A couple of people here and a few more over at Flickr asked about my Smena 6, and specifically wanted to know if I had the manual. I guess a lot of these cameras are floating around out there in various conditions, with or without boxes and/or manuals; I was lucky enough to get one in near perfect condition with everything intact, so I thought I’d share.
The manual for the 6 is quite ’50s-looking to my Western eyes, probably because everything Soviet was about 10 years behind in terms of design, and these cameras were made and marketed during the ’60s. The manual is fantastic— if anyone is willing to do a working translation, please stand up.
A few sample pages:
I know there are quite a few of you nostalgiaphiles out there for whom these web-quality jpg samples just won’t cut it, and for that reason I’ve uploaded an uncompressed 300dpi pdf of the entire Smena 6 manual for your printing pleasure. Enjoy.
Ah, amazing! this is better than what I was expecting. its way more retro looking than I thought it would be too, for some reason. You’re right about it being in good condition, it’s amazing to make it through the years like that. Thank you for the up.
You’re quite welcome – doing the scanning gave me an opportunity to look at the booklet more closely than I would have otherwise. I’m particularly intrigued by that last illustration of the guy using the flash; the Smena 6 does have a hotshoe but as of yet I’ve not been able to get it to fire my flash correctly. I’ve experimented with firing it manually, but so far have not managed to get the sync how I want it.
Ah, amazing! this is better than what I was expecting. its way more retro looking than I thought it would be too, for some reason. You’re right about it being in good condition, it’s amazing to make it through the years like that. Thank you for the up.
You’re quite welcome – doing the scanning gave me an opportunity to look at the booklet more closely than I would have otherwise. I’m particularly intrigued by that last illustration of the guy using the flash; the Smena 6 does have a hotshoe but as of yet I’ve not been able to get it to fire my flash correctly. I’ve experimented with firing it manually, but so far have not managed to get the sync how I want it.
Melissa, I just saw those photos you did that look like film (the whole film) with this camera and I guess it was your scanner? Anyway I was really intrigued by those and was wondering if maybe you could do a post here with details of how you did that? I have tried to scan negatives in the past with my scanner and they just came out black. I understand I need to light the back of the negative and I was trying to figure out what you were explaining about that.
If you mean the scanned negatives I did yesterday, sure, I’ll post my method… it’s really easy as long as you have something suitable to backlight with.
Melissa, I just saw those photos you did that look like film (the whole film) with this camera and I guess it was your scanner? Anyway I was really intrigued by those and was wondering if maybe you could do a post here with details of how you did that? I have tried to scan negatives in the past with my scanner and they just came out black. I understand I need to light the back of the negative and I was trying to figure out what you were explaining about that.
If you mean the scanned negatives I did yesterday, sure, I’ll post my method… it’s really easy as long as you have something suitable to backlight with.
Thank you for sharing, I got mine today from an Ebay auction. I’ll have to puzzle out which one it is, and how to use it before the film I’ve put in it runs out.
The Russian space technology was well ahead of anywhere, and why they kept failing on the launch pad for a lunar landing is annoying.
Thank you for sharing, I got mine today from an Ebay auction. I’ll have to puzzle out which one it is, and how to use it before the film I’ve put in it runs out.
The Russian space technology was well ahead of anywhere, and why they kept failing on the launch pad for a lunar landing is annoying.
smena 6 or smena symbol? which one is better?