joey wrote:The cameras were popular in USSR and Eastern block countries.
Which, with respect, I would suggest could hardly be described as in "wide use". More significantly, by whom were they held in high regard?
Let me put it another way: I can show you any number of images made by photographers of reknown, that were shot using, for instance, Nikon, Canon, Speed Graphic, and/or Leica hardware.
It would be a very easy task to find images such as these, and many of these images would already be known to many people.
Could you please point to some similar, highly regarded images, that have been made using these Russian instruments? Not necessarily images of the ilk of Capa or Bresson or Adams or Ray or even Dupain, but nonetheless, some images that have been shot with these cameras.
While I'm certainly not a proponent of the concept that the camera makes the image, I am challenging your contention that these cameras should be regarded as "classic" onthe basis that I have seen no evidence of this.
Your suggestion that three million users in Russia used them would harbour a similar suggestion that perhaps a Kodak 127 should also be considered a classic camera. They were popular, and they certainly might hold a place in a museum, but I see no evidence to call either of them classic.
That is my point.