Fed Zarya

[palaizot]

My neighbour recently gave me her deceased father's old camera, namely a Fed Zarya. It had no take up spool, just a piece of plastic tube stuck on the slotted spigot on the take up drive, so I bought one on ebay from The Ukraine. I understand that the Fed take spools are common to a number of models, anyhoe the spool looks ok, and slots onto the slotted spigot, but it is a loose fit, and there seems to be no way to drive the spool, when attempting to wind on the film, so of course the film will not wind onto the spool. This is my first experience with Soviet cameras, does anyone have any advice please?

[philbirch]

Hi welcome to the forum. I hope you stick around and look at the posts. Do a search for Zarya, there have been posts about it.

I think someone else will be along later to answer your question. Stephen is very knowledgeable about the FED/Zorkis.

Good luck
Phil

[truls]

Welcome to the Camera Collector forum!
I also have a Fed Zarya, it is an early type With the slightly bigger viewfinder.

Here is how I load the Fed Zarya:

On the take up spool there is a hook. The first film perforation Mounts on this hook. Gently Wind the film, observe that it really Winds on. If not, retry. Other more simple Method is using a small piece of scotch tape.


Here you can see how it looks when the film is loading properly.

Good Luck With Your Fed Zarya, it is a fine camera capable of taking good Pictures.

[palaizot]

Thank you for that, however the problem is that the spool just revolves on the slotted spigot, there is no drive between them, the film moves on from the drive via the perforations in the film, but as the spool cannot rotate itself, the film piles up behind the spool.

[Stephen]

The spool on the Fed Zarya is identical to the FED 2, the internals are exactly the same, so if the purchased spool is a FED Type then it should fit. On the other hand if very loose it might be the wrong later type from a Zokri or Kiev. The original is made in brass, thin ends and centre, not cast metal or plastic



The fit in the Fed Zarya or Fed 2 is a slip one, it should pull enough to take up the film, but be a light push fit on the Shaft. Unlike the bottom loading FED types, you can get at the shaft on the FED 2, and pries the tongues in the brass shaft collar open a bit till it fits the take up spool. if it is the same as the picture, then use a long nose pair of pliers to bend the tabs outwards till it is a firm fit.

The shaft is usually retained by a screw in the middle. The part may vary, two splits or four.

The other way is to try thin adhesive tape on the shaft, taking up the looseness, a matter of trial and error as to how much to use.

Another way is the glue a band of thin paper to the shaft with epoxy, and then sand away till the spool is a snug fit.

You can just add a strip of paper into the spool hole and push it home.

In theory the shaft and spool do not require to slip, it could be glued up solid, the loose push on fit dates from Soviet re-usable cassettes being an option. When the re-wind lever is moved the shaft is released, the spool does not have to slip on the shaft to rewind. The slip on spool was of course vital with the bottom loading Fed.

Hope this helps,

Stephen

[Stephen]

Dependent on the lens fitted the Fed Zarya should deliver as good as the lens can produce, the lack of a rangefinder can be cured with any small rangefinder that fits the top shoe. However you can source a Leica fit wide angle lens, 35mm or 28mm and use Zone focusing. Makes a super travel camera with a 28 mm.....but the 35mm Jupiter F2.8 is the best performing Russian option, it is a direct copy of the Zeiss Biogon.

Stephen.

[palaizot]

Thank you for that Stephen, I guess it is not the right take up spool. I had thought of both those methods that you proposed,that is open up the tongue or increase the diameter of the spigot, but because of my lack of knowledge about the Fed, I did not have the nerve to open up the tongues as you have suggested. I am encourageg now to have a go. I also thought of glueing the spool onto the spigot with epoxy, bit dodgey perhaps, anyhow your advice has reassured me, thank you very much. Bill.

[palaizot]

Spool fitted by means of insertion and rotatio of larger diameter philips screw driver in spigot, thus increasing diameter of the tongues. Retaining on spool not brilliant, but with care can load film, have done this several times. Thank you again Stephen, I just need to get the focal plane shutter to close totally at 1/60th and 1/125th, the others work fine.

[Stephen]

The two speed adjusters under the base plate can be tweaked carefully to get the speeds correct,it sounds like a slack second curtain, the adjusters should only be moved one notch at a time to do the settings. The small screw acts as a stop and is removed, but be careful to retain the adjuster in the correct position, although it is possible to release it fully and wind up from scratch again.



Do not over tighten, they are just brought up to enough tension to run the frame correctly for each curtain, then one notch more.

There is no exact setting, it is just to get a stable blind movement, the shutter speeds are set by the gap delay mechanism.

Once they appear about correct leave it and test with film. In theory if set wrongly the frame will have more exposure on one side than the other, but the one extra notch should over come any drag and the exposure come out even. I afraid further precision is not possible without an electronic tester, testing one end, then the other end, and tweaking the adjusters till an even run is achieved.

Have a look at the tapes and the state of the cloth,if bad or patched with paint, it may need replacement.

Stephen

Stephen

[Stephen]

t.hacquard.free.fr/site2/rideau_1_en.html
Gives a typical run down of the shutter service, if required. Curtains sets are available via Ebay. He describes a tool to hold the locking nuts, which is useful.
Stephen.