Fed-4, bad choice?

[edftwin]

Hi, i've just won a bid on a good condition Fed-4 and it was an impulse purchase. Do you guys think it's a good choice compared to zorki and others? Is it really that big in term of size as said by others?

 

[wolves3012]

Not the prettiest of cameras, in most people's opinion. However, it's quite a capable performer and the Industar 61 lens that it should come with is very good indeed (although it'll likely need a re-lube, which is easy to do). The lightmeter, assuming it works, is surprisingly useful and accurate.

Horses for courses, the FED 4 is cheap enough to be expendable and yes, it is a fair bit bigger than most other FSUs - that's not necessarily a problem though! Try it, you may like it - and if you don't, you can always buy another body to use that lens on.

 

[Coldkennels]

I don't have a Fed 4, but I do have the very similar Fed 5. And, actually, I really like using it despite the size. The lightmeter on my 5 seems to take a reading from too wide an area (I have to point it 60degrees downwards just for it not to read the sky, for example), but other than that, it's a great little camera to use. I would imagine your Fed 4 - providing it's in good condition - would be much the same.

 

[fanshaw]

The Fed-4b (with lever wind) is a camera with a solid feel- better than the later Fed-5 in this respect. It has one drawback- the rewind wheel on the side of the top plate which cab be painful to use. Perhaps because they are not much wanted by collectors they are very cheap to buy in the UK.

 

[edftwin]

Thank you guys for your reply. I'm waiting for my fed-4 to arrive, approximately 1 to 2 weeks time and I just realized that my friend has a fed-2 to give away for free. I guess this fed-4 will be handed to another friend of mine as a gift and it'll be his very first RF camera.

 

[edftwin]

Can somebody tell me that is every LTM lens like leica and voigtlander compatible with fed-2 and fed-4?

 

[stevebrot]

Can somebody tell me that is every LTM lens like leica and voigtlander compatible with fed-2 and fed-4?

That question opens a huge can of worms. The short answer is that your mileage may vary. Some people claim that the pitch of the focus helicoid on the LTM FSU cameras has a different pitch than the Leica standard resulting in focus inaccuracy in at least part of the focus range when using FSU lenses on non-FSU cameras and vice-versa. Others claim that they mix and match the lenses with no problems.

I have had no problem shooting my Jupiter-8 and Jupiter-12 on both my FSU bodies and my Canon P, but don't have any other lenses to do a comparison.


Steve

(It would be nice if someone could actually do some measurements of the lens rear-rim-to-mount-flange distance for various subject distances. It would require an optical bench and precision calipers, but might be worth doing.)

 

[rbiemer]

I like my FED 4 better than the FED 2 I no longer have. They are both potentially fine cameras and I wanted to like the 2 but I couldn't get along with the FED 2's viewfinder.
The lever wind of my FED 4 is better than my FED 5; it feels smoother and takes a bit less effort.
I use my Voigtlander lenses on my FEDs with out any trouble and also use my 9cm Elmar as well.
But there is one thing to be aware of: some LTM lenses have a focus "tongue" rather than a focus "ring" to engage the arm in the camera body. This "tongue" may make mounting the lens difficult and/or may not line up correctly when mounted and will make focusing impossible. I'll search for some photos showing what I'm referring to and put the links here.
Rob
EDIT:
This photo shows (I hope) what I'm referring to:

Photo from:http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/nikon/nikkoresources/RF-Nikkor/Leica_RF/LeicaLSM135mmA.htm#D
The lens second from the right has the focus "tongue" and the other three have focus "rings".
R

 

[edftwin]

Thanks steve and rbiermer for your answer !

I can't wait to hold both feds. I'm thinking of getting a real cheap LTM lens to go with my fed, so i'll have less worries for my equipment where ever i go and also be able to save more money for more rolls of film.

 

[rbiemer]

You're welcome!
Does your "new" FED4 have a lens on it? If it does, depending on which lens that is, you probably will be good to go for a normal lens.
I'm not sure what the standard lens was for the FED 4--I've seen the cameras sold with any of the FSU 50mm lenses--but, I think, all of the FSU 50s are OK and some of them are very good, indeed. And, having an FSU lens on an FSU body will avoid the compatibility issues mentioned by Steve.
Rob

Thanks steve and rbiermer for your answer !

I can't wait to hold both feds. I'm thinking of getting a real cheap LTM lens to go with my fed, so i'll have less worries for my equipment where ever i go and also be able to save more money for more rolls of film.

