FSU Challenge - Registration & Chat

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Welcome to the FSU Challenge, a celebration of camera gear made in the former Soviet Union.

This is the registration thread. To register, please post in this thread, confirming that you intend to take part, and please include a photo or two of the gear you plan to use. General chat about the challenge, the gear, etc, is also welcome here.

About the challenge
This challenge is for fun - there are no prizes other than the adulation of the collective.
The challenge is now open.
The closing date is November the 7th, 2017 - exactly 100 years from the start of the October Revolution.
EDIT: Closing date extended to Sunday the 19th November 2017.
You may register at any time before the closing date.


Requirements
All photos must have been taken during the challenge.
Cameras and lenses used for the challenge must have been made in the former Soviet Union in the period 1917 to 1991 inclusive.
All other equipment can be anything you like.
No restrictions on type, make or amount of film you use.
If you think you can influence votes by using additional FSU kit or, indeed, Svema film, then go for it (and don't be shy about making it known).


Entering and voting
There are four categories for entries...
Participants may enter a maximum of one photo per category, and may enter as many categories as they like.
Each category may be approached as the photographer sees fit.

Entries to be posted in separate threads for each category. (Links to these threads will be added here in due course.)
A poll will be added to each thread after the closing date, at which point, voting will be open.
All forum members may vote.
Voting will close one month after the challenge closing date - 7th December.

The winner in each category is the participant with the most votes.
The overall winner is the participant who has gained the most votes in any one category (ie, not an aggregate).
Joint winners are possible (no tie-breaks).
 
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Here's my high class kit...

Normal mode...
Zorki 4 + J8 + Leningrad 7.jpg

Zorki 4 with 50mm f2 Jupiter 8. On the right is a Leningrad 7 meter which actually works (and cost me a whole £2.70 a few years ago).

Wide angle street mode...
Zorki 4 + J12 + Finder.jpg

The lens is a 35mm f2.8 Jupiter 12. In the accessory shoe is the venerable turret finder.

Spy mode...
Zorki 4 + J11 + Finder.jpg

Here fitted with a 135mm f4 Jupiter 11 for getting shots of dissidents while hiding in the shadows.
 
You mean there may yet be a role in life for my "original condition" Kiev (not to be confused with Steve's flash one above)? :whistle:

Given its affection for non-uniform frame spacing, will there be more points to be had for creative overlaps? :thinking:
 
I'm not sure I'll be able to enter the competition but here's my Dzerzhinsky special. The mounted lens is the truly awful Industar 10 with its posh lens cap. Next to the camera is the much better but non-collapsible Industar 61 with its homemade lens cap. If you want a really tough camera which can double as a hammer, get a FED 2.

 
As a point of order, in the spirit of communism shouldn't any votes be shared equally between all the entrants, rather than benefitting a small number of individuals? :whistle: ;)
 
You mean there may yet be a role in life for my "original condition" Kiev (not to be confused with Steve's flash one above)? :whistle:

Given its affection for non-uniform frame spacing, will there be more points to be had for creative overlaps? :thinking:

And it seems like it isn't just the camera that was dodgy according to this note:

The photo was taken with a Russian Jupiter 12 on a Kiev 4a, and the lens serial puts it as made in 1984. It is a strange little lens in that this shot seems acceptably sharp to me, whereas others don't seem that sharp at all.

jup-12-ness-5-adj-apug.jpg
 
I know that this next statement makes me a hypocrite but Nick, you have waaaaay too many cameras. :D
 
I know that this next statement makes me a hypocrite but Nick, you have waaaaay too many cameras. :D
I know! I'm really looking forward to the Land of the Rising Sun challenge :D
 
And I'm not sure if this qualifies, it was made in Russia but post Soviet days

FSU Cameras by Nick Watson, on Flickr

I'd have to say no, otherwise it would cease to be an FSU challenge. (I deliberately left the rest open so that as many could take part as possible within the primary criteria of FSU cameras and lenses.)

Nothing wrong with a separate quirky camera challenge of some sort, though. Or maybe combine things like panoramics, Lomos, pinholes, redscale, IR, etc into a challenge for anything that's out of the ordinary? (The Hipster Challenge? :) )
 
This is my Kiev 4 which I shall be using together with a Jupiter 8M lens. I shall be using Agfa Vista+ film.

