Two Russian Rarities

[photax]

Hi !

I found these two Russian 1980`s automatic cameras I have never seen before for 5.- each at a flea market this morning. The first one is a FED 50 Automat from the late 1980`s. I would say 1988, because of the serial number. It has a solid metal housing, a Industar-81 2.8/38 lens that is surrounded by a selenium meter which selects the shutter speed.



I just realized that there is no way to insert picture no 1. I`ll try again later...



The wheel on the back is for setting the film sensitivity in Gost (?) and Iso.

The second one is a Lomo 135 M from 1982 with an Industar-73 2.8/40 and a spring-wound film transport. The film rewinding knob, the rewind release and the flash shoe are placed at the base plate.





And as a bonus, a Ricoh 35 ZF ST with a Rikenon 1:2.8/40mm lens. I presume that this camera is from the mid-1970`s. Another variant of the nameless Japanese bricks. All cameras are in very good condition and came with bag, lens cap and sun shade. A nice addition to my Russian division ( except the Ricoh ).



MIK

[PeterW]

MIK,

A very nice day's finds.

I never stop being amazed at the variety of cameras you manage to find in the flea markets around Vienna.

At my local markets and car boot sales to which John takes me fairly regularly it's beconing increasingly rare to find an old camera of any sort. Even the Instamatics and point-and-shoots seem to have dried up.

It's interesting that the FED 50, a neat-looking all-metal camera is written entirely in Cyrillic, including the CCCP, so it was obviously intended for sale in the Eastern bloc.

The Lomo, however, has "Made in USSR" under the lens housing.
It seems to have been intended for export to the West but I have never seen an example. I'm sure I would have remembered it because the spring-wind knob on the top reminds me of the pre-war German Robot.

Puttting the hot shoe underneath keeps the top plate clear, but surely a flash mounted there would get in the way of a tripod table?

I had a Ricoh 35, though I can't remember the exact model. It took quite good pictures, but it felt rather tinny and not very solidly built in operation. It didn't inspire confidence, so I sold it on ebay and got £10.05 plus postage for it, a lot more than I paid, so someone liked it.

PeterW

[mickeyobe]

Interesting finds.

The Lomo is curious. Except for the tripod socket everything on the bottom should be on top and the gargantuan spring wind knob would have been more comfortable on the bottom.

Were the Russians being innovative or perverse or where they being funny?

Despite all the projections there seems to be a striking resemblance to the Werra. Aye. There's the joke.

Mickey

[colray]

Fantastic win... the fed 50 is on my list of must buy cameras Col