1980 Rare FED-5B "Moscow Olympics" Com­mem­o­ra­tive Edition vintage camera

I'm starting to enjoy collecting vintage cameras from the former Soviet Union. My newest rare find was a special version of the FED-5B rangefinder camera produced in limited quantities to commemorate the 1980 Olympic Summer Games in Moscow.

Back in 1980, the 22nd Mod­ern Olympic Summer Games were held in Moscow during the height of the Cold War. To pro­mote the glorious event, all cam­era man­u­fac­tur­ers is­sued one or more com­mem­o­ra­tive mod­els of their 1979 or 1980 cam­eras. This "com­pli­an­cy" was so uni­formed and planned at that time, it seemed to in­di­cate that they were com­mis­sioned by the Soviet gov­ernment.

Affectionately nicknamed the "Moscow '80 vari­ants" by camera enthusiasts, they're worth more than the stan­dard model and valued sub­stan­tial­ly higher in terms of its "So­vi­et mem­o­ra­bil­ianess".

Interestingly enough, The 1980 Moscow Olympics was perhaps most famous for the US-led boycott that saw only 80 out of 147 nations compete, the lowest number since the 1956 Melbourne Games. The boycott was made in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan the year before, one of the many conflicts that took place during the Cold War years. US allies such as Britain and France also condemned the invasion but allowed their athletes to compete nonetheless.

Here's a bit of info about the maker: the FED was generally a rangefinder camera, mass produced from 1934 until around 1990, and also the name of the factory that made it. Named after Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky, founder of the Cheka (Predecessor to the KGB). It was his name that was given to the labour commune at Kharkiv (Ukraine) whose manager, Anton Makarenko, encouraged a workshop education for indigent children and who decided to copy the Leica in 1932.

Large-scale production began in 1934, and in the same year the factory was put under NKVD (Secret Police of the Soviet Union) control and Makarenko was fired. Production continued until 1941, when German forces destroyed the factory during WW2, and resumed again in 1946.

From 1955 onwards, the factory made a huge volume of cameras that resemble the Leica rather closely (and are often altered, given "Leica" markings, and sometimes even sold as Leicas). However, the design was much cruder.

FED innovated the cameras further, combining the rangefinder with the viewfinder in the FED-2 and all its successors. The FED-3 added slow shutter speeds and on the later version FED-3 (b) the film advance was changed from a thumb wheel to a lever. The FED-4 (1964–77) added a non-coupled selenium exposure meter. The FED-5 marked the end of the FED rangefinder family, and was meant as an improved replacement for both the FED-3 and FED-4 that were in production at the time of its introduction.

There were three versions of the FED-5: the original FED-5 had an exposure meter, the FED-5B was a version without meter, and the later FED-5C had reflected framelines showing field of view of 50mm lens and an exposure meter.

All FED-5 cameras were delivered with an Industar I-61L/D lens. This lens replaced its predecessor Industar-26m. The optical design was improved, and a new, Lanthanum glass was used. It is sharp and contrasty, with smooth focusing action and the aperture click-stops.

Sadly, the production of FED rangefinder cameras ended in the mid 1990s. In terms of looks, this camera definitely stands apart from the throng of other Russian deadstock. And with it's Moscow 80's logo, it's definitely a gold medal winner in my book.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Film Type: all standard 35mm
Lens: Industrar 61 1:2.8 f=55mm
Focal Range: .75mm to ∞
Shutter Speeds: B, 1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, 1/500
Aperture Settings: f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16
Flash Connection: standard hot-shoe, sync at 1/30

[see lo-fi pics taken by FED-5B]


Offer Price: B$225

Kaiyodo Revoltech Transformers' Starscream Action Figure

Today, I’ll review the latest arrival in my collection, it’s the Decepticon’s Starscream (of the Classic Transformers Generation 1 series) by Kaiyodo Revoltech. I just got this yesterday and only have the time to have a really good look at it today. Just like the other Kaiyodo Revoltech series figurines, this action figure is about 5 inches tall and retails for about USD$20-25.


Famous for his treachery and personality, he has become a fan favorite and has had many future characters within the Transformers franchise to bear his name, some of which share his desire to become leader of the Decepticons. Starscream has, at some points, had control over the Decepticons, but his actions usually lead him to being defeated, or overruled by the more powerful Megatron. Starscream makes no secret of his ambition to overthrow Megatron as Decepticon leader. He is more intelligent than the average Decepticon brute, ruthless, and cruel, but he is also unlikely to directly act on his ultimate ambition without the assurance of things going his way. He considers himself vastly superior to other Decepticons, hence has a really big ego and looks down on Megatron for being obsolete in his military strategy and tactics.

Starscream can turn into an F-15 Eagle jet and serves as the Decepticon's Air Commander, leading the other Decepticon jets, many of whom share his physical design. According to cartoon series, he can reach speeds up to Mach 2.8, and can climb up to sub-orbital altitudes of 52 miles (84 km) and nose-dive down to ground level in minutes. His arm is mounted with launchers (mounted under his wings in jet mode), which can launch two types of weaponry — cluster bombs, each of which can level an area 10,000 square feet (900 m²), and his signature weapon, the null ray, which can disrupt the flow of electricity in any circuitry it hits for brief periods, effectively rendering any electronic device or machine (including Autobots) temporarily inoperable.

The figure is still in its box; same as usual, great packaging with dusty finishes. The toy was put on a black plastic tray and covered by a clear plastic cover.There is a leaflet about Revoltech series, in Japanese, inside the box.

In terms of design and sculpting; this is a non-transformable action figure although it’s from Transformers. Kaiyodo’s Revoltech is always the Revolver Joint, a technology developed by them (Kaiyodo) that make the action figure abilities to pose in great ways. By scraping the transforming gimmick, the figure can be design to be more cartoon (anime) accurate. The selling points for the figure are:

• Accessories: 3 extra changeable fist, a Megatron in pistol mode and a stand.

• Colorings: great colors, looks metallic and shiny. No chipping or scratching.
  

Offer Price: B$40 B$35

1989 Nintendo Game Boy | For the Mobile Retro Gamer

The Game Boy handheld console was first developed by Gunpei Yokoi and his R&D1 team at Nintendo. He wanted to combine the best features of the successful NES with the portability of the Game & Watch handhelds, which he also developed. The first prototype of the Game Boy was produced in 1987 and expectations at Nintendo were high. Nintendo of Japan president Hiroshi Yamauchi predicted that it would sell over 25 million in the first three years.

An interesting move was the choice of game to be bundled with the Game Boy. Out of all the games it had to be TETRIS: A game developed by a Russian mathematician, which has sold over 1 million copies to date. Someone at Nintendo had noticed the game at an exhibition in 1988 and immediately knew that it would be the ideal game to complement the Game Boy. The decision was spot-on!

The Game Boy was released to the Japanese public in 1989 two years later in the US. Three years after its initial release it had sold over 32 million units and continued going from strength to strength throughout the '90s. By 1997, a new and improved Game Boy called the Game Boy Pocket was released with a better quality "clear" LCD screen and a smaller size. It was much lighter than the original. As a result, more games were released for the GB and various accessories such as the camera and printer were also released.

Over 650 games have been released for the original and pocket Game Boy units to date.

Technical Specs:

CPU: 8-bit Z80 CMOS (4.19MHz)
RAM: 8KB
Colors: 4 (Grayscale)
Sprites: 40
Sprite Size: 8x16 or 8x8 pixels
Resolution: 160x144 pixels
Sound: 4 channel audio

Offer Price: B$75