FED-50 (Industar-10) CLA?

Mr_Flibble

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My latest addition, FED 1d NKVD, came with a FED 50mm f/3.5 lens.

normal_FED1d01.jpg



But unfortunately the camera was caught in a torrential rain last Sunday morning (a few hours before I bought it).
Now there appear to be condensed droplets of water in between the lens elements.

Would leaving the lens in the sun make them go away? Or will I have to tear it down for a CLA.

Any online guides to this? I found one, but it was in an eastern European languages I think. And the sequence of images didn't make sense in any way.

Any advice contemplated and appreciated, ;)
 
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I'd wait. Probably the water will leave little white spots (but it's not for certain since it was rain), and then I would CLA it.
 
That's what I'm afraid of, calcium deposits, or worse, grease/oil that migrated from the aperture mechanism.

The aperture ring is a bit stiff, so a CLA might be in order anyway.
 
My latest addition, FED 1d NKVD, came with a FED 50mm f/3.5 lens.



Any online guides to this? I found one, but it was in an eastern European languages I think. And the sequence of images didn't make sense in any way.

Any advice contemplated and appreciated, ;)

What you need is Maizenberg's book 'All You Need to Know About Design and Repair of Russian Cameras'. The procedure is given on page 128. Unfortunately the book is hard to obtain in English, although a Russian version is available for download from http://www.ussrphoto.com/
 
Cheers guys,

Thanks for the book-tip Fanshaw. I'll keep an eye out for it.

Bill58's suggestion sounds extremly practical. I'll attempt that first.

Johan, you're not going to send me a 250 page PDF I hope ;)
 
If it's any consolation, the lens is particularly easy to take apart and clean. It should also be the uncoated variety, if it's correct one for the camera. Have you dried the camera out too?

One of the best desiccants you'll ever find is rice...uncooked, that is. Put the damp object in a sealed container along with rice, leave it a few days and voila - dry! Probably best to discard the rice after though...and obviously there's a need to make sure there's none inside whatever you've dried out!
 
Excellent! Thank you McConnealy. I'll give it a read while the Lens is drying out with some rice ;)

Good tip Wolves! I think the last packages of sillica-gel I have lying around came out of a sealed box from a French Army surplus store. It contained a repacked WW2 US Army BD-71 Telephone Switchboard. Doubtful the gel was in a usable condition.
I might have some rice lying around though!

The camera appears to be dry but I will give it the same treatment just in case.
 
After doing a quick scan of the PDF, the fix was indeed extremely simple.

Remove the rear locking ring, and unscrew the rear lens element. All the condensation was on that element. Cleaned it, screwed it back and replaced the locking ring. And Robert is your father's brother.

Still going to pack it with some rice to get rid of any remaining moisure.

Thanks for all the help everyone! :)


Here's a better picture of the camera:
FSU01.jpg


I'm not sure if it is a Ic or a Id to be honest. Wiki and some other sites show conflicting info on the serial numbers.
Serial is 98*** . That would put production in spring or early summer of 1939. Top shutter speed is 1/500th of a second and the RF follower is a point.
And it has the flatter shutter button collar. And there is a hole in the film pressure plate. The internal black paint appears to be lacquer.

The lens is indeed uncoated, but I can't make out the serial number properly. I expect its something like 777. F-stops: 3,5-4,5-6,3-9-12,5-18.
Lens markings: фед 1:3,5 F = 50 m/m
 
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Rick, when you have an old silica gel pack, you can rejuvenate it by heating it in the oven. That drives the moisture out, and they are ready to go again. Then just store them in an airtight container.

PF
 
Again, thanks for the great tips.

BatteryTypeHah!, The aperture is a little stiff and the blades look a somewhat oxidized. I might do a tear-down on it someday soon.
 
Rick - you can regenerate your silica gel in the oven - just heat it up for a while to dry it out.

I have taken one of those lenses apart - very similar to the Elmar. If you don't have to, don't strip all the blades out of the aperture, it took me 2 hours to get them back right!! Apart from that, it really is straightforward

The only issue I had was that the grease around the aperture sleeve had formed little balls, and was effectively acting as locking rolleres, which is why the aperture gets stiff.

Feel free to PM me if you get stuck

OOPs! Just noticed page 2 of this - sorry ;)
 
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