Soviet Cameras
I bought a Fed 3b, a 1970's-era Soviet-made camera. It's a Leica rangefinder copy, meaning they styled it after the famous German-made cameras that were being made before and during WWII. After the Soviets took over the Eastern European block countries that Germany had captured during WWII, they also took over camera manufacturing plants within those boundaries...and the people who designed and built the cameras. So naturally, the famed Leica-style camera would live on under a new name, but with Soviet sensibility. I'm guessing moral and job satisfaction were at the lowest possible level, because most of these cameras are built like a box of overwound springs and pulleys waiting to be sprung free. Reliability isn't an issue, it's non-existent. From all accounts, 1 in 10 cameras are perfect. 4 out of 10 cameras will have an average life, and 1 or 2 out of 10 will not even work when new. Now of those few that will have average lives, they can be masterpieces. The lenses (when working) suffer the same odds, but are mostly above average in optical quality in most manufactured. In fact, there are some that are highly coveted and used on digital cameras even today. I think the pictures below illustrate that fact. One last note on camera construction, my 1970's era camera is basically 1930's technology. For instance, if you don't first advance the film BEFORE you set the shutter speed,, you'll break the camera. Wha??!!!?? Yep. Camera makers soon figured out a way around this. "But no! We're Soviets! We build them, you buy them!" Whenever I snap a photo with this camera, there's a little voice in my head with a heavy Russian accent that says, "You not complain about great Soviet workmanship...or you'll be taking pictures in Siberia!"