Fed 2 on its way!

The finder on these is often hazy, but easily cleaned, the top is not difficult to remove.
The lens may have stiff grease in it, but that's another easy fix.
Make sure the shutter has no holes in it, it probably does not.
I wonder if the russians ever actually used their cameras much- notice you never see any FSU made film!
If you have 20/20 vision, removing the diopter adjustment optics improves the finder vastly.
 
I agree with Gordon. They are a sweet camera and that particular one looks very nice ... if it's got any problems send it to Oleg who does a CLA for around $45.00 and it will come back purring! 🙂
 
The FED2 is a lovely camera, they're simple and straight forward (just remember to charge the shutter before changing shutter speed). It's a little weird not having a wind-on handle, but you get used to it quickly enough 😀

Matt
 
Diggin99 said:
Any advise on what I would look out for when it arrives? Anybody else got one of these from blyatnikov?

Any advice welcome!

Nancy

Hi, I've bought 3 cameras from Blyatnikov, I've been pleased with each one, they were at least as good as described and one was way better than I expected. My FED2a came from him and worked well. I thinks that he says that all his cameras are checked by a camera tech. Not sure, but all worked well. Just run a brief shutter check as per the sticky thread at the top of this section.
Good luck and welcome to the slippery slope, enjoy your FED2.
 
Nancy,
The FED2 isn't my favorite FSU camera but I have bought from Blyatnikov before and will do so again. He is on my short list of preferred sellers.
Very pretty camera!
Just remember "sunny 16" and wind first, change speeds second.
Rob
 
There's a Fed2 manual you can download here:

http://www.mattdentonphoto.com/images/FED-2_manual.pdf

It doesn't say that you have to cock the shutter before changing speeds, but I would never, ever change speeds on any Fed without having cocked it first.

Fed's are great cameras and lots of fun to use. This is a great place to learn about them. Welcome, Nancy! If your Fed does have problems, fedka.com now services FSU cameras here in the states.
 
They are nice little cameras to carry and to use, fit into the hand perfectly.
I have no complaints at all with mine. Lenses are cheap if you feel the need ... as you will someday.
I alwasy wind on before changing shutter speed too but once i did forget and nothing terrible happened, maybe i was just lucky maybe it doesn't matter but i would do it any how 🙂 Can't hurt.
 
Hi Nancy,

I'll add my voice to the chorus of support for both the FED-2 and blyatnikov. I really like my FED-2 - it's possibly my favourite user FSU camera. I've also bought from blyatnikov several times (no camera bodies, but lenses and lightmeters), and he's a good guy.
 
In 40 yrs I changed speeds before and after winding, nothing bad has happened. checked the handbook, no mention of this proceedure here.
If you have one with a self timer, you have one extra speed at your disposal.
1. Wind camera
2. Set shutter to "B"
3. Wind self timer
4. Release with timer button
5. you should get an exposure of between 3 - 5 seconds depending on the camera. check it with a watch seconds hand.
This is given from my instruction book.
 
Oh dear, Nancy. These are terrible, terrible people. They're just pretending that everything in FSUdom is just fine and dandy. What they aren't telling you is that the next piece of neccessary FSU gear you will be looking for is a bookshelf with at least 4 shelves on it... to hold all the FSU gear you'll soon purchase since you're now an official ADDICT!!!

Yes, I know. "I just bought one." or "I only bought it for the lens." or "I just wanted a cheap RF until I can save up for a Leica." Sure, sure, that's what we've all told ourselves and our loved ones as they go another Christmas without presents under the tree. Instead, there's just empty home-made boxes, rewrapped in wrinkled brown paper and yak hair string, but... Oh well, too late now. You're in... and we're all glad you're in so the rest of us can continue to tell ourselves "It's okay. See? Everybody's doin' it." 😎

Anyway, if you're going to be a junkie, you might as well know what your new best friend looks like.

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(Most of us carry pictures of our postman in our wallet along with kids, grandkids, etc.)

And BTW, that is one drop-dead neat looking FED you've got coming. Very nice.
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Hi
I know the feeling. Just bought a very similar FED-2 a few days ago and some pictures from my first roll are here
http://public.fotki.com/BlueWind/fed-2/
You will enjoy your camera!
Regards
Joao

RF: Zork(1, 4), Fed(5, 2), Sokol (Automat, 2), Junost, Iskra, Kiev-4,
TLR: Komsomolyets, Lubitel (2, 166B), Flexaret
SLR: Zenit (3M, E, EM, ET, TTL, 12XP, 122K,19, Photosniper), Kiev-10, Olympus OM-2
Other: FED-50, Kiev35A, Smena (7, 8M), Estafeta
 
Thanks for all the help guys! I am looking forward to trying it out! I will post results when I run my first roll through it! Also while I wait for my "new best friend" I will read the manual...

Nancy
 
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