nongfuspring
Well-known
I just got a Fed 2 recently off Ebay with an industar 26. Its one of the old models pre-self timer where the flash sync is in the vulcanite rather than the top plate (I forget the number...)
Anyway I really like it and it seems to take decent photos but its shutter is loud, kind of like a metal ruler being smacked onto a table - loud enough to set off the neighborhood dogs, no joke. I sort of expected this since I read about it having a fairly rowdy shutter, but after my first roll of film I noticed a fair amount of motion blur on quite a few of the the 1/25 shots, presumably from shutter vibration. I would ordinarily put it down to my bad camera skills, but my other 35 RF was a tiny Ricoh 500G which I would regularly take photos at 1/8 and 1/15 without any problems at all. If the shutter really is causing the vibration, is there any way of dampening the vibration/sound?
Anyway I really like it and it seems to take decent photos but its shutter is loud, kind of like a metal ruler being smacked onto a table - loud enough to set off the neighborhood dogs, no joke. I sort of expected this since I read about it having a fairly rowdy shutter, but after my first roll of film I noticed a fair amount of motion blur on quite a few of the the 1/25 shots, presumably from shutter vibration. I would ordinarily put it down to my bad camera skills, but my other 35 RF was a tiny Ricoh 500G which I would regularly take photos at 1/8 and 1/15 without any problems at all. If the shutter really is causing the vibration, is there any way of dampening the vibration/sound?
maxmars
Newbie
Setting off dogs? Wow!
My FED-2 is not as quiet as a whisper but is not loud either.
I would say it's the same noise level as my NEX C3 (but it makes one clicking sound instead of two).
If I had to choose an analogy, I'd say think of a few keys dangling and hitting each other.
My FED-2 is not as quiet as a whisper but is not loud either.
I would say it's the same noise level as my NEX C3 (but it makes one clicking sound instead of two).
If I had to choose an analogy, I'd say think of a few keys dangling and hitting each other.
wolves3012
Veteran
FED 2 isn't the quietest FSU but my old one (pre-self-timer, as yours) and current one (late model) aren't that noisy. A common issue with many FSUs is that someone has tweaked the curtain tensions up to compensate for lack of a proper service. Might be worth visiting the sticky on curtain tensions and reducing them, see how far you can go while retaining smooth running.