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the russians come to the rescue again Actually, the Ukranians or the country know as the Former Soviet Union. I just won a Hasselbladski — a Salut-S medium format camera, for $93. A good price even for the Salut-S. It's all Ken Smith's fault.
 When Ken was on the Island for his show at Bayview 3 weeks ago I had the chance to hold his Salut-S. It's a beautiful camera. It's a copy of the original Hasselblad which had a focal plane shutter. A design Hasselblad gave up on early when they scrapped the focal plane shutter and went to leaf shutters. It's a complex camera and, given Russian quality control (or lack of it), they can be problematic. Ken had suggested the eBay seller Kubanoid who runs film through these cameras and has a 99.6% approval rating. Ken has been lucky with his. Like with the Russian rangefinders, there is a sequence of operations that one does not violate without breaking something. But I like the format and ergonomics. But what there really is to like are the lenses. Excellent lenses at very affordable prices. From 30mm to 300mm. There is currently a 30mm (equivalent to 18mm on 35mm cameras) lens on eBay with a BIN of $170. The Hasselblad 38mm, which is a lens on a special body will run $3,000 on eBay. And if I want to pay top dollar for Salut (or Kiev 88) lenses, I can go to Arax and pay $249 for the 30mm. Arax also repairs and rebuilds Salut and Kiev cameras and lense. A CLA is $37. Other upgrades are available for very low prices. Ken had Arax go over his Salut-S. This will be replacing my Mamiya as my main medium format camera. Even though the Mamiya prices were relatively low, I couldn't afford to expand with other lenses and backs. The Salut-S will let me do that. How about a MIR 3 3.5/65mm with a BIN of $39? Down the slippery slope I go. |