Shooting With A Weird Soviet Sniper Lens (complete kit review)
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Shooting With A Weird Soviet Sniper Lens complete kit review
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#Photosniper #photography #vintagelens
The first Fotosnaipers were designed in the 40s, orignally for military use as an observation camera.
With the look and feel of a rifle, the photosniper was supposed to help you be more stable when shooting photos.
Over the years the Photosniper was redesigned for civilian use
In the 80' The FS-12 model was available as a camera for amateurs, nature photographers, spies and paparazzi.
The photosniper became more and more populer. it even appeard in a famous Soviet cartoon.
I found a complete kit at a flea market
I saw a metal case on a table, opened it, coldn't believe my eyes, a complete kit !
I Asked for the price thinking it would cost a fortune, but the old man selling it told me he was too scared to take it out nowdays and he wanted to get rid of it.
he asked me 15 euros for the box... I didnt hesitate a single second and bought it.
The kit includes :
a Zenit ES camera
Helios-44 58mm f/2 lens
Tair-3AS 300mm f/4.5 lens,
Two yellow filters
UV filter
Orange filter
Green filter
Two film cassette cases
Two screwdrivers
Lens hood
Trigger assembly
the metal wheel in the front of the gun let you focus.
The main problem with the Fotosnaiper? You’re unlikely to go unnoticed by people around you.
So in the best case scenario they will come and ask you what you are doing ( it happend to me five minutes after starting to shoot my test footage )
wors case scenario they will freak out and call the police because of the terrorist walking around with a grenade launcher.
I adapted the Tair lens on my A7III using a M42 adapter, and To avoid being shot by the police I tested the lens without the gun.
To have the best stability i mounted the lens on a monopod.
I must say i was blown away by the quality of the lens, it's incredibly sharp and when using a tripod you can really get some nice organic footage.
The 16 aperture blades gives you a great bokeh
it's a great lens for birds lovers but it could be really interesting to use it for portrait or more crazy experiments.
![ILLSLICK X YOUNGOHM - We're The same [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/yUJNkobYR0E/mqdefault.jpg)
You are INSANE to go out with the gun version of this lens. I would never do it! hahahaaha. The regular Tair 3 is the non-gun version and it's also amazing (and much lighter).
Haha, I chose the less crowded part of the forest during a weekday ... Pretty sure no one saw me... can't believe in the 70's this kind of gear was " ok" to pull out in public
@@MathieuStern very different from in the United States. Cities are similar, yes, but guns have a much higher presence here, sadly
@@MathieuStern I'm pretty sure it raised a lot of questions even back than. My father told me in the 90's that this kind of gear was known through magazines and catalogs, but due to it's high prices it was very rare and mostly used by professionals only and certainly not for street photography or holiday snapshots. Press and sport events, nature photography and in situations were you needed a telephoto lens but couldn't afford a heavy tripod due to its heavyness or movability, were the fields of this kind of ... handheld stabilizers.
@@MathieuStern I love it and I'm not a gun person 🤣 I just just imagine explaining it to tsa that you're not carrying an actual gun.
As a marine ...if I'd see you pull a fast one like that ,you'll be dead in a sec
"I'm just taking a picture of the President..."
Mr. President can i have one shoot, please !
@@CahyoPrabowo *Cocks film reel
I hear this comment
“Police gun down TH-cam Photographer”
‘He was armed with soviet rocket launcher’, say eyewitnesses.
(Be careful where you use it 😉)
😂😂
Lol
Likely safer to use in London than in Rome, given the difference in the level of military presence in the two cities, though I'd still say it'd be quite risky to pull out in any big city lol
I've been using a photosnaiper adapted to shoot with my Fuji X cameras for seven years and no one has scared with it. Even the police never gave me any trouble when they saw me using it on the street. It causes the opposite reaction on almost anybody: they will ask you about it, if it is a kit or you built it,...
I love it for several uses, including street.
What country do you live in?
@@jmd1770 Spain.
