LOL Possibly the *worst* leica copy i've ever seen!!

garythegit · 08-11-2005

Check this lazy git out on ebay! Haven't even bothered to use a zorki or something that at least *look* like a leica!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fantastic-copy...QQcmdZViewItem

Thought it might be a cheap laugh! And look at how much he is charging for the stickered up humble FED5b!

Brian Sweeney · 08-11-2005

That is pathetic. If the Russian sellers spent as much repairing Kiev's, Fed's, and Zorki's into 1st rate operating condition as they do in engraving and painting them, they would do much better.

Jeroen · 08-11-2005

Anyone seen this 645 Mamiya Press clone? No rangefinder, though ;-)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Kamera-Etude-K...QQcmdZViewItem

Pherdinand · 08-11-2005

LOL, this is gorgeous. I always thought the ged-5 is the ugliest FSU ever...

Jeroen · 08-11-2005

This seller has some pretty weird stuff, I tell you. I wonder if there are already Leica-clone collectors in Japan. Imagine, just showcases full of this: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Perfect-copy-o...QQcmdZViewItem

garythegit · 08-11-2005

I often wish they would do up the existing zorkis and feds to that standard by which i mean the black finish and the white inlay in the dials and *not* the nazi symbols!

It makes me uncomfortable to think there is a market out there for these faux-nazi cameras. They are so gaudy that they probably would have made Goebbles himself blush!

Maybe we could all email our dear russian sellers and tell them to service up the non-nazi adorned and proud examples of soviet achievement to the same standard, and that I for one would pay a lot more for them!

24x30 · 08-11-2005

as log as there are so many orthography mistakes ... there should be no problem to identify the copies.

/rudi

Bill K. · 08-11-2005

I agree with garythegit and Brian. The "Comando Leica" appears to have been well done, but I would be ashamed & afraid to take it out in public.

Nicely rebuilt Feds or Zorkis, in black (or custom colours) would probably sell well in Canada and the US. I'm one of those individuals who would prefer to own a "genuine Fed" instead of a fake Leica. But then that's just me.

Best regards to all,

Bill K.

Jeroen · 08-11-2005

I often wish they would do up the existing zorkis and feds to that standard by which i mean the black finish and the white inlay in the dials and *not* the nazi symbols!

Oh yes, that definitely would be nice! Or why not like this one: http://www.geocities.com/fzorkis/zorki_6.html

wyk_penguin · 08-11-2005

I they had just did the matte black and leave out the Nazi symbols, it would be a million times better.

JoeFriday · 08-11-2005

I personally like how the DIN/ASA dial is just a photocopy that was pasted on

jdos2 · 08-11-2005

"Excellent Leica Copy?" Fed-5? What's his REAL opinion of the Real Deal? How funny.

bmattock · 08-11-2005

You know, I absolutely agree on the Nazi symbol stuff.

I've been into gun collecting for a long time - and you can always find a table at any gun show that sells 'Nazi Memorabilia'. Helmets, flags, daggers, ammo cans, and so on.

Why anyone would want this stuff is beyond me. What it represents - ugh!

I have heard the 'must preserve the past so that we don't repeat it' argument, and I've heard the 'collecting historic artifacts is neutral to the ideology' argument - both leave me cold. Should Nazi history be preserved? I guess I can see the point if it is a museum, but why would someone want that stuff in their home?

And then you've got your fake Nazi stuff. At first, it was sold as authentic - to make people think it was real. Then everybody kind of figured it out and even the newbies stopped being fooled - now there is a new market for the stuff as 'copies' of Nazi memorabilia. Now I understand it even less!

I just don't get it, I guess.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

dll927 · 08-11-2005

Two cases in point: 1) I'm not in the Hasselblad League, but at least one model is supposed to be available in 4 or 5 different colors. 2)"Special Edition" Leicas are almost a hallowed tradition. Why should Feds, Zorkis, or Kievs be different? That gives them an excuse to charge a premium price, as in "Luftwaffe" editions of W.W. II Leicas. Somehow that makes it DIFFERENT than any old run-of-the-mill Leica. Will it take better pictures??

doubs43 · 08-11-2005

My only thought is "What a complete waste of talent". Whoever did the work appears to be very good and if they are half as good at repairing/overhauling the cameras they "boost", they'd have more business than they could handle.

