Using a viewfinder on a FED-2

[climbing_vine]

I imagine this has been touched on before, but a search isn't helping my cause.

How do folks use (or do folks use) the Russian 35mm viewfinder (the black plastic "rostov" one) on the FED-2? The shoe is behind the rangefinder hump, and the viewfinder doesn't clear it. Have people done mods to raise the shoe, or is there some sort of extender a person can get, or.... ?

 

[Peter_Jones]

One of the hotshoe adapter type things should do the trick 🙂

 

[Spyderman]

You could probably buy one fo those hot-shoe cubes (there is a PC sync on side and hot shoe on top) which increases the height a bit. Then there is the CV double shoe accessory (see cameraquest site), and then there is a version of FED with this solved- the shoe portion raised a bit higher. Oh, another chance is to use the turret finder.

 

[brachal]

Later versions of the Fed-2 will support the dedicated 35mm finder, but early models can only use the turret finder. I don't remember exactly when the shoe was raised.

 

[Tmas]

As said before, the turretfinder is good, or you look for a HELIOS finder that has 35, 85 and 135mm framelines!
Regards,
Tmas

 

[ItsReallyDarren]

I believe the cold shoe was raised for the Fed 2 'D' models and up.

http://www.sovietcams.com/index.php?-1620130885

 

[MV72]

Hi,
My FED-2 d has the raised shoe. I use the Helios finder on it. Nice combo and perfectly usable with 35 mm frame. Only snag is with glasses on, it can be a bit tricky to see the full frame without moving your eye around a bit. My turret finder is on the Kiev. Too big for the FED I think. I have to take my glasses off for using it comfortably though.
Cheers from France

 

[dll927]

At least for the turret finders, there were two versions, one for Zorki/FED, and the other for Kiev. It seems that using the wrong one on LTM cameras caused the finder to interfere with the shutter speed dial. So they made a version with the turret to the left side, thus supposedly eliminating the problem.

 

[climbing_vine]

Thanks folks.
Rather than spending on it right now, I'm playing with various ways of shimming up the shoe. Came up with something decent by clipping up an old plastic gift card (credit-card type) and binding a few layers of it together. Until I have metal fab equipment, I'm calling it good enough. 🙂