@@BadBCat For some reason i expected this kind of response from Spain. There is a lot of photographers in Spain though so maybe people are more used to seeing massive lenses and thus can spot cameras easier.
Oh my god! How the hell did you even learn about Vacation in Prostokvashino cartoon? I mean, it blows my mind that people outside Russia realize it exists. Great research!
When we were kids in France in the 1980s there where some eastern Europe cartoons frequently going on on TV...
And even films festivals hosting creations from Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Russia/USSR, Czekoslovakia, etc.), with some even inviting talented cartoonists.
France is a country of cinematograph (a French invention) and the people has always been keen on all types of image creations, be it animation (not only cartoons), camera, CG imagery, etc.
Have a look at Georges Mélies, the man who invented special effects in cinema and all the necessary gear to create them. He is the man behind this masterpiece titled "The travel to the moon", the version in colours being the most incredible thing you can expect to see ! This man sort of sowed the seeds of love for wildly creative cinematography, for the centuries to come.
And TV channels broadcasting those cartoons from far away helped a lot in giving birth to millions of cinema fans. An exemple of this... aside from Japan, France is the n°1 country for "manga" and "anime", and I remember myself seating for hours to watch the early Goldorak adventures... then some heroes in Polish cartoons too.
That episode from "Prostokvashino" cartoon was the first thing I thought about when I saw the title of the video)))
Are you kidding me?? The Helios 44M itself is worth more than 15 euro!! Wow, amazing find
It's call the Good Luck 😊
The filters alone are worth more
Not by much.
@@travisshannon8562 What are you talking about? The Helios 44M is worth a bare minimum of $75. Can easily be sold up to $120 without breaking a sweat.
@@jakekaywell5972 OH WOW GEE WILLIKERS A WHOLE 120 DOLLARS PAPA?! THAT WILL SURELY BUY US TWO DAYS WORTH OF GASOLINE AND A COSTCO PIZZA, WE’RE SAVED! Lmao dude, I’ve literally given these things away and somehow still own three, gimme a break.
Edit: and since I wasn’t clear if you buy an original housing Helios for 120 bucks you’re a sucker.
That was the camera that started my whole vintage camera/lens collection. I found a new-old stock set in an antique shop for $50 15 years ago. Still the center piece of my whole collection.
I have a one i want to sell it for how much can i sell it
@@joecooper2529 you'd have to check Ebay, I don't know what the going rate is now. Probably more than I paid.
$15 euro!?! Dude. Damn. The magic is free at that price.
magic lens ? :)
And "don't get shot," was definitely my first thought living in the US.
that's 1/10 of its value!!!!
This will be expensive now
@@thibaultdubaret9863 1/20 after this video does the rounds :)
Got one myself and I've had no problems taking it downtown in Helsinki where I live. Never had anyone get scared by it. The reactions people have are actually quite the opposite from scared, it's a great conversation starter and a lot of people are interested in hearing about it. I've never had any problems with the police either when carrying it, closest to that is when a security guard gave me a wide smile when he saw it while I was walking at a metro station. 😄
Okay, now shoot photos from the hip, Rambo-style.
Then focusing will become a guesswork
@@GungKrisna12 not if you yell loudly enough
Imagine the chats you'll have with airport security : )
Hey there Mathieu. I don't know if you'll ever read or respond to this, but I just wanted to say your videos are beautiful and extremely creative. Last night I couldn't sleep because of my on-going insomnia and I stumbled upon your video about making a lens from ice. It is just captivating and creative and beautiful and emotional and inspiring and all the other positive adjectives I could ever think of, as well as all your 30+ other videos that I binge-watched last night. The music, the pictures, the video footage... toy photography tips, vintage and other weird lenses... You always have a story to tell and not just a review. It's simply beautiful. Kind of gives me some faith in humanity. Subscribed.
WoW that’s the most important comment I received in months ! Thank you so much to give me the energy to keep on doing my work
@@MathieuStern And thank you for your reply and for your lovely content!
