Sokol Automat and Sokol-2 were Soviet 35 mm photo camera brands. In 1966–1986, more than 400,000 were produced by

LOMO LOMO () is a manufacturer of medical and motion-picture lenses and equipment based in St. Petersburg, Russia. The company was awarded three Order of Lenin decorations by the Soviet Union. Its Lomo LC-A consumer camera was the inspiration for ...

. Some were exported to Europe. The price of the camera in 1977 was 145 rubles, almost one and a half times more expensive than the mirror "Zenith-E" with interchangeable optics. For Soviet photographers, Sokol proved to be too expensive, and for professional photography it was unsuitable. In 1978, the production of the Sokol Automat was discontinued leaving the Sokol 2, a total of 226,600 copies came off the assembly line, as well as 1,000 cameras called "LOMO-130A" which was the same as the Sokol 2 but with only 1 window for the metering cell, and different styling.

Technical parameters

*Type:

Rangefinder camera A rangefinder camera is a camera fitted with a rangefinder, typically a split-image rangefinder: a range-finding focusing mechanism allowing the photographer to measure the subject distance and take photographs that are in sharp focus. Most v ...

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements'') ...

: Industar-70, non-removable - 50mm/f2.8 single coated - Tessar type lens - 0.8m - ∞ * Shutter: Central, Copal Magic-type, 1/30 + B - 1/500 *

Film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

: 35 mm, 36 frames *

Viewfinder In photography, a viewfinder is a device on a camera that a photographer uses to determine exactly where the camera is pointed, and approximately how much of that view will be photographed. A viewfinder can be mechanical (indicating only direct ...

: Bright, blue-tinted viewfinder with a yellow focusing patch and frame lines which are automatically parallax corrected as well as a shutter speed/aperture display on the right with an underexposure warning * Metering: Shutter priority metering powered by a CdS sensor which automatically raises or lowers the shutter speed if it deems it inadequate for an accurate exposure, 20-320

ASA Asa may refer to: People and fictional characters * Asa (given name), a given name, including a list of people and fictional characters so named * Asa people, an ethnic group based in Tanzania * Aṣa, Nigerian-French singer, songwriter, and reco ...

metering * Battery: PX625 1.35 volt Mercury battery, PX625 Alkaline 1.5 volt can be used but the meter will have a 1.5 stop underexposure at the beginning of the battery's life unless an adapter which lowers the voltage down to 1.35 is used

History

When creating the Sokol automatic camera, problems arose with installing a reliable shutter. The designers decided that the quality of the camera would be ensured by the Japanese shutter Copal Magic. Specialists from two institutes were engaged in testing the strength and reliability of its design: The optical-mechanical institute in Leningrad and the Vavilov State Optical Institute. All the designers noted the excellent performance of the Japanese shutter. In 1965, the USSR bought a license-permission for its production from the Japanese company

Copal Copal is a tree resin, particularly the aromatic resins from the copal tree '' Protium copal'' ( Burseraceae) used by the cultures of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica as ceremonially burned incense and for other purposes. More generally, copal includ ...

. On Sokol cameras, the new shutter was marked "FZ-14". The shutter was a complex mechanism, the design of which included about 400 parts. The prototype for the development of the "Sokol" was the Japanese "

Fujica Fujica is the name given by Fujifilm of Japan to its line of still-photography and motion picture cameras. History The company was founded on January 20, 1934, as Fuji Shashin Film K.K. (富士写真フィルム㈱, later translated as Fuji Pho ...

35 Auto-M" camera with electronically controlled center shutter Copal Magic. "''Sokol''" means "falcon" in Russian, hence the name was probably intended to bring associations with the "eye of a falcon" - the saying for excellent vision, and because the photographer can see the selected settings by the automatic program.

References

External links

Sokol-2 on Alfred's Camera page Sokol-2 on the Sovietcams.com
Rangefinder cameras {{camera-stub