What to make of this Ebay Item

[TVphotog]

Title says it all. Anybody have any clue or maybe a theory as to why this was done and what use it would be??????

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260159316464&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ebay.com%3A80%2Fsearch%2Fse arch.dll%3Ffrom%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dm37%26satitle%3D 260159316464%2B%2B%26category0%3D%26fvi%3D1

[darkkavenger]

looks like they wanted to make a MF/LF camera out of a Fed 3??

[oscroft]

It looks to me like a home-made mf/lf camera with the Fed 3 at the front simply being used as a lens mount and shutter. It's certainly rather bizarre.

[shadowfox]

Oh my! if that's a 120, Polaroid or 4x5 -back, it would make a nice round image because the lens is probably too small to cover a big negative.

Maybe it's a MEGA macro bellow... :D

[rxmd]

Oh my! if that's a 120, Polaroid or 4x5 -back, it would make a nice round image because the lens is probably too small to cover a big negative.
The lens looks like an enlarging lens. Focusing appears to be done with the rails at the bottom. I'm not sure if they used the FED for anything more than a lens mount plus shutter.

Philipp

[TVphotog]

I just keep thinking... WHY??????

[shadowfox]

The lens looks like an enlarging lens. Focusing appears to be done with the rails at the bottom. I'm not sure if they used the FED for anything more than a lens mount plus shutter.

Philipp

Ah, I see, wouldn't it be cheaper or easier to find a real bellow mounted shutter/lens assembly...? :)

That's a *lot* of machine work just so you can put a Fed where it doesn't belong...

[rxmd]

I just keep thinking... WHY??????
Ah, the good old technician's categorial imperative. I am under the impression that this, on the other hand, is a case of tinkerer's categorial imperative ("WHY NOT???"). :)

Maybe they had the parts lying around from something else and just put the FED in front to use an enlarging lens with a shutter - saves you the hassle of getting lenses with built-in shutters.

[Jocko]

Whatever it is, this sort of do-it-yourself work seems to have been a Soviet speciality - and sometimes with sublime results....
http://www.ussrphoto.com/Wiki/default.asp?WikiCatID=47&ParentID=1&ContentID=122&Item=Super%2DOptimist+%28Leningrad+SLR%29

Cheers, Ian

[USSRPhoto]

I'll post pictures of it in USSRPhoto catalog when it arrives. ;)

Vlad,

[Nickfed]

Simple enuff. The lens does not appear to have a focussing scale and stops down to f45. Ergo, one can conclude it is a large format lens. The FED is merely serving as a shutter. I did a similar stunt mounting a Zorki-6 on a spare Graflex lensboard. The I-50 served for macro and a 150mm f4.5 M39 enlarging lens served as a normal.The other lens was a 10" f8 rapid rectilinear off a Thornton Pickard with an LTM converter. Thornton Pickards and the like used a curtain shutter behind the lens.

It is possible that this contraption is not as unusual as one might think. I have seen plenty of FSU large format cameras on eBay, none with a built-in shutter. I have seen plenty of FSU large format lenses, all sans shutter. I have never seen an FSU shutter.
This is the first FSU large format camera I have seen that is complete and ready to take pictures.

[USSRPhoto]

see this thread for more info on this camera:

http://www.ussrphoto.com/Forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=86

Vlad

[dll927]

Hey, they did get one thing right - it is RARE. In fact, it's probably one of a kind. Since about 80% of the evil-bay ads for FSU cameras call them 'rare', sombody probably decided it was time to tell the truth. :D

[santino]

that super-optimist is freakin awesome!!!! :)
What a pitty the soviets didn't produce it.

[outfitter]

My guess is that this was used by a street photographer before Polaroid film (you know the type that gave you the photo in a few moments), ergo the neck strap. This would use printing out paper instead of film. The maker has all the optics and focus tricked out and appears to use a roll film back (with no means to advance roll film so MF was not used) as a slide holder and mask to insert the paper "film".

Michael

[kb244]

Whatever it is, this sort of do-it-yourself work seems to have been a Soviet speciality - and sometimes with sublime results....
http://www.ussrphoto.com/Wiki/default.asp?WikiCatID=47&ParentID=1&ContentID=122&Item=Super%2DOptimist+%28Leningrad+SLR%29

Cheers, Ian

They'd have to be super optimistic to use it...

[USSRPhoto]

The seller swore that it's MF film, but I'll get back to you on that, once i actually hold it in my hands...

Yea the super-optimist was a totally home-made camera. I really doubt it was even a prototype...

[photorat]

If only Luigi made a half-case for this thing, I'd probably place a bid myself...

[USSRPhoto]

Hello again,

I've finally received this monster of a camera, I posted some detailed pics and my first impression into the catalog. The entry can be found here:

http://www.ussrphoto.com/Wiki/default.asp?ImageID=1131&ParentID=1&WikiCatID=47&ContentID=346

[TVphotog]

Great pics of the beast! Now post some pics if you ever get around to shooting with that monster. I am curious how it will work in a real world situation.

[USSRPhoto]

I definately will post them to the catalog entry. Maybe sometime in october. :)

Vlad.

[outfitter]

The back is the Rolex back made in Germany before the war. There was a better American copy made after the war called the Suydam back. There are masks for 6x6, 6x7 and 6x9. The backs were sold in different versions for common cameras such as 9x12 and 6x9 "hand and stand" folding plate film cameras , graflex 4x5 etc.

Michael

[USSRPhoto]

Michael, you are absolutely right! It is a Rolex rollfilm adapter. It had also been identified as such by Luiz Paracampo (rangefinder forum user name marianobre) who just sent me corrections for that entry. Thanks for the tip!

Vlad