Fed2(d)

[GeneW]

I just received a Fed2(d) with Industar-28 and I'm pumped. It came from photographer Mike Kovacs, known to some of you on various boards, and was the last of his LTM cams. He's mainly a Contax collector.

It's a typical MK camera: cleaned, adjusted, lubricated. It's in wonderful shooting condition and it's also very nice cosmetically. A really nice package for $50 and I know it's going to become my main carry-around film camera for the next while. I'd forgotten how much smaller and lighter the Fed2 is compared to my Zorki4 (also a nice cam but with a different aesthetic). This one has a very quiet shutter, for an FSU cam.

This replaces the Leica IIIf I sold and although the Leica was a much finer camera, I like the Fed better. Never did like bottom-feeding a Barnack Leica. Aside from no shutter speeds slower than 1/30, I actually prefer using the Fed. Weird, eh?

Pics of the cam later...

Gene

[kiev4a]

Congratulations, Gene. The FED 2 is a Soviet classic--very utilitarian--no frills but dependable. One of the easiest FSU cameras to repair, too. One thing I don't like about that model is its dim viewfinder--you expect that on the Zorki and FED 1s but the FED 2 isn't much better. Also, the covering on the FED 2 is about as abrasive as it can get--the finish is sort of "early wood rasp."

[GeneW]

Thanks Wayne. Yes, this is my second one and it's a bit of a homecoming. The VF is a bit dim and small, but so is the VF on most Barnack Leicas. Fortunately I have a beautiful VC external 50mm 1:1 VF. Cost far more than the cam, lol!

Gene

[kiev4a]

If you get one that has been properly CLAd it can be super smoooth operating. I have one like that.

[jocko]

It's funny, gentlemen, but although I was always very fond of the FED 2, I tended to think the viewfinder let it down. Not long ago I compared the camera directly with a Zorki 5 - whose finder I had always lauded to the skies. To my great surprise, even indoors, in fairly low light (1/60@2.8@400 ISO) I felt the FED was much easier to focus. The dim viewfinder and the contrastingly bright RF patch were a surprisingly friendly partnership. The "brighter" Zorki finder was a washout in comparison. Used within the limitations of the design - say down to (1/30@2.8@400 ISO) I think that the FED does rather well.

And this in spite of my beautiful, looks new from the box, e-bay princess FED 2, which turned out to have so many faults it killed the last 6 months photographs!

Never mind!

[GeneW]

Ian, that's a bummer. I'm just getting around to using the Fed-2 -- I got sidetracked by a new digicam. Yes, the VF is on the small side, but I agree it's easy to focus. I love the small size of the body.

Is your Fed-2 working yet?

Gene

[kiev4a]

Ian:

One of the things I learned during my FSU collecting days is that when the camera offered is 40-years-old "like new, in the box" it's often because it never worked right so the owner never used it. The FSU had more Dead on Arrival cameras and lenses because of the system under which they were built --"turn out X number of cameras a month-- no matter what."

[jocko]

Gene and Wayne - Thankyou! Fortunately reports of my FED's "indisposition" were exaggerated - I was trying to work out how long I'd been using it and thought "at least a month...probably 6 weeks" and foolishly wrote "6 months"! I could claim I'm getting old - but I think getting stupid has something more to do with it!

The irony is that I've always lectured people on the "immaculate = broken" rule, following long, tearful nights with the Marilyn Monroe of Kiev 4Ms, but at the sight of a lovely, shiny camera my critical faculties fly out the window! This latest temperamental starlet has a capping shutter and an as yet unidentified light-leak...

The irony is that I have an Oleged and perfectly functioning FED 2, which I briefly spurned for its slightly rough finish... I have now returned to Kharkov's very own Jayne Mansfield!

Ah well, nobody's perfect!

All the best, Ian