp however and all are being used more often with my Canon P and Leica IIF.

Zorki 4 sample shots:

Saints-Diptych


A Landscape


Backyard Fence