ohai.social

/ˈsnæp.ʃɒt/Another Contender for The Crappy Commie Camera Challenge: The Chaika II Half-frame CameraI came across this one by accident (if ever anything is ‘accidental’ when I’m browsing the Kamerastore website), and as it’s a half-frame camera there was instant appeal. It also has a lovely little 28mm pancake lens and I was immediately wanting to try this M39-mount lens on my micro four-thirds cameras, but more on that later.The Chaika II is a heavy beast, weighing over 300g and made of metal with plastic innards. It features shutter speeds of 1/30s, 1/60s, 1/125s, 1/250s and B, and the interchangeable 28mm lens has apertures from f2.8 to f16. The Chaika II was made by Belomo in Minsk, then in the Soviet Union, between 1967 and 1972. It was called Chaika, meaning ‘seagull’ after the call-sign of cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space.My model was in the ‘Not Passed’ category on the Kamerastore website and has ‘flaws that will affect typical use’. In this case, there ‘is fungus on the inner lens elements’, though the camera body itself is fully functional. I was interested in this model for two reasons: It was made in the Soviet Union, which is ideal for the upcoming Crappy Commie Camera Party (CCCP), and it’s a half-frame camera, and I’m really getting into half-frame at the moment with the Welta Penti II (which itself is fully CCCP compliant).The camera body is fully functional, and is in nice condition. Like any Soviet era camera that I’ve ever had it has some unique features that make it an interesting user experience. For a start, the shutter button is on the front of the camera, just above the lens assembly. This is actually quite good, as when you are holding the camera your fingers are automatically directed away from the lens. The shutter speed is set from a little dial on the back of the camera, near the viewfinder,  and the speed is visible through a little window on the top plate.Like other Soviet cameras I have, like the Smena 8M, and the KMZ Horizont, the rewind knob is tucked away. In this case on the bottom of the camera combined with the film speed dial. If you pull on the knob and turn it clockwise it locks open. Then you can twist the knob to rewind the film.Because it’s a half-frame camera, and I don’t really have the patience to use 72 frames on a 36 exposure roll, I used an ‘off-cut’ of Harman Phoenix film after respooling some film into Rapid canisters. This gave me a length of film equivalent to about 15 frames, which for me was ideal to test the camera, and a technique that I might use in the future.For a camera that was supposed to be filled with fungus the images came out great! I will certainly have to get out the lens spanner and see if I can clean the elements, and the Harman Phoenix gave some strange colour shifts, but I really liked the results.Oh, and about that business of wanting to use the M39 lens from the Chaika II with my micro four-thirds mirrorless cameras. That looks like it’s a non-starter, unfortunately. Apparently, the camera/lens combination was designed to be used with an Belomo enlarger that never actually materialised. So it’s not really an interchangeable lens camera but a dedicated half-frame lens that was could be removed and mounted in an enlarger. From what I gather, you can hack the lens so that it will focus to infinity on micro four-thirds cameras, but that means that the lens won’t then function properly on the Chaika II. So that’s not really something I want to do.If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow the ‘Snapshot’ WordPress account at <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="u-url mention" href="https://keithdevereux.wordpress.com/@keithdevereux.wordpress.com" target="_blank">@keithdevereux.wordpress.com</a>. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline.<a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://keithdevereux.wordpress.com/tag/belomo/" target="_blank">#Belomo</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://keithdevereux.wordpress.com/tag/cccp/" target="_blank">#CCCP</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://keithdevereux.wordpress.com/tag/chaika/" target="_blank">#Chaika</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://keithdevereux.wordpress.com/tag/chaika2/" target="_blank">#Chaika2</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://keithdevereux.wordpress.com/tag/crappycommiecameraparty/" target="_blank">#CrappyCommieCameraParty</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://keithdevereux.wordpress.com/tag/halfframe/" target="_blank">#HalfFrame</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://keithdevereux.wordpress.com/tag/m39/" target="_blank">#M39</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://keithdevereux.wordpress.com/tag/madeinussr/" target="_blank">#MadeInUSSR</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://keithdevereux.wordpress.com/tag/seagull/" target="_blank">#Seagull</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://keithdevereux.wordpress.com/tag/sovietcamera/" target="_blank">#SovietCamera</a>

Putin's IBSA resident of the village of <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/Dachne" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Dachne</a>, <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/Odessa" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Odessa</a> region, <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/Serhiy_Mishchenko" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Serhiy_Mishchenko</a>, was a football player, coach, public figure, and member of the <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/Biliaivskyi" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Biliaivskyi</a> District Football Federation.He organized and managed the football team "<a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/Chaika" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Chaika</a>" of the <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/Kholodnobalkiv" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Kholodnobalkiv</a> village council. In the first days of the full-scale invasion, he volunteered with his son. He was wounded and, after recovery, returned to the front. He died on December 15, 2024, in the <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/Donetsk" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Donetsk</a> region while performing a combat mission.

Putin's IBS<a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/Artur_Yakubov" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Artur_Yakubov</a> also taught at the Birlik School Crimean Tatar Lyceum in the village of <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/Chaika" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Chaika</a>, <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/Kyiv" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Kyiv</a> region. He volunteered in the frontline regions.Eternal memory and eternal glory to <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/Ukrainian" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Ukrainian</a> Hero!<a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/ukraine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#ukraine</a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/putinisamasskiller" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#putinisamasskiller</a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/putinisawarcriminal" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#putinisawarcriminal</a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/@kardinal691" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@kardinal691</a>

Putin's IBS"Oh dear, how sad, anyway!"In the banana "<a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/LPR" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#LPR</a>," the car of the deputy head of the "Centre for Services to Educational Organizations," <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/Valery_Chaika" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Valery_Chaika</a> was blown upAn explosion occurred near the university building in <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/Starobelsk" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Starobelsk</a>, <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/Russian" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Russian</a> media writes. <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/Chaika" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Chaika</a> himself died. An investigation team is working on the spot.🚀 Subscribe / Eng Twitter / YouTube / Eng Telegram<a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/ukraine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#ukraine</a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/putinisamasskiller" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#putinisamasskiller</a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/putinisawarcriminal" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#putinisawarcriminal</a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/@kardinal691" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@kardinal691</a>

michael-kInterior of the Hotel <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/Chaika?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Chaika</a> in <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/Karaganda?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Karaganda</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/Kazakhstan?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Kazakhstan</a>. The chosen hotel for the <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/Soviet?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Soviet</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/Cosmonaut?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Cosmonaut</a> programme in the 1960s <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/photo?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#photo</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/photography?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#photography</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/travel?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#travel</a>

Canaima GNU/LinuxHoy se cumplen 60 años del hito marcado por la cosmonauta Valentina Tereshkova, pues un día como hoy se convirtió en la primera mujer en viajar al espacio.Su nombre código en el viaje fue <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Chaika" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Chaika</a> y fue seleccionada entre más de 400 candidatos.Viajó a bordo de la nave <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Vostok6" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Vostok6</a>

Kevin Karhan :verified:<a href="https://mastodon.social/@stefanfendt" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@stefanfendt</a> <a href="https://social.heise.de/@heiseautos" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@heiseautos</a> ist jedenfalls wäre ne <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Chaika" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Chaika</a> ne nice <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Swagmachine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Swagmachine</a>: <a href="https://youtu.be/qttGJ3il62Y?t=8" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/qttGJ3il62Y?t=8</a>

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