A real shame.

Walker

sockeyed · 08-11-2005

I agree with doubs42, these guys have amazing skills. Hopefully one of them will read this forum and start producing some cool cameras like those on the fzorkis site. I'd love a nicely-done black Zorki 4 or a Fed 2.

brians · 08-11-2005

Wow, such a great replica of the Leica BULL****-f camera.... Hahahah, nice find. If I ever break one of my FSU cameras beyond repair, I'm going to mod it up and sell it on the Bay.

captainslack · 08-11-2005

re: the fake Nazi crap:

It all goes back to the old saying: a fool and his money are soon parted. *shakes head*

John Robertson · 08-11-2005

Its the way things are today, a dumbed down public will buy anything!! In Prague for instance there is an area with dozens of shops selling tarted up cheap watches made to look like military FSU items, very poor quality Russian babushka dolls, and a lot of other horrible crap, it completely spoils the area, and the stuff has nothing to do with Prague , Czech history , culture or craft. I saw some of these abomitation cameras there!! Most looked as though they had been sprayed with cheap car paint in some scruffy back shop. Yet people were buying them, and I'm very sorry to say mostly by Japanese and US tourists.

Nickfed · 08-11-2005

I hear tell these things go over very well with American tourists in Moscow and the pictures you see suggest that this tarting up is extremely well done technically. So, if the market is there, who are we to deny our Russian friends from taking advantage of it? I think the keyword here is capitalism, isn't it?

Having said that. I wish they would more sensibly devote their time to tarting up their own as their own. The FEDs 1 and 2 were finished in variations that reflected the social and political times in which they were made. By comparison with the junk Luftwaffe Leicas, it would be dead easy to fake a late FED-1 into an early NKVD engraved model finished nicely in black with white engraving. Or, holy cow! a pre-series FED-2 with flash synch and all that cyrillic engraving in red!!! Who cares about the RF window? The round one is far more elegant anyway....

darkkavenger · 08-12-2005

Oh my ....

yes... I bought my FED-5B only for the I61 L/D ... it's so fun! I will save the photos on my harddisk

darkkavenger · 08-12-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Robertson

Its the way things are today, a dumbed down public will buy anything!! In Prague for instance there is an area with dozens of shops selling tarted up cheap watches made to look like military FSU items, very poor quality Russian babushka dolls, and a lot of other horrible crap, it completely spoils the area, and the stuff has nothing to do with Prague , Czech history , culture or craft. I saw some of these abomitation cameras there!! Most looked as though they had been sprayed with cheap car paint in some scruffy back shop. Yet people were buying them, and I'm very sorry to say mostly by Japanese and US tourists.

I know very well what you are talking about, and there are even some shops where I wouldn't trust the seller saying that they have Leica's II or III for sale. I've seen them, and to be honest the only place where I would "waste" money on an old Leica would be FotoSkoda (visiting the place 4 times /week). I'm going often also at Jan Pazdera but the Leica's exposed there just don't sound about right to me.

Lot of shops in the historical center were set-up by FSU businessmen who give a wrong vision of what the Czech Republic is. Myself as a foreigner, the first time I arrived here, I was almost fooled, but when you take the time to read and learn about the country you live in, you see that all these things are crap, badly made, and meant to fool the ignorant tourist.

Just my two cents!

max

Jeroen · 08-12-2005

Max, would you mind if I sent you a PM this week? I'm going to Prague in a few weeks, just curious about a few things!

rbiemer · 08-12-2005

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I think there is a good business model in these things.
Something like Gevorg Vartanyan is doing with the Kiev 60 and 88 cameras.
"Blueprint"(as the hotrodders say) the cameras and then offer apperance choices and charge appropriately for 'em. ("Blueprinting" is an expression that means to take a car engine and go through it and bring it up to the optimal design specs)
I am tempted by some of these except for the nazi symbols on alot of them and that I do not trust that the cameras will actually work.
Rob

darkkavenger · 08-14-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Max, would you mind if I sent you a PM this week? I'm going to Prague in a few weeks, just curious about a few things!

no problems at all! go ahead!