Range Loser
Established
Hi, thinking about buying a Voigtlander screw lens to fit onto my Fed 1 camera 1940's post war model. Anyone know if the new lens is likely to align and focus properly???
Xmas
Veteran
A wide angle lens is an ok choice as the depth of focus will cover for any design or subsequent maintenance differences.
A normal e.g. J8 f2 is more exposed, a 85mm hmmm, ... wat did you want to do?
Noel
A normal e.g. J8 f2 is more exposed, a 85mm hmmm, ... wat did you want to do?
Noel
Range Loser
Established
Hmmm, thanks for the suggestion. I was thinking about a 25mm or 35mm, but do quite like shooting wide open for shallow DOF. Could be problematic huh?
Xmas
Veteran
There are two problems design and subsequent maintenance.
Supposedly and it is not a consensual proposal the Ru did not use the leitz standard for the rangefinder travel, instead they standardised on the Contax lens focal length.
But independent of this any 50 year old body may have been subject to maintenance on the kitchen table...
The Ru glass price performance is really good better then the cv but you need to either
- budget for post purchase meintenance or
- buy from a good specialist dealer who will refurb the lens or the body.
buying the cheapest fed on e-bay may be an expensive and fustrating path.
The Fed can be adjusted to the Leitz (i.e. CV) standard. The fed 1 is a nice camera.
Lots of people will tell you what to do or what they do.
The 85 mm lens is rather nice for photos of children in cradle or pets...
Noel
Supposedly and it is not a consensual proposal the Ru did not use the leitz standard for the rangefinder travel, instead they standardised on the Contax lens focal length.
But independent of this any 50 year old body may have been subject to maintenance on the kitchen table...
The Ru glass price performance is really good better then the cv but you need to either
- budget for post purchase meintenance or
- buy from a good specialist dealer who will refurb the lens or the body.
buying the cheapest fed on e-bay may be an expensive and fustrating path.
The Fed can be adjusted to the Leitz (i.e. CV) standard. The fed 1 is a nice camera.
Lots of people will tell you what to do or what they do.
The 85 mm lens is rather nice for photos of children in cradle or pets...
Noel
rxmd
May contain traces of nut
A 25 or 35 are unlikely to give trouble on a FED-1, except maybe the need for an external finder 
Focusing accuracy is not a problem; after all, f4 at 25mm delivers a lot more DOF than f2 at 85
Focusing accuracy is not a problem; after all, f4 at 25mm delivers a lot more DOF than f2 at 85 
ZorkiKat
ЗоркийК&
Range Loser said:
Mount orientation varied greatly in these cameras. Proper focus may be achieved through simple recalibration. Your original 50mm FED lens may be rendered unusable after this action. At best, the lens would couple and line up properly. Or it could focus right but be oriented with its marks and scales reable from the side or bottom. At worst, the mount threads of the camera and lens won't match. Early FED had a 39mm mount, but the thread pitch was different. I've seen some post-war FED which still had this sort of mount.
Jay