Not much to say really about this little Russian camera. Had it since the high school days, I bought it in the mid-80s. I just run a Svema FN64 through it recently, and while the results are, well, not really good, it still makes a rather interesting camera. That said, I would not take it with me on my holiday, if you get my meaning.
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I do not remember much from the old days regarding this camera, but I do recall this:
- Light leaks at times, brought by the fact that the camera is opening in half and it does not have any light seals. It looks like the light leaks occur mainly if the handling of the camera is a bit heavy, as in like squeezing the camera too hard.
- The camera is made out of plastic, weight and the manner of construction gives a sense of flimsiness. That said, the plastic looks sturdy.
- The Industar-104 2.8/28mm lens is a glass triplet, and gives decent results, even good at times. But it is prone to flare, probably because the coating is either not there or has a low quality;
- The camera is operated by a weird mechanical “program”, where you first set the film speed and then read the weather symbols on the dial located on the front. Do that, and the camera will “know” what speed and aperture to open and for how long.
- Shutter speed has a range from 1/30 to 1/250, quite accurate for what this camera is, and the focus from 0.9 metres to infinity;
Believe it or not, it has a cold shoe, a tripod bush, and the release button is threaded for use of a cable; a lens cap which is attached to the body by means of a textile cord;
Some photographs taken with Svema FN64 Russian film, expired 1989. The frames were cropped and a tad enhanced (contrast) in PS. As said, not spectacular results, but manageable.
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