28mm fed?

[einolu]

Just saw this and it looks very interesting:

http://www.fedka.com/catalog/produc...d=215&osCsid=d9078f54c82d05e9c9912c86616b9dae

has anybody tied one. Someone told me that fed lenses wont always fit on LTM cameras, is this true? I dont think I will buy it but Im curiouse how the 'ultrawide' lenses of the past preformed. Also it looks very cool 😎.

Anyway..,

 

[doubs43]

According to Princelle, this lens was only produced in 1938 & 1939 in very limited numbers. If there's a serious collector of FSU rangefinders around, that lens should sell rather quickly I'd think.

I have the later 28mm f/6 Orion in mint condition. It takes a very nice image.

Walker

 

[John Robertson]

I too have the Orion, its a great lens. The Fed however is a different construction optically, more like the 28mm Hektor of the same era. I also had a Hektor , but the Orion easily outperformed it. You can see the Orions construction here.
http://www.zenit.istra.ru/archive/lenses/orion-15.html
Use Babelfish or similar for a translation.

 

[einolu]

I can read russian, just very slowly (thanks for the link!).

John, what do you mean by "outpreform"? The fed seems to be faster than the orion, I hear that contrast is a bit low on those older lenses but besides that what could be wrong with it (except for the price)?

I was just curiouse really, I might be getting a wide angle lens soon but am leaning more towards the CV 21 or 25...

 

[John Robertson]

The Orion is a much more "modern" lens, and being coated is less prone to flare, and better with colour. It is also fairly distortion free. Remember the Fed is an old lens 60+ years, it is however quite collectible and has value as such. The CV lenses you mention are excellent, I have both. My favourite CV however is the 15mm, very sharp, but requires more care in using to avoid drunken horizons!!!
See
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/cpg/displayimage.php?album=192&pos=94

don't let me put you off the Fed, however, I note however the description says its slightly hazy!! that could give you problems with very low contrast.

 

[Zorkiiglaza]

OK! I just dug out my Fed 28 lens and mounted it on a Leica 3F.
The latch knob stops at 1:00 - focus doesn't correspond to distances on the lens barrel.
I then mounted it on a Zorki 1- same identical problem.
So my guess is that it MAY only work on a prewar FED.
Next I have to try my FED 100....another day

 

[einolu]

Thanks for clearing that up.

 

[John Robertson]

I've heard that pre-war Feds were set to a slightly different register to Leica.

 

[kiev4a]

The pre-war FED lenses had a different lens-to-film distance. They also had a slightly different thread pitch than the standard LTM lenses so they won't work properly. A lot of folks who want to shoot the pre-war FEDs replace the original lens mounts with one from a post-war FED or Zorki and adjust the LTF distance.