Fed 1 V Zorki 1

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shootodog

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reading around the web about FED 1 and Zorki 1 (well, salavating and reading) i noticed that some say that they are practically the same camera made in different factories. same design and same parts. in fact there was a FEDZORKI camera. why are (please correct me if i am so wrong) FED 1s more expensive than Zorki 1s. are there any real differences that affect the price?
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The expensive FEDs you've seen are probably the earlier ones, like the NKVD ones from pre-war. Rarity makes them more expensive. Early Zorkis don't seem to be very common. In later models, the two are virtually identical to use and have only minor differences. The FED 1g has a locking shutter-release, the Zorki doesn't. That's about it.

Later models make better users since some of the early ones have a non-standard lens thread pitch and won't accept other lenses.
 
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wolves3012 said:
The expensive FEDs you've seen are probably the earlier ones, like the NKVD ones from pre-war. Rarity makes them more expensive. Early Zorkis don't seem to be very common. In later models, the two are virtually identical to use and have only minor differences. The FED 1g has a locking shutter-release, the Zorki doesn't. That's about it.

Later models make better users since some of the early ones have a non-standard lens thread pitch and won't accept other lenses.
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thanks for the reply.

in your opinion, are fedkas better than zorki 1s?
 
Fedka is a dealer, not a maker...or did you mean are FEDs better? Personally, my samples of Zorkis seem better made but that's only *my* experience and it's only marginal too.
 
Zorki generally are built better, to a greater extent more Leica-like, than FED. When a FED and a Zorki of the same age are compared, the Zorki would likely edge out in terms of handling feel, build, and finish. But function-wise, a FED is no less better as a shooter. Wolves's observation is the same as mine.

"FEDKA" was never really used popularly to call FED-1. it was proposed, but the cameras were known as FED. Even "FED-1" is unofficial. The cameras were only known as FED when they came out. It's only now that they are called as such for better identification. So the model progression is more like FED, FED-2, FED-3....

The "expensive" FED you are seeing are the prewar ones. If you've understood what you read, you should know that these aren't the best to get if you plan to shoot with them. The NKVD FED for instance don't have standard lens registers so lens-changing is not possible. The focus pitch of the early FED50 which came with them is also not standard and varied from sample to sample.

Are you planning to get one or both? For what purpose?

FED or Zorki (1) are not for new RF shooters. The small squinty VF and separate RF may upset you. If you did not like what you saw through the FED-3, you probably won't like what you'll see through FED or Zorki eyepieces too.

And the bottom-loading procedure may not be for you.
 
ZorkiKat said:
Zorki generally are built better, to a greater extent more Leica-like, than FED. When a FED and a Zorki of the same age are compared, the Zorki would likely edge out in terms of handling feel, build, and finish. But function-wise, a FED is no less better as a shooter. Wolves's observation is the same as mine.

"FEDKA" was never really used popularly to call FED-1. it was proposed, but the cameras were known as FED. Even "FED-1" is unofficial. The cameras were only known as FED when they came out. It's only now that they are called as such for better identification. So the model progression is more like FED, FED-2, FED-3....

The "expensive" FED you are seeing are the prewar ones. If you've understood what you read, you should know that these aren't the best to get if you plan to shoot with them. The NKVD FED for instance don't have standard lens registers so lens-changing is not possible. The focus pitch of the early FED50 which came with them is also not standard and varied from sample to sample.

Are you planning to get one or both? For what purpose?

FED or Zorki (1) are not for new RF shooters. The small squinty VF and separate RF may upset you. If you did not like what you saw through the FED-3, you probably won't like what you'll see through FED or Zorki eyepieces too.

And the bottom-loading procedure may not be for you.
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thank you.

i have been repeatedly told that these are not for novices like myself. yet i do wonder about them.

i found this great link: http://jay.fedka.com/index_files/Page391.htm made by the great jay javier that explains things clearer than the stand alone pages of zorki and FED.

i intend to shoot with them. i am an end-user collector. i use what i have.

anyway, i leave it up to fate. if my teacher finds a FED or a Zorki1 in russia while he teaches the new batch of police then it is meant to be.
 
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payasam said:
I thought "Fedka" was a term of affection, something like "Babushka".
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FEDKa = contraction for FED camera, like Leica was LEItzCAmera. Proposed as a name, copying almost everything about the Leica, including how it was named.
 
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Yuri Boguslavsky on his web site, www.fedka.com: "I chose the name Fedka because this nickname was given to the first FED rangefinders made at the Kharkov work commune in the early 1930's." I cannot be certain, but it is possible that in Russian the suffix "-ka" forms a diminutive.
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