(Lomos) From Russia With Love?

[John Logan]

Anyone ever buy the Lomos that are frequently for sale from Russia.

Example:

http://reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?p=359764

Hate to put anyone on blast, but buying anything from overseas is risky, and I just wanted to see if anyone's had any experience with this?

Thanks!

[mikeburton]

I bought two of my anamorphic lomos from over seas without a problem. It just depends who you are dealing with. Of course one never knows so it is a leap of faith in some situations.

[Vigen Vartanov]

You can trust Sergey Kravchenco without problems.

[Shane Kelly]

I've bought a few from Sergey, they were pretty good but needed a clean and lube courtesy of Duclos. Takes a while to ship them from russia, about 3-4 weeks.

[Bérenger Brillante]

bought more than ten from russia or ukrainia, and no problems...
But yes, indeed, when a lens from russia is clean and in perfect condition, you still have to clean, lube, and collimate... :)

[Leaf Baimbridge]

I have a set of lomo's, but it looks like in order to use them with the upcoming Scarlet S35 they will have to be converted to PL mount as the OCT-19 mount is wider than the camera body. The quote I got on converting them was between $500-$1200 depending on the lens. Getting all 5 of my primes converted would still be cheaper than anything else out there.

[Mathias Erichsen]

$500-1200 each? Wow! Will the lomo´s cover the s35 frame (15x30)? As far as I know it only covers 16x22mm...

[Valeriu Campan]

Leaf! Wow! That's a bit rich!
I bought a set as well with no problems. They look great.
I was quoted $250 each for a conversion to PL. Will proceed sometime later in the year.

[Shane Kelly]

you can get a PL mount put on them in Russia for 250 (spbsale.com) but the lenses will still need collimating and regreasing. Also, the pl mount is not the greatest machining. When they are serviced ( by Duclos or someone else respected ) , the lenses are great for the money, just be prepared for it to take a while to get them sorted out.By this I mean sending them to russia, getting them back, sending them to LA etc..
It may actually be cheaper to get the lens technician in the US to do all the work.
Here's what I have in PL: 18, 22, 28 speed, 35 speed, 50 speed, 75 speed and 100mm
also a lomo 20-120 zoom.

[Kip Kubin]

Bought from Sergey... smooth sale... no problems.

but I do agree with Shane. The lens may need additional tweaking... new lube and possible culmination...

Mine is off to Duclos for some fresh lube... but it did come as described and I'd buy from him in the future.

[Mike Prevette]

I have a full set of standard speed russian primes, and Doug Underdahl built me a OCT-19 mount for my Red. I might be selling them soon if anyone is interested.