Mastodawn

Tony Mar 18, 2024

@arkadiusz Lovely photo. I bet I know where that light leak's coming from if you want to fix it - I had to chase the same issue in my FED 5 fifteen years ago!

Arkadiusz Mar 18, 2024

Thank you! I've heard that the problem could be a screw or some play in the back cover, for example. I used this camera without any case, so you know. I would like to know where the problem is and fix it myself. On the other hand, I have better rangefinders cameras like the Zorki 4 (an older, but with better quality control) 😊

Tony Mar 18, 2024

@arkadiusz Personally, I think the Zorki 4 is the worse camera of the two - the shutter is *far* more unreliable. I've had to fix so many for friends over the years!

I'm 99% certain the light leak you're experiencing is down to the frame counter reset "prong". There's a gap down the side of it and if light hits the top plate in just the right place, it bounces down that gap and causes that plume-like light leak on your photo.

Some adhesive-backed foam around it fixes the problem instantly!

Other photos have two light leaks, so it could be this one and probably something more. The second light leak is on the other side of the photo, or is the same place but appears in two places in photos because winding a film roll.

Thank you for tip! Fortunately my Zorki 4 is mint, no issues, always I have a lot of fun with using it, but it's just soviet thing so I'm not suprised that such many entites have problem :)

@arkadiusz if it looks like a "plume" from the bottom edge of the frame, it's probably that prong that's the issue. If it's more straight-edged, it'll be coming around the side, where the back meets the body.

The removable back design the Soviets took from the Contax is such a pain in the ass sometimes; I much prefer the solid body of the Zorki 5.

Ahh Contax, you mean Zeiss Ikon camera?

@arkadiusz I'm talking about this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contax_II

After the war, the Soviets took the designs, tooling, and machines to make them back to Ukraine and they started making the Kiev. Lots of elements from the Contax design then made it into the FED and Zorki lines (which is why Jupiters and Industars don't focus properly on Leicas, incidentally). That removable back is one of those Contax elements.

Contax II - Wikipedia

I've known about FED and Zorki parts, but no about Contax, good to know. I'm huge fan of Zeiss especially Ikon cameras, I have Taxona, folding Contina and Ikoflex, it's beautiful machines, unlike Soviet inventions, these work after 70 years almost without any CLA

@arkadiusz Hah, mine are the opposite! I have a pre-war Contax II and a post-war Contax IIa. Neither of them work correctly, but my 1970s Kiev 4 and 1980s Kiev 4AM? Totally fine!

Zeiss' big problem was that they over-engineered EVERYTHING. They're all incredibly complex machines. Meanwhile, the Soviets (from what I've seen) tried to do things as simply as possible. Sometimes that worked... and sometimes that really didn't!

It is worthwhile to take interesting photos, no matter the equipment

@arkadiusz Agreed. Some of the best photos I've ever taken were with a Lubitel 2 that I paid £10 for. It's a barely-useable bakelite piece of nonsense, but goddamn, it can do some great things if you take the time to figure it out.

I have a Lubitel 166B, but I haven't taken any pictures with it yet. Last time I took my Smena-8 and shot cool pics with a cheap film roll, a lot of fun! One from this shots: https://pixelfed.social/i/web/post/663145709482992901

Arkadiusz Wieczorek (@[email protected])

Just pure mist ~ Nazaré, Portugal 🇵🇹 Here I think that a roll of Kodak Vision3 250D film performs really well, like in the cinema. Gear: • Smena-8 (LOMO, USSR, 1963) • Watameter Super Rangefinder (Edmund Wateler, Braunschweig, West Germany, 1954) • Kodak VISION3 250D (ECN2) #35mm #35mmfilm #analog #analogfilm #analogphotography #art #artmatters #beach #believeinfilm #clouds #cliff #cliffs #dreamy #film #filmcommunity #filmisalive #filmisnotdead #filmphotography #filmportrait #fotografia #fotografiaanalogowa #girl #grain #grainisgood #highlight #ishootfilm #iso250 #kodak #kodakvision #landscape #landscapephotography #light #lomo #lomography #mastoart #mist #nature #naturephotography #nofilter #ocean #oldcamera #outdoors #portugal #rollfilm #scenery #sea #shootfilmbenice #shotonfilm #sky #vintage #vision #wanderlust #wave #waves #wilderness #wonderful

Pixelfed

@arkadiusz That's so beautiful. I used to love my Smena 8M - fantastic little cameras.

Here's an old one from my Lubitel; the viewfinder is a nightmare, but the lens on it is a beautiful thing: https://www.flickr.com/photos/coldkennels/5693846764/

Flickr

It's so good! It's more swirly thing than I thought 🖤

When it comes to the viewfinder there is the same story with 166B, I'm going to use it with an external rangefinder :)

@arkadiusz I've thought about replacing the viewfinder with a piece of proper ground glass. That'd make the whole thing a lot easier to use, I think.

Sounds great, I understand that a suitable donor would have to be found? Maybe someone has already done it.

@arkadiusz probably not. It's not that hard to make ground glass from scratch, and you can buy replacement screens pre-made from various places. All you'd have to do is make or get one made at the right size and spec.