1940 Fed, crooked frames

[ImpMan71]

Hi,
I cla'd my early Fed a couple months back & have a couple of issues.
One I have always had with it is each frame is not straight but crooked. It has a Leica bottom on it & I wonder if the spool is from a Leica too (haven't got round to comparing yet). Does this sound like it could be the problem? I have a Zorki Id I think I will borrow the spool from that to see, but I can't remember when the spools changed on the Zorki's - anyone know?
The other problem I have is on a 6" x 4" print, for about 15mm on the left side looks very slightly lighter than the rest of the pic. I'm not sure if this is a light leak, but I think it would be more obvious if it was. I'm wondering if I need to give the first curtain an extra half turn of tension, It sound very quiet (quieter than my Leicas') & I'm not sure if the 1st curtain isn't moving fast enough.
Does this sound right?
I did the crt test before I put it back together & was pleased with the results.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
Colin

 

[wolves3012]

Hi,
I cla'd my early Fed a couple months back & have a couple of issues.
One I have always had with it is each frame is not straight but crooked. It has a Leica bottom on it & I wonder if the spool is from a Leica too (haven't got round to comparing yet). Does this sound like it could be the problem? I have a Zorki Id I think I will borrow the spool from that to see, but I can't remember when the spools changed on the Zorki's - anyone know?
The other problem I have is on a 6" x 4" print, for about 15mm on the left side looks very slightly lighter than the rest of the pic. I'm not sure if this is a light leak, but I think it would be more obvious if it was. I'm wondering if I need to give the first curtain an extra half turn of tension, It sound very quiet (quieter than my Leicas') & I'm not sure if the 1st curtain isn't moving fast enough.
Does this sound right?
I did the crt test before I put it back together & was pleased with the results.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
Colin

Colin,

I have a 1939 FED 1 with the same issue. There are no proper film guide rails on these cameras and modern cassettes are marginally smaller, this makes them sit a couple of mm too low. Find/make a felt ring to sit under the cassette and raise it. My Leica IIIC has the same problem, more or less, and so do some late FED 1g models.

The spools on FEDs and Zorkis do not generally interchange, I'm pretty sure yours will not work with a Zorki 1 spool.

As for the light patch on your negs, is it just higher exposure of that part? If it's on the left of the picture that makes it the right side of the frame. Might be easier to diagnose if you can post a scan. Light leaks are unusual on bottom-loading cameras, providing there are no missing screws etc. It could be shutter-bounce or it could be a snagging curtain release, tension issue etc. depending...

How much tension is on the curtains? If you've lubricated it, it doesn't need a lot. Fire it on B, it should make a kind of clip-clop noise, first curtain a little snappier than second.

 

[ImpMan71]

Thanks Wolves3012,
I will try & find some felt!
I think it is slight over exposure on that side. It is quite subtle but still annoying. I cleaned everything & re-lubed it. It sounds like it is making the right noises, very smooth & quiet. I can't remember how many turns I tensioned each curtain, I think I did the minimum I could get away with - it wasn't excesive on either.
I will post a couple scans tomorrow when I am at home.

Cheers,
Colin

 

[relistan]

I can attest to the fact that a Leica spool in a Zorki will cause the film to be crooked. So aside from the whole frame being too low and part of the picture being on the sprocket holes (which the felt will solve), you can end up with the frame being slightly diagonal across the film. I'd get the proper spool and see if it helps. Did for me!

Cheers,
Karl

 

[ImpMan71]

Thanks relistan, I will have to have a look for one.
Ignore the hard edge fogging on the left of the pics of the flowers - it's a slight overlap from where I took the roll out of my IIIf!
Pics of the exposure problem:

 

[ImpMan71]

The problem is more apparent in these 2 pics: the bottom of the frame would be the left side of the camera (when looking through it).
I did use a Leica hood for all these pics.
Hope this helps,
Colin

 

[wolves3012]

To be honest I find it hard to see a signifcant problem with any of these! Ideally you need something with a more even scene to illustrate the problem. However, I think I can see a slightly higher exposure on the left/bottom of the frames. Maybe a touch more tension on the second curtain or a touch less on the first. I would try half a turn. The missing wedge along the top of the canal shot is exactly what I get, it's looks very much like the film cassette issue.

 

[Valkir1987]

I have the problem with many bottom loaders. I used to ignore the problem cropping the images to the right size. But it is a little annoying anyway. I think the problem is neither the spool or the film crate, but the modern cassette we use. I just tried a Smena cassette which was larger and gave the same problem. An original Fed one should solve this problem.

Considering the Exposure:

The light protecting shields should neither obstruct the curtains or the tapes. No sewing wire may stick out of the curtains or tape edges.

The curtains should theoretically travel at the same speed. This is practically impossible, so the first curtain travels a 'very little!' faster. They can never catch up with each other this way.

Some people say to adjust the first curtain fast, and the second slow. This is wrong! The fast first curtain will pull the second forward in a certain moment during the exposure this way, resulting in an uneven exposure.

You can test this shooting a bright unclouded skyline, and checking the slides or negatives for an even exposure.

With kind regards,


Valkir

 

[ImpMan71]

Thanks all,
I am going to try an extra half turn on the first curtain as I feel I may have been a bit too conservative when I first did them.
Will try a felt washer as you suggest too Wolves3012, am away next week so hopefully might have some results by next Friday. I will let you know how I get on.

Cheers,
Colin

 

[Loman]

So did you solve your issue.
I have the same issue with my leica II, I just tried some paper washers (three) in the bottom of the camera (by bottom I mean the bottom of the camera that comes of when you load film). I did it once earlier and It gave me crooked frames, this time round I've done it more careful. When you put felt in the camera, where would you put it. In top or in the bottom of the camera to solve the issue (again top meaning when the actual top of the camera).

Cheers
Mads

 

[Loman]

By the way if anybody has succesfully done this could they post a picture of their solution, it would be really nice to see.