With regards to Leica and maybe others. I had heard or read about Russia. There were Leica clones from Russia I don’t recall the names of the those Clones…
At one point Epson also made an M Series Camera the RD1 and RD1S. There were others, the Bessa.
A post from Petapixel.
FED, Zorki. Quite expensive at their times, but made with pretty good quality.
My Dad had his M3 or M4 Leicas, He also had some Leica SLRs but I think he used his M Bodies more. Nothing fancy.
I saw one of the Leica copies at a Coffeeshop today a Kiev 4M.
That’s a Contax copy, not Leica. I have two of them and four assorted Leica copies from ‘looks similar’ to ‘an exact copy complete in every way’. These days they’re just part of my collection, but I have used them and they were quite good - especially the “Contax”.
Best wishes
A
Thanks for the reply. The Guy he did mention he’s using a Contax lens. I wasn’t aware of any Contax copies only Leica copies. They look alike.
And then there is branding, e.g. Panasonics marked as Leica.
Yes. But I had thought that the M Series for example came from Wetzlar, Germany and the lower range came from Panasonic factories. There were identical Panasonic and Leica branded models.
There were probably differences. I didn’t really look at this in depth.
I was referring to the "-Lux" series:
www.dpreview.com/products/leica/compacts?subcategoryId=compacts&page=1
They were all from the Ukraine then part of Russia/Soviet Union.
Sony collaborated with Hasselblad on a project. The result was hideous. I’d never seen anything as ugly.
www.slrlounge.com/bespoke-or-bling-5000-hasselblad-lunar-rebrands-sony-nex-7/
Hasselblad Lunar and Sony Nex 7, they were alike except in appearance.
It is not only foreign-made copies, there is a whole "science" of distinguishing correct production year for leica screw mount fakes as well as the numerous false WW2 engravings "luftwaffe eigentum" and such. The leicaforums are quite useful for gathering info.
p.
No one has yet mentioned the British Reid cameras…
Best wishes
A
Thanks. I wasn’t’t aware of Reid Caneras.