Me living in U.S. using this kind of equipment:
*chuckles* "I'm in danger!"
I'd definitely "shoot" film with this gear :D
As always much appreciation for making these videos!
thanks a lot for watching too
I'd love to see some 35mm negative photo scans shot on this. Perhaps a follow-up vid?
I'm a South Korean. I was surprised to see a South Korean movie in the middle of the TH-cam video. I have never seen the movie 'Over the Rainbow', but the movie scene is very interesting
When I bought it, I thought that the image quality wan't be good, becouse this lens has only 3 lenses in 3 groups, which is not that much. But I was impresed by very crisp image😮
me too !! what a good find
What's the magnification factor?
@@DucatiKozak I don’t know, depends on which sensor you using
The number of lenses are not an indicator of image quality. If the focal length corresponds with the physical length of the lens, you need only an achromatic lens with two cemented lenses. And that was done by novoflex in in combination with a moderate lensspeed. The image quality was superb and even Leica turned out the Leitz Schnellschuss Objektiv manufactured by novoflex. The Leica models were triplets instead of the only achromatic version. Later novoflex turned out a 400mm triplet under its own label.
@Александр Жуков having more lens elements in more groups in a lens like this doesn't necessarily mean better image quality! in fact, given the glass is of high quality and good build, less elements means more sharpness in most prime lenses with a not so wide aperture! more elements only makes wider apertures possible for prime lenses but not more sharpness really ... one reason zoom lenses cannot be as sharp as prime lenses is just that: so many elements and more groups! :-)
Guy to the right at 5:30 "He's got a gun! He's got a gun!" :P
Those times when people did not think that it is something malicious in your hand and you come to harm them... Not needed video surveillance, "neighborhood watching" and other "looking for suspicious activity", everyone were much more open minded and without malicious intentions than today's madness..... simple people with simple pleasures.
I think that images quality is great. As well in general very nice idea and comfortable for long lens.
Спасибо за интересное видео. Тоже хотел найти такой аппарат. Нашел только объектив Таир 3.
Кстати,этот мультфильм мой любимый)
I remember the Novaflex 'squeeze to focus' lenses back in the 70's. They got a few photojournalists shot at.
Yep, i review this bazooka lens 2 years ago :) and it was even more scary than this one
Anyone remember the infamous German Novoflex design - the "schnellschuss" system ("quick shot"; official name was PIGRIFF I think) - that originally came out in 1955? Here the trick was basically to be able to focus really quickly - this design was quite popular until wide into the 80ies. And yes, a lot of photojournalists remember funny situation with security personnel...
That is one absolutely legendary cartoon in former Soviet countries! Everybody adores dog Sharik and cat Matroskin and their "uncle Feodor"! And there is a very memorable phrase in there too, when Sharik got tired pursuing a hare to take a picture and finally took it and Matroskin said:
- Now you're gonna run for half a day more...
- Why is that?
- To give him the picture!
It's a phrase all kids from 1980-90s know to express that something takes a long time =)
Well, now me too !
you can't find this in Russia in this pristine condition for this price, lol
on top of that you got the export version which is supposedly much higher quality than for inner soviet market
This is partly true, everything produced in our domestic market of photographic equipment was inferior in quality to please a wide range of buyers. For that, unlike imported models, domestic products were many times easier and faster to be modified. Since, in the USSR and in Russia, every 3 knows how to make homemade improvements. Therefore, old things can live with us for a very long time.
It was also within the country that, due to poor quality, Soviet lenses received a unique, inimitable blur pattern. Which is highly regarded by art photographers. For example, google photos taken with Helios 44/2 lens
I remember these for sale..They were cheap new, always been amazing value.
