Paypal is own by ebay. Abt FED or Zorki, remember this are at least 20-30yrs old camera and base on design made in the 30's.
I have a Kiev 4M and a Fed5b. I buy them becos they are new old stock and feb5b being one of the latest russian rangefinder. Personally, I feel they are wellmade. U may get a dog esp a very old used model not becos it's poorly made it is just becos they are too old. Many are still fantastically good in mech. condition. Regards whether it a leica or nikon, if u get a old camera 30yrs old, chances of something failing is common. That has nothing to do wif brand. Therefore, i bot new old stock and more later model even some older may be better but given age I rather have something younger
Whether reliability about russian products many have never handle one and becos they are cheap, most ppl doesn't bother to even maintain it or even illtreat it. I have a friend who as a russian made watch and out of bore he throw it on the floor to see whether it spoil. The hand came out and he concluded that it's lousy. Try that with a rolex or omega and see what happen.
U see so many of these old gear becos they are reliably made in the first place. I own some russian lens too and I love them and definately better made then CZJ in 'my' opinion. Ofcos noone has the duty to agree with me. Many bought them which are so old and maybe even older then the user and even misuse it.
I have a few watches with russian movement made in the 60's and still running strong and sometime i even have rain vapour inside them cos they are not waterproof.
One thing abt these old design RF, unlike electronics, it uses spring tension to control the shutter which inheritated from Contax/Leica old design. Must like cocking a hand gun, u have to **** the shutter before setting the correct shutter speed. This is the only thing u need to practise religiously. A few time is ok, u only stress the gear inside. If u keep doing this, it will go haywire. I broke on myself and I've seen the interior how it works. These are leica design but 30's design methods. They are build like this that is why they are classic design and hence fun to play
U cant be thinking to use it to shoot sport and be serious like pro. comparing them using $100K equipments. Their ricebowl depends on them.
About integrity of thr Russian I find they are reliable too. I order 1 len and i've not receive it 4 weeks after. I email the seller, he immediately assume the responsibility to refund me and send me another len. I received the second len and after 2 weeks, I received the 1st lens too after 3 months and I check the date it was send the day I paid him. I guess it get lose sitting somewhere in the transist and was found later. Another incident I bought a watch and becos of being a forum group members the watch itself is 20% off and after the seller know I purchase it a day before my ROM, he sold me the watch for almost nothing. I just enjoy dealing with them but ofcos I believee there are some bad one. Even Singapore being a modern and respectable country, do we dare say most of us are honest?
