FED-2 with shutter problems

[Thomas78]

Hello,

today I aquired two FSU cameras, a FED-2 and a Zorki S from my uncle, who stopped "real" (=using film) photography some years ago.


The Zorki seems to work fine at a first glance, but the FED-2 shows a problem with the shutter.

The fast speeds from 1/500 - 1/100 look fine, but at 1/50 and 1/25 the shutter opens when the shutter release is pressed, but closes only after the shutter release is let loose.

could this problem be solved as DIY or ist it more a thing for a professional CLA ?


Thomas

 

[wolves3012]

Sounds pretty typical of a camera in need of a CLA. The lower speeds tend to be affected first. You may find that firing the shutter a lot may free things up a bit but if it's been sitting, unused, for some time it's likely to need attention.

If you're at all mechanically minded, the FED 2 isn't hard to CLA yourself, otherwise leave it to a professional

Hello,

today I aquired two FSU cameras, a FED-2 and a Zorki S from my uncle, who stopped "real" (=using film) photography some years ago.


The Zorki seems to work fine at a first glance, but the FED-2 shows a problem with the shutter.

The fast speeds from 1/500 - 1/100 look fine, but at 1/50 and 1/25 the shutter opens when the shutter release is pressed, but closes only after the shutter release is let loose.

could this problem be solved as DIY or ist it more a thing for a professional CLA ?


Thomas

 

[Thomas78]

I have some experience with mechanics, but up to now I did not do any real work on a camera.

Do you know a good book which covers a HowTo CLA?

 

[wolves3012]

I don't know of a book on the FED 2 as such, however, if you do a bit of reading on the Zorki 4k CLA thread (ignoring anything to do with slow speeds and lever winds) it'll give you an insight. Jay Javier's site will give you a good idea of the working of the shutter, which is very similar in all LTM FSUs:
http://jay.fedka.com/

The FED 2 is one of the simpler FSUs, with nothing to trap the unwary. If you decide to attempt a DIY job and get stuck, you can always post a question on here, we're a helpful lot!

 

[ZorkiKat]

You may not need to do a full disassembly. You may have just to flush clean and inject a tiny bit of lubricant into the works.

When 1/25 or even 1/50 is acting like "B", it means that there is not enough power to pull the first (opening) curtain far enough to allow the second (closing) curtain pawl to be released. To see if this is indeed the case, the next time the shutter is fired at 1/25 and remains open, try coaxing the shutter dial a bit to turn - towards its closing direction- and see if the 2nd curtain is released. If this happens, then a bit of cleaning and maybe some retensioning may fix the problem.


Inside a FED shutters:

http://jay.fedka.com/index_files/Page455.htm and onwards.



Stephen Costello wrote a page years ago on how to disassemble a FED-2 and replace its shutter.
http://stephenc7.tripod.com/cameras/fed2.htm

 

[joshw]

Hi,
I had the same problem with a FED-2 a few weeks ago. For me, a complete amateur, the fix was simply a re-tensioning of the shutter curtains. I tried some CLA basics but couldn't target the exact problem. The guys around here are a helpful bunch too.
good luck!

 

[Thomas78]

When 1/25 or even 1/50 is acting like "B", it means that there is not enough power to pull the first (opening) curtain far enough to allow the second (closing) curtain pawl to be released. To see if this is indeed the case, the next time the shutter is fired at 1/25 and remains open, try coaxing the shutter dial a bit to turn - towards its closing direction- and see if the 2nd curtain is released. If this happens, then a bit of cleaning and maybe some retensioning may fix the problem.

This is indeet the case.

I think I will look for the shutter tomorrow

 

[Thomas78]

I dissasembled the FED, cleaned an lubricated the shutter a bit and finally figured out how to reassemble the shutter to the body.

Unfortunately I have one spring (and two washers) as "spare" now as I put the camerea together and don´t have a clure where it should have its place. :bang:

In contrast to this, the camera seems to work, also at the slow speeds. 🙄

The spring has d diameter of 8 mm and a height of 8 mm and is quite weak.

Where could I have missed the spring?

 

[ZorkiKat]

I dissasembled the FED, cleaned an lubricated the shutter a bit and finally figured out how to reassemble the shutter to the body.

Unfortunately I have one spring (and two washers) as "spare" now as I put the camerea together and don´t have a clure where it should have its place. :bang:

In contrast to this, the camera seems to work, also at the slow speeds. 🙄

The spring has d diameter of 8 mm and a height of 8 mm and is quite weak.

Where could I have missed the spring?

Can you show a picture of this spring?

I can think of two places where that spring may have come from.

One is the shutter dial. Does the dial still have an opposite 'pull' when you pull it up to change speeds? If not, that's were that spring belongs.

Two is the diopter adjustment lever for the eyepiece. The spring here has extended ends.

 

[Thomas78]

Here is a picture of the spring:

It is not the spring of the shutter dial, the spring of the shutter dial is much smaller.

The diopter adjustment dial has a "V"-shaped spring in contrast to this pichture on the page

http://stephenc7.tripod.com/cameras/fed2.htm

 

[wolves3012]

Zorkikat's ideas were also the ones that came to my mind. The only other places I can think of that there are springs are the shutter button, wind-release and the wind clutch tension. This looks too big for the first two.

How far did you disassemble it and are you quite sure it's from the camera? I confess to never having completely disassembled a FED 2 so I'm not sure if there's one like that in there somewhere. Check ALL functions carefully, something must surely not be working properly if it's missing a spring!

EDIT: I think I have the answer for you: it lives, with a washer, above the film spool fork (on the left of the camera as you look into the back of it, directly below the rewind knob).

 

[Thomas78]

Zorkikat's ideas were also the ones that came to my mind. The only other places I can think of that there are springs are the shutter button, wind-release and the wind clutch tension. This looks too big for the first two.

How far did you disassemble it and are you quite sure it's from the camera? I confess to never having completely disassembled a FED 2 so I'm not sure if there's one like that in there somewhere. Check ALL functions carefully, something must surely not be working properly if it's missing a spring!

I took off the top plate with the rewind knob, the shutter release, the shutter speed dial and the film advance knob. Also I have taken the shutter assembly away from the body.

To be honest I am not 100% sure that the spring is really from this camera. 😱

EDIT: I think I have the answer for you: it lives, with a washer, above the film spool fork (on the left of the camera as you look into the back of it, directly below the rewind knob).

There is already a spring on the flim spool fork inside the camera body. So if there is not a second one outside the camera body under the film rewind knob (which would not make sense to me), the spring must come from a different place.