Yea, can't believe i got it for so cheap
I just got this lens in absolute MINT condition for 10 bucks. It even came with a 42 - E mount adapter. Crazy thing, INCREDIBLE for astro, stopped down to 5.6 this thing is immaculate. I love it
I have exactly this, full kit, got it from my granddad. Very sharp and I like the look of photos
I have some film photos made on a 3.5/300 Tair, which was produced for local market. I also use PhS-12 (ФС-12) body, which seems to be a slightly altered Zenit TTL. Photos come out lovely, with similarly swirly bokeh of Helios series
I also have a set. I placed a little switch where the trigger comes up and connected this via auxiliary to my cam. So you can use the set with digital cam. Pretty nice when you "fire" 10 pics/sec
I don’t know how much the TH-cam algorithm mess the colors of the picture but damn the pictures colors are realistic
Man, what a find! And the entire kit in that condition too. Interesting history, I didn't even know these were a thing.
now you really shoot a picture
The person who kept all that in that condition all packed together... Well done!
Greetings from Russia! I have Tair-3 FS. And I will say that it is inconvenient to focus with it. I have several M42 adapters, and with only one of them, the focus ring is set correctly. With others, it is located on the side. This should be kept in mind! Therefore, I advise you to find an option with a classic focus ring. It will be much more convenient. The lens is in white. Very sharp, especially when the apertures are closed.
The lens can be found as Tair-3 without the FS, that one has a normal focus ring.
I have the same complete kit but it's all contained in a faux leather shoulder bag, which is original to the kit. Bought mine 15 years ago for $25 in Idaho USA. Like yours, the image quality of mine is excellent. The 58mm f/2 is also an excellent lens.
Thanks for the info!
I'm in Canada and I pretty much daily drived the thing for two summers. Mine's the multicoated version. Great conversation starter generally, just do not bring it to tense protests. It and the Kamlan 50mm f1.1 MKII are my two trump cards. The Photosniper is for wildlife and the Kamlan for portraits.
People WILL want portraits with this lens just to see what it can do.
One thing I've notived about Soviet lens (I have the MC Photosniper/Fotosniper 12 kit, Jupiter-21A, Jupiter-37A, MC Jupiter-9, Helios 44-2, and some others) is that they have great sharpness in the centre of the frame and still manage to have much better bokeh then their aperture sizes would suggest. Cromatic aberations are not great, but acceptable even with fixing in post. Their newer MC coating gives much more vibrant colours and deeper contrasts, but I prefer the look you get with the older puplish and gold coating.
If you don’t mind altering this collector item, painting it in a light color will make it obvious its is not harmful! (pink, blue, orange..)
I KIND of want to try that thing!!!
for a test in the woods it's ok but forget about a city test :))
I used to work in a camera shop in the late 80's.
A customer came in and wanted this kit. He had a look, was impressed and was about to part with his money when I asked him what he was planning to photograph. This bloke said that he was off to Belfast to photograph the Army.
It was at this point I realised that he hadn't really thought this through. Belfast at this time was still in the grip of the Troubles, to be on the street with a camera that looks like a firearm was dangerous, making him a target for both sides.
I told the bloke that I wasn't happy selling it and even got the manager to talk to him, he was from France I believe and really didn't understand what the Troubles were. When we explained that if he used it on the street his life expectancy would drop to just minutes he took on board what we were saying and very gracefully accepted our advice not to buy!
Well you saved a life and maybe the camera was used for better photography
Love those auto-winder sounds from the hand-wound Zenit-12 in the Korean movie!
I am incredibly jealous of your find!
I remember when the Photography magazines of the 1970's looked at the Photo Sniper. The consensus was, the outfit was a bargain for junior/budget naturalists and voyeurs. Like with long-extinct Novoflex telephoto outfits, using such equipment might attract the attention of security/police forces.;) "Hey! You! Lower that RPG right now!"
I AM JEALOUS MATHIEU! Such a cheap bargain you found!
this is the one time where you WANT to have the lens cap OFF all the time when you're shooting outside
You practically robbed that guy at the flea market, man. GREAT find.
