Prewar Feds with uncommon lenses

goamules

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I picked these two old Feds out of a lineup from an older collector. It's hard to tell the body types for me, but I think the older one is a 1937 1B, the other around 1941.

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Lens 1 is a Fed 50mm F2.0 collapsible which is supposed to be a Leica Summar clone. I stuck it on my G1 and it has a good, uncoated vintage look which makes sense for a late 1930s lens.

Lens 2 is a Fed 100mm F6.3 that I can find even less on. Both lenses in very good condition, both cameras gummy and need CLAs. I'm pretty sure I won't be needing these, I have way too many lenses and cameras. But it was fun to find them.
 
Relatively rare lenses especially the 100/3.5, congrats! I have the Summar clone, it came with a Leica engraved FED-S which has the 1/1000 top speed, seems to be married to that body in terms of flim>lens flange registration as it typically was with pre-WWII Feds.
 
Great duo!

Great duo!

I have the 100mm f6.3 also but cannot get it to r/f match with any camera except an ancient FED 1 (1938) which refuses to work. So I guess it will remain as a paper-weight .. 🙁
 
Thanks. These LTM lenses will go onto a m4/3, so registration is never a problem. You focus by WYSIWYG. I'm looking forward to trying the Summar type, will probably sell the 100mm and bodies. PM me if interested.
 
Nice find. Both lenses are quite rare and fetch silly money. Check if either of the bodies is a FED 'S' - it'll have a marked 1/1000th speed if so and it belongs with the 50mm f/2 lens most likely. Your dates are about right.
 
The f 2.0/50 lens is really rare! The 6.3/100 is more common, but still rare.
Very nice gifts 🙂 why don't you have them fixed up someday? I have a Fed NKVD that takes beautifull pictures.
 
I know, they are very neat and uncommon. But I have too many cameras and lenses. I really love my Jupiter-3, so something has to go. I may keep the 100mm (it's a tiny lens, very sharp) and the other body that seems to be working pretty well.


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Here is a quick picture I took with the Fed 50/2.0 this morning. I increased the contrast slightly:

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nice find on that f2 50mm collapsible. i have scoured ebay looking for one of those before but the price was more than i was willing to spend on a curiousity
 
I took the bottom plate off the older, 1937 FED 1B and discovered this label. They are still in business, since 1939 their website says! So at some point this Soviet camera was cleaned or worked on in the West.

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Caroline2fed50f2sm.png
I took the bottom plate off the older, 1937 FED 1B and discovered this label. They are still in business, since 1939 their website says! So at some point this Soviet camera was cleaned or worked on in the West.

7558067794_74a5db0ffa_z.jpg

Up until about 1958 a good chunck of Vienna was occupied by the Soviets.

Here is an image with the 50mm f/2
Caroline22fed50f2-processed.png
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I guess they're out there. I sold mine on ebay last week for $240, no one was interested on the classified ads here for 2 weeks. I decided I didn't want another Barnak body that needed a CLA and an uncoated F2 50mm. I shoot my J-3 for portraits, so I sold the lens/body. But I'm testing a roll through the other body now, which seems pretty good for shutter speeds. And I'm keeping the 100/6.3 lens which is very sharp and small.
 
I shot the newer body with a J-8. The shutter seems to be working at normal speeds, but the lens is slightly out of registration. I didn't want to test a whole roll with the 100mm that was on it....

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