This was made for the home market, not for export to the west, as evidenced by the writing being in Cyrillic. It works very well.

I am not sure yet if I shall enter all the categories: we shall see what presents itself to me in the next month or so.

93355-p1010482.jpg
 
No problem, I'll give it a dry run with an old roll just to make sure the transport is working ok, I can't guarantee the shutter speeds buts that's part of the fun.

And (apologies if I'm telling something you already know)remember with the old Zorkis that

!!!!!!!you must cock the shutter before you change the shutter speed
!!!!!!!

PM me your address and I'll get in in the post.
 
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No problem, I'll give it a dry run with an old roll just to make sure the transport is working ok, I can't guarantee the shutter speeds buts that's part of the fun.

And (apologies if I'm telling something you already know)remember with the old Zorkis that

!!!!!!!you must cock the shutter before you change the film speed
!!!!!!!

PM me your address and I'll get in in the post.

Can you leave it on Agfa Vista setting :) I had no idea about that quirk...

Will PM you.
 
Can you leave it on Agfa Vista setting :) I had no idea about that quirk...

For the avoidance of doubt, he means the shutter speed, not film speed. When you release the shutter on a Zorki, the speed dial rotates and ends up indicating a different speed from what it was at before firing (and rotates back when you wind on). This puts a little pin inside that engages with various notches out of position as well. If you try and set the speed while it has been released, the act of then winding on can cause the pin to jam, and possibly break it. I might be wrong, but I believe the camera has to be partially dismantled (the top has to come off) to sort it out (and replacement bits found if something breaks).

So, the safe approach is to always wind on if there's film in it, and always check first that it's wound on if you pick it up after not using it for a while.
 
For the avoidance of doubt, he means the shutter speed, not film speed. When you release the shutter on a Zorki, the speed dial rotates and ends up indicating a different speed from what it was at before firing (and rotates back when you wind on). This puts a little pin inside that engages with various notches out of position as well. If you try and set the speed while it has been released, the act of then winding on can cause the pin to jam, and possibly break it. I might be wrong, but I believe the camera has to be partially dismantled (the top has to come off) to sort it out (and replacement bits found if something breaks).

So, the safe approach is to always wind on if there's film in it, and always check first that it's wound on if you pick it up after not using it for a while.
Thanks Nomad, that's exactly what I meant , have edited my warning to make more sense (y)
 
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Since my Kiev 4A doesn't have a built-in meter, it was time to dig out the handheld meter that I haven't used for a while. :eek::eek: :oops: :$ Let that be a lesson to you!

DSCF0524.jpg

PS I cleaned it up and it seems to be working, so fingers crossed. :rolleyes:
 
AGL_4194.jpg

I have skipped down to the shed and fetched this beauty from between the jar of Whitworth screws and the broken sandwich toaster. The 'Fatboy' Jupiter 11 135mm f/4 is surprisingly interesting and I am looking forward to using it more. The Zenit is irredeemably awful. Apart from the uneven frame spacing, a deeply dark viewfinder and it's propensity for shredding the film when it reaches the end, it leaks light and somehow imprints a photogram of the edge of the pressure plate across some of the negs - see bottom of pic below, the straight bit, not the wobbly bit . Still, all part of their charm! Gonna get busy with the gaffer tape on the leaky git. Also got a silver M39 Helios 44-2 and my Leningrad meter from when I was 18. What could possibly go wrong...?

April_2017_129-sml.jpg
 
I think I might have identified the fault with your camera, Alistair... I think there may be a swan trapped inside it. Is your shed quite damp by any chance? ;)

Joking aside, that's a rather odd fault, I've not seen that one before.
 
I think I might have identified the fault with your camera, Alistair... I think there may be a swan trapped inside it. Is your shed quite damp by any chance? ;)

Joking aside, that's a rather odd fault, I've not seen that one before.

It's on a couple of frames each roll. I am guessing that at a certain angle with the sun in a certain position, a chink of light sneaks in and hits the edge of the plate. Or maybe the light bounces around when a subsequent shot is taken into the light? Except the adjacent shots weren't. And the plate is behind the film soooo.... leaky git scenario. Here's another one!

