Argh!! my collapsible sucks!!!

[lubitel]

Well, I was so happy about acquiring a fed 2 with a collapsible lens, but I only got one sharp picture out of 20! :bang: And it was focused at 1m. Anything else 2m to Infinity is unscharp as hell. Even at infinity! Good thing I put a J-8 after first 20 shots and these pictures came out sharp. Here is a little test: the sharp one is with J-8. Both fotos were taken from the same distance. what's interesting is that both lens scales also showed about the same distance. About 2m. That makes me think that its not all the RF fault, but rather that the lens is somehow totally out of it. What do you think?

 

[Sonnar Brian]

This is what I refer to as Russian Roulette.

The lens is out. Look for shims.

One of my J-3's was off by 12' at 15'. I think its time to start grinding the lens module to place the rear lens group closer in on that one. Pass the beer nuts.

 

[lubitel]

What's upsetting is that the Fed was being sold with a j-8, but since i already have one, I asked him If I could have the nice convertible version. he said yeah, for extra 5 bucks. Should have taken the second j-8.

What's shims? that sounds hopeless.

 

[lubitel]

Russian Roulette! That's it! that's what I feel like every time I get photos from Zorki or fed.

 

[AndersG]

Rick Oleson has some useful pages on lens adjusting and infinity:
http://rick_oleson.tripod.com/index-123.html
and there are lots of good stuff to be found in the forums here too.
(I think I have seen a page specifically on how to dissasemble these FED or Industar collapsibles too, I'll
search my bookmarks when I get home.)

And now the silly question: you are sure you extended the lens correctly, right?
(I.e. pull out the lens barrel and twist it to lock. It should lock when extended or else something is fishy.)
(Hmm.. but if you didn't, focus should have been behind, so that is probably not the cause.)

Cheers,
Anders G

 

[lubitel]

Well, I pulled it out as far as it went, and then unlocked the focus and focused. I didnt twist it to lock. What do i need to twist exactly?

 

[FrankS]

You twist the whole lens assembly that you pulled out to extend. Keep hold of the same part of the lens that you grabbed to extend it, and then twist it clockwise to lock. It won't click into place, it's just a friction fit.

 

[Stu W]

I think Anders has cracked the case.

 

[RML]

And now the silly question: you are sure you extended the lens correctly, right?
(I.e. pull out the lens barrel and twist it to lock. It should lock when extended or else something is fishy.)
(Hmm.. but if you didn't, focus should have been behind, so that is probably not the cause.)

I got the same idea when I read Lubitel's story. It happened to me too, and not even on my first shoot out with it. I was in a hurry, rushed thru the motions, and forgot to extend the lens fully and tighten it in place. All shots were out of focus. Lots of bokeh but no usuable pics. 😛

 

[lubitel]

this cant be! 🙂 I feel dumb. I didnt know it has to be LOCKED! man! I have a few shots left on roll number 2, I gotta try it out! But I did pull the lens out as far as it went, doesnt that count?

 

[AndersG]

this cant be! 🙂 I feel dumb. I didnt know it has to be LOCKED! man! I have a few shots left on roll number 2, I gotta try it out! But I did pull the lens out as far as it went, doesnt that count?

There are some lock flanges at the end of the lens barrel that prevents the lens from collapsing when extended and locked. If the lens barrel wasn't aligned properly when extended the flanges met "on the wrong side" and the barrel will extend about 1 millimeter to little. Remove the lens from the camera and look at it from behind when extending the lens barrel and you'll see what I mean. 🙂

 

[Sonnar Brian]

It is amazing how 0.1mm makes such a difference on the lens. I have some 0.1mm shims for the J-3, adding one will cause the focus to shoot past the correct spot. That is why it has the variable stand-off ring, I suppose.

Be happy that you will get better shots with the collapsible correctly extended.

 

[brians]

Hahaha! It's cool. I just got my FED collapsible a few days ago and just learned of the locking mechanism just yesterday. Great information. I hope your shots will be as clear as the ones you made with the J8s!

 

[Nickfed]

this cant be! 🙂 I feel dumb. I didnt know it has to be LOCKED! man! I have a few shots left on roll number 2, I gotta try it out! But I did pull the lens out as far as it went, doesnt that count?

Not necessarily. You can be in a position where you can pull it out as far as it will go but is mis-aligned. This is likely what happened to you. If you rotate the lens and pull it will come out about 1mm further and then lock into place. Hopefully you have found this out by now. Leica give you little arrows, with FED you do it by feel. It works fine, once you know you need to do it. Your lens is probably fine and at least you have found your mistake before you got sucked in by any yadayada about shims and grinding.

 

[captainslack]

D'oh! :bang:

Don't feel bad, lubitel. I think I did the same thing with the I-22 I put on my Leica IIf. Glad I'm not the only one.

 

[dll927]

Maybe you should have asked somebody that had a Leica 70 years ago - and yes, I do mean 70.

 

[lubitel]

Just an update. The second roll is sharp 🙂

thanks

 

[brians]

Awesome, glad to hear that nothing was wrong with the lens! Do you have an Industar 50 or FED (industar 10) lens? I'm wondering how all of the common FSU collapsibles (3.5/50's) perform, pitted against each other.

 

[tedwhite]

I find that an interesting question, Brian. With my FED 2 and its f:3.5 collapsible I have had no trouble getting reasonably sharp images - but then I already knew about locking the lens, so that wasn't a problem. However, I can't answer your question as its the only collapsible I have. Having said that, when I compare images from the FED with its FED lens against images taken with my Zorki 4K with black J8, Zorki wins. I have no idea why, though. Sure, the Zorki with its film advance lever feels like a much more modern camera, but that doesn't mean anything. I use the same hand-held Gossen meter with each camera and use the same film.

Ted

 

[John Robertson]

Glad you got that sorted, my Industar 50 collapsible is one of the sharpest lenses I own!!! the cobwebs were at close focus and almost wide open.