Moskva-1

The camera uses 120 film and produces 6×9 frames. The camera in my collection has black leather finish and a brown leather camera bag. It is noticeably harder to find than the follow ups (Moskva-2, 3, 4, etc).

When I got the camera, it seemed pretty beat up but luckily majority of it was just the appearances. For example the camera was hastily/lazily folded the last time it was put away (for years) and had thus been permanently disfigured making it look bad and blocking part of the frame. I removed the leather, moisturized it with water, folded it properly and let it dry out – It worked out well and started to fold properly again. You can still see the wrinkles, but it looks much better and is not blocking the frame anymore.

After cleaning the whole thing there was just one thing left – the shutter blades got stuck all the time. Causing the photos to be completely overexposed and/or blurry. All the mechanics are built into the front part – together with the lens. And it is surprisingly simple to maintain/fix. I opened it up, cleaned it and removed all the thick oil that was blocking the blades form moving. After a bit of tinkering I got it working and was surprised by the quality. I was expecting the frames to be way more out of focus and/or over exposed. See the example grayscale photos I took with the camera below. You’ll also notice the white spots and lines on the photo – this is caused by too stiff wind-up mechanism. Causing the film to grind on the frame inside when rewinding. Had to loosen it up and should have better results with the next film.

If you are interested in buying the camera, write me an email.