April_2017_119-sml.jpg
 
It's on a couple of frames each roll. I am guessing that at a certain angle with the sun in a certain position, a chink of light sneaks in and hits the edge of the plate. Or maybe the light bounces around when a subsequent shot is taken into the light? Except the adjacent shots weren't. And the plate is behind the film soooo.... leaky git scenario. Here's another one!

View attachment 100801

It's at the leading edge of the frame, towards the drive sprockets. It could be getting fogged during the previous exposure before this part of the film is advanced to the frame (this bit would be out of the cassette). Or maybe during exposure of this frame. If not those, then this bit of film is pretty-much at the take-up spool when the next shot is exposed.

What is there inside that has the two curved features at the outer edges?
 
What is there inside that has the two curved features at the outer edges?

This grubby little pressure plate:

IMG_5645.JPG

Okokok, right, I have swapped it for the plate from a Zenit B. No curvy bits, it's square-ish. A bit small tho. I'll see if that helps or not.
 
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This grubby little pressure plate:

View attachment 100811

Telling. It's happening before the affected shot is wound on to the frame and exposed. The plate is shading the film, so the light is not coming in from the front. The bright vertical bar would appear to be a reflection from the rolled leading and trailing edges on the pressure plate, which would suggest the light is coming in from outside the area of the pressure plate, but not so far away that it can't also hit the film directly.

Given that the leak is pretty even across the film, I'd hazard a guess at it coming in from the left hand side. Is it hinged there?
 
I'd hazard a guess at it coming in from the left hand side. Is it hinged there?

Ummm... which left? Holding the camera with the lens facing away, the hinge is on the right, natch. The velvet seals look good, there is no damage to the back and there is no play in the fitting. It is nice and tight. Though is there supposed to be string in the grooves on the body where the back fits? Some cameras have string there... don't they???
 
Aye, the hinge would be on the right (brain fart). The light source is on the left somewhere - it's hitting the film between the supply spool and the pressure plate. If it was at the other end, the shape of the light leak would be a mirror image of what you're actually getting.

If the grooves are quite deep and the flange around the edge of the back engages with them nicely, then I'd have thought that would be a good enough light trap. Does the flange continue in a groove at the end of the back, at the catch?
 
Does the flange continue in a groove at the end of the back, at the catch?

Not so much. I am gonna add some foam to the door seal and put some tape over the catch to be sure. It won't detract from the Zenit's rugged good looks too much!
 
Add some foam, tape over the catch, swap the pressure plate... in keeping with the theme of this challenge, is this becoming something of a Soviet era style 'pimp my Zenith'?! :LOL:
 
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Just dug out my two Zenits, which I haven't looked at in a decade and haven't used for probably 30 years, and was surprised to find one has a Pentacon lens. One is a tidy EM body which IIRC I bought new and the other is a TTL which is a bit battered and I think I got second hand. The meters don't work on either, the EM has a photo cell thing on the front and I guess that just isn't working but does anyone no what type of battery the TTL takes?
 
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It's on a couple of frames each roll. I am guessing that at a certain angle with the sun in a certain position, a chink of light sneaks in and hits the edge of the plate. Or maybe the light bounces around when a subsequent shot is taken into the light? Except the adjacent shots weren't. And the plate is behind the film soooo.... leaky git scenario. Here's another one!

View attachment 100801
If I remember correctly, the 3m doesn't have an instant return mirror. Could it be light coming through the viewfinder eyepiece, reflecting through the prism, then going through a gap at the side of the mirror in the up position?
 
Just dug out my two Zenits, which I haven't looked at in a decade and haven't used for probably 30 years, and was surprised to find one has a Pentacon lens. One is a tidy EM body which IIRC I bought new and the other is a TTL which is a bit battered and I think I got second hand. The meters don't work on either, the EM has a photo cell thing on the front and I guess that just isn't working but does anyone no what type of battery the TTL takes?

It's a PX625 according to the manual here: http://www.butkus.org/chinon/russian/zenith_ttl/zenith_ttl.htm I think it was one of the mercury ones, so you'll need to google for a replacement perhaps.

Edit: here's an equivalent from Maplin http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/v625-alkaline-single-battery-px625-mercury-equivalent-vq76h
 
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