A few more words are in order about my newly acquired Leica copy from the Former Soviet Union (FSU). I ran a roll of Kodak Gold 200 through it recently in the course of an early morning walk around Albuquerque. I thought the results were quite nice from the Tessar-style lens, so I put some sample color shots together with the previously shown b&w images into a new page on the FED-1g in the vintage cameras section of my web site.

I've limited my comments on the camera to a brief description of my own experience. There are millions of words floating around on the original Leitz design by Oskar Barnack. The German original achieved a large cult following long ago which has driven the price of Leicas beyond the reach of many who would productively use them. Luckily, the FSU Leica copies are still an affordable alternative for those who want to explore the camera design that changed the way the world sees itself.

Even a lot of the Leica cultists have come around to the idea that the FSU Leica Thread Mount lenses are a nice alternative to getting quality results from the old cameras using the 39mm screw-in lenses. In the past six or eight years, a lot of Americans have also discovered that many of the FSU cameras are sturdy and reliable performers which cede little ground to the Leitz originals for those still interested in shooting film.