Krasnogorsk-3 Reliability? Flicker?

David Cunningham · May 14, 2013

I have been considering purchasing a Krasnogorsk-3 if for no other reason than my already large collection of M42 still lenses. In addition to that, it's ease of gate widening or full Super16 is also appealing.

However, I have been reviewing quite a bit of footage on Vimeo and it seems that a lot of them have "flicker" issues where it appears that the mirror is not getting out of the way in perfect sync with the shutter. Can anyone speak to this or how common it is in these cameras? Is it an easy fix to not worry much about?

Any other thoughts about the reliability of the Krasnogorsk-3?

My primary goal is a fully manual, simple and easy-to-use prism-free Super 16 camera and this is looking like a good option... especially for home-movies and weddings.

Thanks for the advice.

Dave

Will Montgomery · May 15, 2013

The K3 was my first 16mm camera. Bought it off eBay from Russia, had Duall camera in NYC widen the gate & drill out the viewfinder so you can see the full Super 16 area & remove the loop formers. Then I had Bernie at Super 16 Inc. do the laserbrighten process on the camera and it made the viewfinder twice as bright. Then I found a lens mount that recentered the lens so the Super 16 conversion was complete.

I got great results with the camera and fell in love with the 16mm format with it. However, I found that my wrist would be killing me after half a day of shooting with it. Constantly winding it was a pain so I picked up a Canon Scoopic MS and used that much more.

However, with a nice 35mm or even 50mm m42 mount Pentax lens I found the quality to be really good considering how cheap the camera was. It's really luck of the draw with that camera from what I hear.

Not sure how much money I have invested in that camera but if you're interested I'd be willing to sell to a good home.

Bill Rodgers · May 15, 2013

My old K3 was built like a tank and was so cheap I used to take it places I'd have never used my Bolex or Uni's Arriflex or Eclair.

I can't recall noticing much flicker when I often used my old one in the 1990's. The footage always looked great projected and was even pretty sharp when tele-cined to Betacam SP back then.

I've been thinking of picking up a Super 16 one myself.

David Cunningham · May 15, 2013

Hey Will,

Can you tell me where to source the repositioning lens mount and how it works? I was definitely going to have Bernie do the LaserBrighten.

Dave

Rudy Velez Jr · May 15, 2013

Sometimes a K3 recentered lens mount ring is on ebay look for it, its there I have seen it and it was not expensive.

Speaking of the K3, its an amazing camera and I love it. I agree with Bill, its a 16mm camera you could take ANYWHERE!

A few weeks ago I took the strap that came with the case and attached the strap to the camera which you can do, and you can wear the camera like a saddlebag. I rode my bike with it on streets of NYC and it was fine, I had a Peleng 8mm lens attached to the camera, with 50D Kodak film loaded. Lemme say this, the camera gets really great images, sharp. I now know where to send my exposed film to get it looking its best. Anyway if your gonna ride around with the camera I recommend using a lighter prime lens, I say this because I get hypo while riding and worry the camera is gonna fall by some accident(paranoia) in which case I could always deal with losing a prime m42 mount lens but I VALUE the russian meteor zoom lens SO MUCH because I feel the images it can capture are sharp! I only the lens for tripod or careful shooting, ( my fun run & gun, biking and adventuring lens is my peleng fisheye 8mm which is jus attach t a wide angle lens on the k3, you could do the same but better if you have a large collection of m42 lenses! With the K3 you can do fun, adventurous shooting, the camera body is ULTRA sturdy, I have seen it advertised as being built like some great russian tank which exact name escapes me at the moment. Overall a durable camera that can get really sharp images. I never use the light-meter that comes with the camera, I just use a sekonic light meter (with my lumisphere up!) so far I have been happy with my results and I DONT even have my loop informers removed, no super 16mm or ultra 16mm, no cool laser brighten, although I am saving for it, laserbrighten is a mod to get for the camera for sure! I am still kinda of unsure about super 16mm or ultra 16mm thats kinda of on you to investigate and weigh out the pros and cons. LOOP INFORMERS! GET THESE REMOVED! if you want I can link to some of my footage i shot with the K3 and boy, I am happy with exposures but the scratches the loop informers create bother me,(although most of the people that I have shown my footage to enjoy it, in fact one person told me not to remove the peaky informers but i am, because they dont do their jobs which is to guide the film, I always have to play around with it , but I love it :D ( btw, this is the camera I learned how to shoot 16mm with so, there is that sentimental thing happening I guess..its also a fine piece of soviet craftsman ship, kudos to Zenit!

The cranking. I dont mind it so much and its a good wrist work out lol. there are tobin crystal sync motors but these are ULTRA RARE and probably command ridiculously prices( you can get like 3-4 k3's for the price of 1 tobin motor, so thats silly, also with the motor you lose the awesome ability to do single frame shooting, aka stop motion or time lapse.

there is a company in nyc that sells a timelapse thing for the camera its called NCS if you type krasnogorsk 3 on google you should come across this cool company. its a bit pricey but a very cool, professional tool, here is the link. I have been wanting this for a while but cannot afford it. I have a scoopic ms and unsure which to get it for but i think I would get it for the k3, this is a topic for another post perhaps.

oh lastly, I came across the lomo developing tanks and I would say get one! so you can save money and and DEVOLP your OWN film, how cool is that? I have yet to do it but again I want to lol :D - be sure to get the 30m/100ft ones!

good tidings,

rudy

p.s will that is so awesome that your viewfinder was widen so you can get the super 16mm frame. Could you post what it looks it I am intrigued!

David Cunningham · May 15, 2013

Rudy,

Would love to see your footage.

And, thanks for all the info!

Dave

Bill Rodgers · May 15, 2013

Yeah, that sounds like loads of fun Rudy!!! :)

Will Montgomery · May 15, 2013

Hey Will,

Can you tell me where to source the repositioning lens mount and how it works? I was definitely going to have Bernie do the LaserBrighten.

Dave

It was on eBay for something like $120 about 4 years ago. Came from Russia. I thought once about having a machine shop make up a dozen and sell them on eBay but I just don't think there's that much of a demand.

austin patton · June 14, 2013

It was on eBay for something like $120 about 4 years ago. Came from Russia. I thought once about having a machine shop make up a dozen and sell them on eBay but I just don't think there's that much of a demand.

How does the lens mount work? Also how much are you looking to get for your K3? I might be interested.