FED 2 - how to complete a vertical alignment adjustment

[Ejg1890]

So today I received my FED 2 with an Industar 26 lens from Ukraine. The camera and lens looks great and plan to test a roll later today. However, I did notice the rangefinder patch is off vertically. How can I fix that myself? Any online resources on how to adjust the rangefinder patch? I know where the adjustment screws are on a Leica but not a Fed 2. Thanks.

 

[TenEleven]

I found this with a bit of searching. Should be helpful.
Page 5

https://eugigufo.net/it/files/photovideo/fed2eng.pdf

 

[Coldkennels]

I found this with a bit of searching. Should be helpful.
Page 5

https://eugigufo.net/it/files/photovideo/fed2eng.pdf

I had to laugh when reading that:

I must point out that the rangefinder is only a guide and I cannot emphasize this enough, it is probably not worth adjusting it even if it is out of adjustment. They are all slightly off; even contemporary Leicas and Contax rangefinders are slightly outof adjustment at infinity or close up. The best you can realistically hope for is that it is accurate from 5 metres to infinity or from 1 to 20 metres.If you are willing to accept these limitations, then the good thing about a long 67 mm base rangefinder is that it can be particularly accurate at focusing

The FED 2 is probably one of the most easy to calibrate and most accurate rangefinders I've ever used. Vertical adjustment is easy to get to (just like most Barnacks - hidden behind the ring surrounding the left-hand RF window as you look at it from the front).

One thing you need to know with Soviet "LTM" rangefinders is they also have an easy close-up adjustment that might need to be checked - the sled-shaped cam follower in the lens mount might need rotating to ensure the RF and lens match at 1m. Of course, adjusting the position of the cam follower also means you need to adjust the infinity setting (which is hidden behind a cover screw as described in the PDF TenEleven linked to). That will then change the 1m setting, so you'll need to adjust that again. Keep going and adjusting at both ends and - assuming the lens is in spec! - you'll have an absolutely perfectly calibrated rangefinder.

The best bit is that you can use this process to adjust a FED or Zorki from the Soviet spec to a true LTM spec quite easily. I have a FED 2 calibrated for Soviet lenses, and a Zorki 5 calibrated for Leica ones. They're both solid little cameras.

 

[TenEleven]

I had to laugh when reading that:



The FED 2 is probably one of the most easy to calibrate and most accurate rangefinders I've ever used. Vertical adjustment is easy to get to (just like most Barnacks - hidden behind the ring surrounding the left-hand RF window as you look at it from the front).

One thing you need to know with Soviet "LTM" rangefinders is they also have an easy close-up adjustment that might need to be checked - the sled-shaped cam follower in the lens mount might need rotating to ensure the RF and lens match at 1m. Of course, adjusting the position of the cam follower also means you need to adjust the infinity setting (which is hidden behind a cover screw as described in the PDF TenEleven linked to). That will then change the 1m setting, so you'll need to adjust that again. Keep going and adjusting at both ends and - assuming the lens is in spec! - you'll have an absolutely perfectly calibrated rangefinder.

The best bit is that you can use this process to adjust a FED or Zorki from the Soviet spec to a true LTM spec quite easily. I have a FED 2 calibrated for Soviet lenses, and a Zorki 5 calibrated for Leica ones. They're both solid little cameras.

Yeah the PDF is written a bit ... ahem. But it has the information needed.

Also I was not aware that the FED and Zorki had "gain" adjustments for their rangefinder.
That is indeed a valuable bit of information!

 

[Coldkennels]

I have a theory that they did that specifically because they knew they weren't using Leica specs for the rangefinder - as I mentioned, it permits you to swap between the Soviet and Leica standards, which you can't really do with any real LTM body.

Another thing that makes me think this might be the case is that the Drug has the regular LTM roller instead of the usual sled cam follower; I've heard rumours that the Jupiter 8 that came on the Drug left the factory already in Leica spec and didn't need shimming or adjustment, but with how long ago the Drug was released, I can't really imagine there's any real way to verify that.