 

[Coldkennels]

I think the Fed 4 originally came with the Industar 61 most of the time, Rob, but you're right: you can find basically any lens on a Fed 4 on ebay.

Edftwin, if you're thinking of shopping for lenses, I've given most of the FSU 50mm lenses a try, and while they're all pretty good generally, I've found I favour certain ones for certain things. As such, the general rule of thumb when I'm picking a 50mm lens off the shelf is that I use:

- Jupiter 8 for low-light shooting (as, at f2, it has a bigger aperture than most) or portraiture
- Industar 61 L/D for colour photography (but not portraiture so much - it's ridiculously saturated)
- Collapsible Industar 22 for compact outdoor shooting
- Industar 26 for black and white (being as mine's got disgusting colour rendition, but is otherwise a lovely lens. Apparently, not all I-26s are that bad for colour, though).

The nice thing is that all of the above are available pretty cheaply, so having a small collection of lenses isn't anything like as expensive as it can be in other formats/systems/mounts.

 

[edftwin]

Yes , the fed-4 comes with an industar 61 53mm f2.8 lens. I heard that this lens has got a lot of good feedback despite being a cheap lens, but the fed-2 which is yet to be given by a friend will not come with any lens, so i have to get a compatible lens for it. The bad news is jupiter or industar lenses are kinda hard to find in my country as the majority here prefers to use DSLR instead of RF and any sort of film cameras.

I can get it from ebay but it will take another long time for the item to arrive and this will be my last assortment if i have no other choices. The available lenses in my country are mostly voigtlander , some leicas and zeiss with LTM mount but they are quite rare as well.

 

[edftwin]

I think the Fed 4 originally came with the Industar 61 most of the time, Rob, but you're right: you can find basically any lens on a Fed 4 on ebay.

Edftwin, if you're thinking of shopping for lenses, I've given most of the FSU 50mm lenses a try, and while they're all pretty good generally, I've found I favour certain ones for certain things. As such, the general rule of thumb when I'm picking a 50mm lens off the shelf is that I use:

- Jupiter 8 for low-light shooting (as, at f2, it has a bigger aperture than most) or portraiture
- Industar 61 L/D for colour photography (but not portraiture so much - it's ridiculously saturated)
- Collapsible Industar 22 for compact outdoor shooting
- Industar 26 for black and white (being as mine's got disgusting colour rendition, but is otherwise a lovely lens. Apparently, not all I-26s are that bad for colour, though).

The nice thing is that all of the above are available pretty cheaply, so having a small collection of lenses isn't anything like as expensive as it can be in other formats/systems/mounts.

Thanks for your opinion dude ! The industar 26 is said to be the copy of zeiss if im not mistaken, i saw a few good photos on flickr taken using this lens.

Is there any other lenses with bigger aperture than f2 and compatible for fed? 😀

 

[Coldkennels]

In FSU-land, there's only the Jupiter 3, which is an f1.5 lens. It's a lot more expensive, though - which is precisely why I don't own one (...yet). I bought my practically immaculate mid-70's Jupiter 8 for £20, but almost every Jupiter 3 I've seen has been £100+. I'm not sure I care enough about the extra stop to warrant the price tag, and from what I've read, they're not very consistent (quality-wise) compared to the Jupiter 8. I can't say I ever really need to go below f2, anyway. I shoot a lot of 400ISO film when I can (XP2, mostly), so 1/30 and f2 covers most low-light situations for me.

 

[wolves3012]

Thanks for your opinion dude ! The industar 26 is said to be the copy of zeiss if im not mistaken, i saw a few good photos on flickr taken using this lens.

Is there any other lenses with bigger aperture than f2 and compatible for fed? 😀

As Coldkennels says, there's the Jupiter 3 at f/1.5. As he also says, it's notorious for being expensive and troublesome. Unless you know the seller or he has a returns policy, it's a risky purchase. How much do you *need* rather than *want* f/1.5?

 

[wolves3012]

The industar 26 is said to be the copy of zeiss if im not mistaken... 😀

Not wishing to cause offence here - the Industar is a Tessar-type lens. That doesn't make it a copy in the sense that all cars are not copies of each other just because they have (usually) four wheels and an engine. The Industar 10, 22 and 50 are usually called "Elmar copies", which is untrue and always sounds derogatory. There are only so many possible ways to assemble a simple n-element lens and fashion takes care of the external "copying".