[Leica] st. Petersburg

[michiel.fokkema at wanadoo.nl (Michiel Fokkema)]

Deveney, Marty (PIRSA) wrote:
> I was in St Petersburg in July and August.  The place previously mentioned
> on Nevsky Prospekt had a good selection of a lot of Soviet camera gear, but
> I think Fedka and similar dealers that CLA the cameras at CIS rates and 
> then
> on-sell them are generally a safer bet.  I looked at a lot of cameras and
> lenses in Russia and didn't buy anything because all the lenses I saw that
> were mechanically okay had bad coating and the ones with good coating had
> wobbly barrels or other mechanical problems.  I'd say a 10:1 ratio of
> unuseable to decent wouldn't be out of the realms of reality for the gear
> that I saw.  A CLA and proper collimation would probably do wonders for 
> many
> of these lenses.  It also seems likely to me that a lot of the good stuff
> has already been sold through eBay and other sellers, particularly from big
> cities like St P.
> 

Thanks,

I guess you're right. If I visit a camera fair there are always a few 
Russian guys with reasonable to good Soviet stuff. They probably leave 
all the junk behind.

Cheers,

Michiel Fokkema