This is my latest addition to my GAS issue (Gear Acquisition Syndrome), picked up for £4-99 from a local charity shop
"Look what I have bought Jane !!! It's fabulous, Although I don't know if it works "
"Why did you buy it then?"
"Well it looks cool and the young lady in the shop was a nice lady"
"I'm going to have to stop you going into shops if your criteria for buying a camera is based on how nice the sales assistant is !!!"
(I think she was joking)
It's a Russian viewfinder camera, the comrade for the Young Generation. This is a UK export version built in Leningrad (St. Petersburg), known as the Cosmic 35. In Russia it's known as the SMENA-8 and with almost 2 million units built it's the most popular Russian Camera ever.
I cannot cross reference the serial number to a year of manufacture, but these were built between 1963 to 1971
Film: 35mm
Lens: T-43 triplet 40mm f/4
Shutter: leaf, manually cocked
Shutter speeds 1/15 sec. to 1/250 sec. and B
Aperture: f4 to f16
Focusing range: 1 m to infinity
Selftimer: mechanical
You have to guess the distance and guess the exposure (an exposure meter required ... I have one)
It is meant to produce half decent photos so I'm going to run a roll of him through it. Maybe colour !
This is me posing for a selfie with it , my nails are a bit dirty as I've just been digging some plants into the garden
Exciting don't you think ? Oh I have another one of these an earlier version, that I also bought for £4-99, but the focussing ring comes off in your hand, so it just sits on a shelf in my cabinet !
@rensala Renee, it's not difficult , the only thing to be careful is , if you don't wind the camera on , you can still take a photo , so you can easily 'double / triple' expose !
I love it (of course)! Does it weigh 6000 pounds like my Zorki 4? What type of mount is it? Still trying to find a home for this Jupiter 8 that I bought and will never use.
@sakkasie April , It's a light as a feather , plastic body, the lens is fixed , you cannot detach it , you guess the distance in feet , set your shutter speed on the dial , set your f number on the inner lens , cock the shutter compose and click .... being careful to keep your finger away from the shutter mechanism . It's real old school , the iso (ASA DIN scale ) is for reference only , it doesn't do anything with it
Ha ha, there is an equivalent in the music world for my instrument, MAD or melodeon acquisition syndrome. Luckily I don't suffer from it as they're not generally £4.99 in charity shops...
I cannot wait to see some photos!
I would not know what to do with an exposure meter!