Here at Blue Moon Camera, we take pride in carefully testing each camera we put out for sale. We assess each critical component for accuracy: shutter speed, frame spacing, light metering, and all other camera functions are tested. When one of our cameras catches your eye, you can pick it up in confidence that it is in great working order. Most of our cameras (with the exception of some historical / display items) will come with our standard 6-month warranty -- cameras that we have fully refurbished carry an industry-best 12-month guarantee. 

⁠When you look through this carousel of images, you will notice an increasingly darkening left (or bottom) edge.  This fall-off of exposure is caused by the shutter; more specifically, the travel times of the shutter curtains.  Most focal plane shutters work by using two curtains in tandem.  The first curtain  covers the film when the shutter is wound.  Upon firing, it rapidly travels off the film plane, leaving the film exposed to light coming in the lens.  Then the second, or rear, curtain comes along, covers the film and ends the exposure.  Normally, these curtains travel at the same speed as they swipe across the film plane, covering the distance in just a few milliseconds.  This travel time varies from camera model to camera model, but both curtains should move at the same rate. 

As cameras age and their lubricants harden and gum up, you can have instances where one curtain slows down.  If the slowed curtain happens to also be the first curtain, it can actually allow the second curtain to catch up to it, blocking off the film before the entire frame has had a chance to be exposed to light.  This issue is exacerbated the faster your shutter speed because, at the higher speeds, the gap between the first and second shutter curtains narrows, making it easier for the second curtain to catch the first if they are not moving at the same speed.⁠

⁠Thankfully, the problem is generally treatable with a good cleaning and re-lubrication!  Sometimes shutter tension needs adjustment but our tech said this is always the second step after re-lubricating the shutters, which usually fixes the issue.  ⁠

Frequent exercise helps stave off curtain travel time issues, so get out and use those cameras!  Meanwhile, this Leica III headed off to the camera doctor to get those curtains running at the correct travel times once again.

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So often the discussion around Soviet lenses and cameras revolves around how they were modeled after, copied from, or inspired by the innovations of other camera manufacturers.  But Soviet camera history is full of its own trailblazing, where they led instead of followed.  One prime example of this would be the Russar MR-2 20mm f/5.6, a lens design that would go on to influence the Zeiss Biogon-2, Schneider Super-Angulon, and Rodenstock Grandagon lens designs.

The Russar MR-2 20mm was the work of Mikhail M. Rusinov, who potentially lent his initials "MR" to the name of this lens.  Rusinov was a genius of lens design and focused a lot of his attention to making super wide angle lenses that more evenly exposed the entire frame from corner to corner, without the fall off commonly seen at the time.  He began his work in the 1930s and, by the time of the second World War, had introduced a 100mm f/6.3 super wide angle lens for aerial photography on a 13x18cm camera (roughly the equivalent of a 20mm lens on 35mm cameras, what do you know).  Rusinov was committed to miniaturizing that design and by 1956 he had a prototype 20mm f/5.6 in the Leica M39 mount.  The MR-2 officially hit the market in 1958, manufactured by the famed KMZ plant.  That same year, it was part of a collection of Zenit lenses that won grand prize at the Brussels World Expo.

Based on a near symmetrical design, involving six elements in four groups, the MR-2 20mm has a rear element that protrudes far into the camera body, coming within about 11mm of the film plane and leaving just enough room for the shutter curtain.  If you like super technical factoids, the actual focal length of this lens is 19.71mm, but you can understand why they rounded that up to an even 20mm.

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What do we have here?  Why, it is the Leica MBROO and EFGOO of course!

⁠Leica products of a certain age are known for their distinguishing code words.  Leitz implemented the five character codewords in 1928 because they were easier to translate via telegraph than product numbers.  Of course, once the use of telegraphs declined in around 1959, Leitz switched to five digit product numbers.  Before that transition, you had the MOOKY and the HESUM and the IGEMO (that last is the codeword for your Leica M3, by the way).  What you end up with is almost it own language, describing bits and bobs and various wonderful Leica gear.  It kind of reminds us of the modern company, What Three Words, which has mapped every 3 meter square of the world with three word grouping that, while supposedly random, can have a certain sense instilled in their assignations.  ⁠

⁠The MBROO, on the left there, is an aluminum ever-ready case for your valued Leica threadmount camera, up to the IIIf.  The u-shaped lever on the front clamps down and locks the top and bottom pieces together, sealing the camera in and protecting it from moisture.  Some call this a tropical case because it would be excellent for carrying that Leica around a humid jungle.⁠

⁠The EFGOO, meanwhile, is a high top ever-ready case designed to protect your Leica when it has an accessory viewfinder mounted.  Maybe your preferred focal length is the 35mm.  Early Leica viewfinders only showed framelines for 50mm lenses, so an extra viewfinder would be attached to the top of the camera.  The EFGOO left room for that viewfinder, while keeping the camera safe and instantly ready.⁠

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Our resident repair tech recently purchased this Leica III to add to his personal collection.  After sending it off to Youxin Ye, to have the camera serviced, it came back in great functional shape.  However, one of the things Youxin was not able to do was replace the camera's external skin.  Naturally, Mike took it upon himself to spruce this baby up a bit.

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This 1934 Leica III falls into the category "What cameras do the staff of Blue Moon Camera use?" This fellow belongs to our resident repair tech Mike Knight. We could easily occupy several weeks of posts with the cameras that Mike rotates through, but he brought this Leica with him one Saturday morning and it was too pretty to pass up making an image of it. 

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