My first Kiev and Fed outing

[navilluspm]

Hello,

Yesterday and today I went out with my first FSU's: a Kiev 4a and Fed 3b.

Loaded with gold film, and an exposure chart I downloaded from the internet, I went out shooting. Here are the results.

Attached are photo's from the Kiev

 

[navilluspm]

Fed results

Fed results

Here are the good results from the FED.

(The line in the second photo is a bad scratch on the negative from my friendly neighborhood Walgreens. I didn't have time to tweak the scans other than resizing them)

 

[navilluspm]

Here's the trouble (FED)

Here's the trouble (FED)

Alot of my pictures from the FED had a bright center. Here are 3 examples.

Because it was not on all the shots, can I assume this is flare? I tried a flash light in the lens and every once in a while (dead center) was a halo. Could it be that the light is somehoe reflecting off of somehting in the lens to cause this? I don't see any fungus, and it does not happen all the time (as seen in the previous pictures. Any thoughts?

 

[navilluspm]

I'll try a hood of some sort and see if that helps. Both of these cameras are really nice and a pleasure to use. Now I just have to decide which one to take at what time.

 

[wolves3012]

The "trouble" shots look like flare to me, especially the first one. I'd guess the FED 3b has an industar 61 "panda" lens? Personally I've found the Industar 26 and 61 to be a little sensitive to flare too, more so than I expected anyway.

Nice pictures all the same!

 

[Fotokor]

Try it with black and white film and develop it yourself - only this way you can control, if there were no faults in the laboratory, where your colour prints have been done.

 

[Roger Vadim]

looks like the fed might got a tiny light leak, unlikely flare (@ #3 because the sun comes from the back) . Try to shoot a blank frame (with hood), try to flashlight through the shutter, examine your photos again if the spot is also in when the lightsource is from the back.
tricky issue.

good luck, m.

 

[brachal]

Welcome to the slippery slope! I'm a big fan of the Fed 3 in particular.

The spot in the Fed shots looks like flare to me. You can live without one, but it's a good idea to use a hood on most FSU lenses. You could also try taking your film to a pro developer -- I've had too many bad experiences with the local drug store's "processing" to trust them any more.

 

[shadowfox]

Did you try to see if you can spot the bright spot on the negative itself?
If you can't, then you know it's the drugstore's scanner that has a problem.
If you can see them, then it's probably light leak from the front (it'd be red if it were from the back of the camera).

It's kinda odd for a flare to be in a constant place no matter where the light comes from. I'd also try another lens.

 

[Mike R]

Same Problem

Same Problem

I had a Fed 3 with a similar problem and it turned out to be a bad shutter curtain. The material either had a hole in it or the material was simply worn thin allowing light to bleed through. I had the camera repaired by OLEG and everything was fine after that. Since then I have played with the Zorki 4 (my favorite), a Fed 2, and a Zorki 6. They are all great little cameras. The problem is I now want all kinds of new FSU stuff. The moral: watch out for that Gear Acquisition Syndrome disease. It sneaks up on you.

 

[TVphotog]

I'll second Mike's warning. I too started with just a lonely little FED 3. It has since been joined by several bretheren. Careful with keeping them too close together as they tend to breed like rabbits. Others are correct as with regards to the flare/light-leak. Most likely, you have a pin-hole in one of the curtains. Best way to check is to remove the lens and the back. Then, put your eye right up to the lens mount and point the back of the camera at a strong light source. If you have some pinholes, they will show up as fuzzy bright spots. The trick is to then be able to find them. I use black fabric paint to 'patch' pinholes. A couple of applications is usually sufficient to fix them.

 

[navilluspm]

Hello all,
Thank you for your replies. I check the negatives and, yes, the spot appears on some frames. But it doesn't appear on every frame (as seen in the first set of FED pics). So I know it is not the labs fault.

I tried what TVphotog and others suggested with removing the back and lens, going to a strong light source and looking for pinholes, but found none.

I am pretty sure it is frontal flare because I shined a flashlight through the lens and as I moved it about, I would get a strong halo in the center - not when the light was dead on, but when it hit at an angle. It was a really pronounced reflection in the lens.

I have a FSU hood on order from Fedka (only $2.79). I also ordered a metal takeup spool for the KIEV ($5). I almost ordered another lens for the KIEV (*NEW* Helios 103's for $23!!!) but I restrained myself. I just got these cameras and I better shoot with these lenses for a while first.

BTW -the lens is an I-26m

 

[brachal]

The Helios 103 is a very, very good lens -- can't be beat for the money. Its feel is different enough from the Jupiter that it's worth having, and it has the best click-stops ever produced for a FSU lens.

 

[marke]

Cool!

Cool!

Hey, so I remember you mentioning you were going to pick one or two of these up! Looks like you're off to a great start. I didn't have it along when we shot together the other week, but I have a Zorki 1. Those FSU cameras are really neat to shoot with, aren't they? I think they're built rather well too.

So have you decided which one to take out shooting as your regular camera? Why not take both? 😀