Bizarre FED

[wolves3012]

What reactions does this get?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FED-USSR-Came...DVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item230075473903

Apart from the ludicrous starting price and historically inaccurate BS...anyone notice the same 2 things I did? Let's see what you guys notice...

 

[clintock]

I think he's thinking of the saga of Contax and Kiev, not FED, the former Black and Decker drill clone factory for wayward boys.

The covering looks mighty fresh, and is the lens on right? Looks kinda whacked.

 

[hitmanh]

Damn those pesky ruskies, stealing leica factory equipment without even waiting for WW2 to start first... 😉

Plus 90 quid!? Mad I tell you, mad...

Matt

 

[Jocko]

Well... first I don't see the serial number, but second, I do see the famous f35 take-pictures-round-corners "lense", originally developed by Leitz as the BENDY...

Cheers. Ian

 

[wolves3012]

I think he's thinking of the saga of Contax and Kiev, not FED, the former Black and Decker drill clone factory for wayward boys.

Well, since FED were manufacturing in the early/mid 30s they'd have trouble using war-reparations equipment! Did you notice anything sus about the camera though?

 

[hitmanh]

Well, since FED were manufacturing in the early/mid 30s they'd have trouble using war-reparations equipment! Did you notice anything sus about the camera though?

Well, it has one of those special angle mount lenses that allow you to take picture of people 22 degrees to the right of you, obviously a devious spy camera mod...

Matt

 

[Xmas]

It is a late Fed1, from the serial number and the shutter release surround. The price is a bit OTT but everying else looks ok, rare it is not, but that is a subjective judgement.

Noel

 

[Screwy]

Well, since FED were manufacturing in the early/mid 30s they'd have trouble using war-reparations equipment! Did you notice anything sus about the camera though?

Well that lens looks to be very poorly , I suspect the barrel is just propped or jammed in there looking at it 😀




Paul

 

[pshinkaw]

I give up. It looks like a pretty straight-forward Fed -1 to me. The lens isn't locked correctly in the extended position. It does have the appropriate Fed lens, marked in millimeters (Leitz lens are marked in centimeters).

Six shutter speed incl. B. 1/25 thru 1/500. No flash sync, no self-timer, no diopter adjustment and no neckstrap lugs.

Pretty decent looking vulcanite for its age. SN is probably on the back.

Value is approximately $25-$50 Dollars US. plus shipping. Glad to see that it didn't get turned into one of those fake Nazi cameras.

-Paul

 

[wolves3012]

Ok so far so good - is no-one suspicious of the serial number? Unless it's a typo I reckon it belongs to a 1939 ish. On a FED 1g?

Yes the lens appears poorly, and yes the price is ridiculous...

 

[Jocko]

Ok so far so good - is no-one suspicious of the serial number? Unless it's a typo I reckon it belongs to a 1939 ish. On a FED 1g? .

Absolutely - but sometimes they lost a few digits due to "human error" - such numbers are not unknown, so it seems, so that could be genuine 🙂

I still wouldn't buy it!

Ian

 

[wolves3012]

Absolutely - but sometimes they lost a few digits due to "human error" - such numbers are not unknown, so it seems, so that could be genuine 🙂

I still wouldn't buy it!

Ian

Well you live and learn - could be genuine eh? No, I still won't be bidding though!

 

[pshinkaw]

Oh the Serial Number in the description!

I think the conventional wisdom that the first two digits of the Serial number reflect the last two years of the century of manufacture does not really apply here.

That numbering convention applies to Zorkis starting around 1955 and later and most Soviet lenses made for the Zorkis and Kiev's. Fed's did not follow that convention and are consequentially very difficult to date. The Serial numbers are probably more accurate reflections of how many have been made since the first one came off the bench. Even that is suspect since the factory moved during the war years.

The one in this auction looks pretty authentic for what it appears to be. A Fed-1.

-Paul

 

[Nickfed]

The case is different to mine, but it otherwise looks dead normal. The guy hasn't pulled the lens out properly but I guess that's no surprise, considering how much he knows about the camera.

Aha! On second thoughts, that number should be on the top. Perhaps he misread it.

 

[Björn Ylinenpää]

The same guy has a Kiev-303 for sale and he wants £30 for it! I think i paid something like £6-7 for mine complete in box, with cassetes, developing spool etc...🙄

He also got some Zorkis with high asking price and similar BS in the descriptions.

 

[John Robertson]

He also has a Rollei35 for sale, which he describes as a "limited edition" No it isn't!!!!! Its the Singapore made ordinary model.