I had one. I went out to have fun with it in my hometown, and it took like 5 minutes for the police to yell at me to put it down. Moments like this make me appreciate that I'm not living in America.
The auto focus is so smooth, who would of guessed
I had a similar one once. Watching this I instantly can smell the case.
Got mine, on a flea market as well, 80€ the complete set, mine is a bit older, full russion inscriptions, with URSS quality control stickers. Didn't use it with the "pistol" yet, I imagine that it could draw some strange looks 😂, I'm completely in love with it, shoots perfectly
I have one in pristine condition somewhere, unused directly from a closed police warehouse, cameras like this was used by Czechoslovak traffic patrols back in the 80s.
I have one of these. Very fun to use and just a great overall collectable. Can't use in public though 😅
Or get ready to have a lot of people chasing you with pitchforks
This combo is awesome what a beauty! All treasures, the camera, both lenses, etc. Can't stop thinking about what collectibles you must have in your shelf. Congrats! Greetings from Chile 🇨🇱 🙋♂️
Круто! Прошлая цивилизация не просто производила, но и экспортировала такие аппараты!. Cool! The past civilization not only produced, but also exported such devices!
That's what comes to my mind when I hear "shoot a picture"
I think I've seen the modern version of this in China 😂 used to "shoot" birds with big tele lenses.
Looks hilarious but kinda make sense
a whole new definition to "shooting" photos
Lovely stuff Mathieu, remember buying Zenit B and wanting the Photosniper kit as a teen. Memories ha ha.
What a beautiful kit, seriously.
So strange yet beautifully crafted.
Thanks for the video, I wanted one of those when I was a lad. May I ask how is the trigger linked to the Zenith shutter release? Is the camera non-standard?
The camera has a mechanism under it that connects to the shutter, when you press the trigger it shoot your photo.
When you see through viewfinder, is it clean and sharp? mine is very blurry .
Love the old Reflex cameras, and the perfect city to test it out Paris
Very nice find, a complete kit in that condition, well done, I must say I would hesitate to go out shooting with the complete gear, looks dangerous !
"be sure you eat the bell for notifications" hahaha dude!
yum
I just "inherited" one of these as a full kit, it's quite eye-catching
до этого момента, думал что фото ружье существует только в мультфильме Простоквашино, где пёс гонялся за зайцем
Honestly the only reason why these things aren't popular is because it looks like a gun - without that one (extremely crucial) weakness the concept of a gun-stock-camera makes a LOT of sense as a stable platform!
Hello, I currently have a photosniper 300mm tair f4.5 and I would like to know if it is worth buying the 300mm L canon or what other 300mm lens would you recommend?
I have got one as well. It was given to me by an unxle who actually used to use it! It looks and feels amazing. I am yet to take the lens out with my fuji camera but your video is making me really do it. Thanks for sharing!
That's awesome!
I have a white/grey version that looks a lot less tactical than the black. Amazing kit.
Been considering one of these for a while, but prices are little too much on eBay, and will definitely go up after this. Hope I'll find one at a market locally like you did
What did you plug that wire coming out of the lens into what other adapter did you use to connect it to the a7III
I own this gun too, every photo taken by this lens is brilliant
Well that was a bit of a blast from the past for me. I had one of these back in the 80's. This , of course, was before I gained more knowledge of photography and no longer believed the hype!
Отлично. Даже захотелось на барахолке найти такую штуку себе.
I sold mine about a month ago. Didn't find a good use to it. But it was fun. Instead, I bought Jupiter-8 and Jupiter-9, both in silver, from 1962-1963. They're awesome.
Yes Jupiter lenses are a must
15€ for the box…. That is incredibly cheap. I also have it and i really love those 2 lenses. The sharpness and the Bokeh of the tair. Old Soviet lenses are my absolutely favorite.
Can we trigger a fuji camera with a relese cable from this?
Hi, I've just bought this camera too, but when I open it, I cut the cable with white head since it was hidden in the package. What is that?I can't find from internet, saw the parts graph but still don't know what it is...... Is there any way to reconnect it? Thank you.
