zorkentax?

[jonasv]

Somebody linked to this on the sovietcamera mailing list - apologies if it has been posted here before.

A Zorki with Contax mount -

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7609463235&ru=http://search.ebay.com:80/7609463235_W0QQfromZR40QQfviZ1

And the best news is that it could be yours for a mere $ 4,000 :angel: !

[Jocko]

That price is absurd! A beautiful (and certainly genuine) example recently failed to sell on e-bay with a starting price of £499.90 and a buy it now of £600.00 - not too unreasonable, given what you're getting.

And the fact they seem to have two rings alarm bells!

Ian

[Will]

Creative seller?

Won't you want a conversion like that on a Canon P?




Will

[Evgeny S]

TSVVS camera is one of the rarest camera made in USSR. But the price shown is really high.

[darkkavenger]

The 50/2 Sonnar is intriguing. The lens body looks like an aluminium barrel of a Jupiter-8. Besides that, it looks like a beautiful rarity, but too expensive for any reasonable person.

[wyk_penguin]

I think it is the "genuine article". Someone came across one of these earlier on RFF, see if anyone can find that post. Rumor has it that they made these cameras to use the reputedly sharper Zeiss Sonnars.

[Fedzilla_Bob]

Why would anyone do such a thing?

Somebody- please inform me, was this actually a production camera?

[Jocko]

Why would anyone do such a thing?

Somebody- please inform me, was this actually a production camera?

The cameras were made (almost certainly) by FED c.1948-50, as a special commision from the Topographical Service of the Air Force (TSVVS), using the highest quality materials and the tightest possible standards. A large number of Zeiss lenses had been captured at the end of the war and the intention was to mate these with a Leica style body and thus produce a top-notch 35mm hand-held aerial camera with a very fast lens. Because the lens was projected forward by the new bayonet mount it becomes a short telephoto (note the smaller viewfinder window). The camera is sometimes known as "the General's FED" because of its exceptional quality. Less than 1000 were made.

That's about it! Cheers, Ian

[Evgeny S]

Why would anyone do such a thing?

Somebody- please inform me, was this actually a production camera?

Yes, this camera was produced in small amounts in 1949-1950 under the name TSVVS (http://www.photohistory.ru/ArmyCam.html) (Topograficheskaya Sluzhba Voenno-Vozdushnyh Sil - Topographical Service of the Air Force). The camera was the hybrid of the FED-1 and the Contax mount (internal only). TSVVS cameras was equipped by trophy CZ Sonnars 2.0/50 and 1.5/50. It's a rarity now.

[Evgeny S]

The cameras were made (almost certainly) by FED c.1948, as a special commision from the Topographical Service of the Air Force (TSVVS), using the highest quality materials and the tightest possible standards. A large number of Zeiss lenses had been captured at the end of the war and the intention was to mate these with a Leica style body and thus produce a top-notch 35mm hand-held aerial camera with a very fast lens. Because the lens was projected forward by the new bayonet mount it becomes a short telephoto (note the smaller viewfinder window). The camera is sometimes known as "the General's FED" because of its exceptional quality. Less than 1000 were made.

That's about it! Cheers, Ian

Damn, Ian, we're typing the same information in the same time :)

[Jocko]

Damn, Ian, we're typing the same information in the same time :)


Evgeny, it only goes to prove that we are both splendidly helpful fellows! :D

Cheers! Ian