1937 FED summer project

[lmd91343]

I just got a new to me, 1937 FED 1. It has the type 2 inscription. I made these two determinations from Fedka's site.

The camera is beautiful. The satin chrome finish is nicer than any of my FED 2s, Zorki 1, '38 FED 1, '39 FED1, Zorki 5 , either of my FED 5s, or FED 3. The engraving is nicer too. Some of the inside parts that I can see are shaped differently. There are screws in the top plate that have no equivalent in my later FED1 cameras. I was going to powder coat this camera black, but it is too nice!

In addition, this camera has a 1/1000 shutter speed. I have never seen a FED 1 or a Zorki 1 with that before! Is it common? Is it likely to be accurate?

This is my summer project. The rewind side curtain is dried and ripped. One or both of the springs are bad. The optics are all dirty, however the RF image is strong and contrasty. The vulcanite is chipped. The body sleeve is very flexible. Is that common?

What I will do:

• replace the curtains
• CLA the gear train and shutter components
• replace the shutter springs with those from a FED 5
• Replace the body sleeve with the one from the Zorki 5
• Clean the RF and VF (leave the beam splitter alone
• Clean all the external parts in an ultrasonic cleaner
• Remove "ribbons on Zorki 5 body sleeve and cover with burgundy leather
• Repaint the engravings
• replace the lens mount with Zorki 5 lens mount

Any missteps?
Anything missing?

Thanks,
Lance

 

[ZorkiKat]

Hi Lance

Why would you want to replace the old FED shell with one from a Zorki-5? There will be fitting problems. The earlier FED were made in a way that a lot of individual fitting and finishing was involved. These early crates may even be difficult to install in a later FED body. On a Zorki-5, it's impossible, unless you do a lot of modification. I have attempted to do that, but ended up using a scrapped body shell from a Zorki-1 instead. Even then the fit is not really exact. Film runs inside too tightly. The pressure plates from FED-1 are round, while those in the Zorki are band-aid shaped. The one from a Zorki-5 has an even different shape.

The body shell is really soft. One of my FED actually got "crumpled" in transit. That's why I had to replace its shell.

What you've got is a FED-S. Not common. So if you modify it, you'd be altering an otherwise collectible camera. It might be better to just restore its vulcanite (or replace it with leather).

Did the camera come with a lens? You should only replace the lens mount if it came without one or if you wish to use later made lenses on it exclusively. I am not sure if the lens mount from the Zorki-5 would easily fit. The lens mounts aren't exacty similarly made.
Watch for how its cut on the top and behind the lens mount are done. Some lens mounts, even those found amongst FED or Zorki, vary in actual thickness. Otherwise, you might end up
installing a lens mount which will make the lens sit too far or too short from the required lens working distance. Slight differences from the standard 28,8mm value can always be corrected using paper shims.

I also have a modified 1935 or 1936 FED-1. It looks to have retained everything, except that it has a real Leitz thread mount from a scrapped Leica IIIc.


Be careful of cleaning the rangefinder optics too. The semi-silvered (or semi-gilded) mirror has a very coating. Avoid wiping it. Its enough to abrade it with a slight wipe with a dry tissue. Use a wet one and you can obliterate it totally. If the mirror has lost its silvering, you might be better off getting a new half-mirror and cutting one to size for the FED RF.

Are the shutter springs really dead? Again, the parts from a much later Zorki-5 might not fit.

Click on the "FED Zorki Survival" guide below my signature for more details.

Jay

 

[lmd91343]

Jay,

Thanks for the prompt response.

A FED "S"? Was it a premium model? Was it for special use?

The beamsplitter is perfect. It is gold, not silver on mine. I won't touch that. I will clean the other glass only optics.

I've replaced the springs in my '38 FED with those from a FED5. I though I might have to do that here too. One spring does not seem to work. It could be too loose.

The camera came without a lens. I want a standard lens mount on it. I have several parts cameras including the Zorki 5, a FED3, two FED 5s and some Canon parts. I don't have a full circle lens mount. The ones I have are "squared off" on the top. They would look a little funny on the camera. I'll do some searching for a lens mount.

The body sleeve is soft. The vulcanite is pretty. The color is dark brown, not black. It is a very fine grain pebble surface. It is much finer than my '38 or '39. How can you restore the vulcanite? My desire to use the Z5 shell is to have the strap lugs and a less flexible body. I've done a lot of metal work on the Z5 sleeve already, removing the "ribbons" and the protrusions on top. All I have left to do is tap out the six holes on top. If it were covered in vulcanite, it would look like a FED 1 sleeve with strap lugs. I was planning on using the Z5 pressure plate. Using the Z5 sleeve also allows me to save the original sleeve unaltered. Now that you say it is rare and hand fitted, maybe I'll just use the original sleeve.

Your site is a wonderful resource. I have used it many times. It gave me the courage to CLA and rebuild cameras.

Thank you,

 

[ZorkiKat]

Lance

The FED-S wasn't common. This was the variant with the top 1/1000 shutter speed. These cameras sell for more than an average FED-1 would. If you take it apart, you might even see a little hole on the top plate where the the shaft of the slow speed mechanism goes through. Many of these cameras were prepped to receive the slow dial. In as far as accuracy goes, let's just say that it's within the tolerance accepted for cameras of this type and age.
It's certainly not going to fire at exactly 1/1000 (1/700 might be more like it), but then again, it really doesn't matter much with BW or color neg film.

I'd be interested to know how you're goint to fit the FED-S crate into the Zorki-5 body. Please tell me what you've done if you're successful in doing this. The body swap should be OK if you're after a functional camera. My reservation about doing this is mostly about preserving the integrity of this FED: being uncommon and such. If it were another FED-1 of the more common types, it shouldn't matter much. I also have a scrap body shell from a Zorki-5, as well as that FED-1 (from an early post war run, perhaps made between 1945-49) with a crumpled shell. Putting both together should make it work right.

I'm still looking at restoring the crumpled body. I suppose I could have a wooden form made so that I could beat it back to shape. There is such a tool described in Maizenberg's book which was meant for repairing distorted bodies.

If you look at the Zorki-5 body closely, you'll see that its body shell isn't flat. Its stamped with metal patterns. The shell is also thicker. When you fit the FED-S crate into one, you might find that portions of the Zorki-5 body's edges would protrude slightly. The FED-S top plate will be flushed in a bit on all sides. Putting a layer of vulcanite on the Zorki-5 shell will even make it thicker.

You may also try looking for lugs from scrapped cameras. The lugs from cheap Japanese cameras from the 1960s might be useful. Drilling the FED shell should be easy for you. The lugs can be screwed (their ends could be tapped as well) and then secured with metal-filled epoxy. I haven't tried this myself, but it might just work.

As for the vulcanite, you can try "shaving" the old trim. Heat the body in an old oven to soften the vulcanite and scrape it off with a metal spatula. Or you can swab the vulcanite with paint stripper. Swab generously, and when the vulcanite swells and froths, you can just scrape it off.

To cover the stripped shell, you have a choice of using different animal hides or synthetics. Pliobond will bind these materials on the metal.


I think a lens mount from a bottom-loading Canon should work. The exact shape of the lens mount is critical. If you noticed, the top portion of the FED lens mounts sit over parts of the top plate. Lens mounts from later Zorki or even FED have a cut out part. Some from Zorki are perfectly round and are missing the ridge behind. It's just a matter of fitting and selecting until one which works is found.

Jay