Oh, I remember those from back then, very intrigued by it, never got around to even fiddle with them.
I have the photosniper without the Gun. Such a nice lens and those Aperture blades!
Wow.. .it looks like it is in mint condition.. Im happy for you
novoflex had a pistol grip focus tele like this as well. I shot a US college football game with it in 1977.
@Mathieu Stern I recently biught that Set for a much higher but still affordable price. The difficulty I got with this lens is, when I adapt it to my fujy the focus throw seems a bit off. I couldn't get to Infinity with it (50-100 Meters where possible but not far away mountains)
I read somewhere that the phitosniper's distance between the lens and the Film is a bit shorter that that of "normal m42 Cameras" could that be possible? Or is it just my copy?
You can mod the lens so you can focus past infinity .
Hi,
Can you help me with the filters ? I have them in the kit but I don't know their utility
On the Micro 4/3 adapter the lens is shifted to the right so I can not use the grip with my GX9
I have lens from this kit. Tair 3s is amazing, especially iris. It's also fantastic for astrophotography.
Totally agree!
I think you could use this lens as it is on fujifilm cameras and connect the shutter release cable?
This 300 is the Soviet 300 prime I have been dreaming of! I won’t go above 5.6 as a personal rule and I can’t abide Corona/contrast loss in bright light-can’t say I see either here.
And the colors! That bird’s eye was as rich with micro contrast as anything I’ve gotten out of my Fuji glass.
My eye is out for this-
I have one, but I've found that it's not great with focusing on objects that are farther than 50 meters, is this a characteristic of the lens, if not is there a way to fix that?
Recently, my dad gave me the whole set. He used to take some photos with it when I was just a small kido.
To be honest, so far I've used only the 58mm Helios, as I'm also quite afraid to take the whole gun outside haha
By the way, great video and great price for the whole set! You can easily make couple hundred if you'd sell it
Not going to sell it soon, but i hope it will be more than 15 euros :)
Some words about 'weird' lenses. Do you ever heard about soviet catadioptric lenses Rubinar-500 (Рубинар-500) or MTO-1000AM? I'm not sure that they are well-known in Europe. But in Russia it is possible to buy one for about €100 in a perfect condition. Just imagine: 140mm aperture, f/10.5, 1100mm focal length, donut-shaped bokeh, M42 mount. Also you can add a Turist-FL (Турист-ФЛ) optical module to convert your lens into a huge spyglass.🙃
It's not an extremely bright lens but I would try it on digital with high ISO for sport scenes, with fast movement, like car races. The whole rig asks for action photos. I can visualize the crisp image of a rally car and the motion blurr on the surroundings.
( I did that several times, long time ago, with an old Zenith and 200/4 Pentacon, 400 ISO B/W film. Hand held, tracking the car, manual pre-focus and cable shutter release for reducing camera shake. I still keep the negatives and a few A5 photos from those times ).
I have the photosniper, not in the best of shape, but it's still working. Have to say that when I use it outside it sure draws attention ;)
Looked like it was new! Nice find!
What a find! I appreciate how you put this video together!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Same idea as the Novoflex Schnellschuß Objektive from the early fifties. There were modular lenses from 135mm up to 800mm. Focussing was even faster by an spring loaded linear focussing grip. Until AF became standard that was the fastes focussing method in nature and sports photography.
I'd totally use something like this with my Fuji camera, it's comical and functional. Amazing 😎👍
Totally!
Not about the bargain, I'm more glad this awesome kit is under good hands
It really is! because i never use it :))
That's a absolute steal for that price
As a Soviet kid I knew of it from the cartoon, but I could not think it's 300mm only. Makes more reason for me to be at least 500-600mm. On the other hand, it would be too big with those technologies... These days Canon makes 600mm and 800mm rather compact.
i wish you will reply to this
i have a zenit 12xps can i use its lens on a nikon d3300 with an adapter ??