cmdrzed
wallflower
Hi all, I recently purchased a Fed-50 collapsible lens from fedka. The lens looks great (it's clean, smooth, and has perfect glass). I have been shooting with it for a couple of days now and I seem to have a problem with f/3.5. The lens is mounted on my M6 via a 50mm adapter and photos taken at apertures >3.5 look great. The ones taken at f/3.5 don't look too good (maybe I am expecting too much?).
It seems that the lens does not focus on what I think it is focused on. Earlier today, I shot a portrait at f/3.5 and the person was blurry but the background became sharp at some point. In other photos taken at f/3.5 the entire image is blurry. I'm fairly certain its not because of camera shake. Any ideas? Also, does anyone have examples taken at f/3.5 that they can post for comparison. I will post an example soon (once the negatives dry).
Thanks.
It seems that the lens does not focus on what I think it is focused on. Earlier today, I shot a portrait at f/3.5 and the person was blurry but the background became sharp at some point. In other photos taken at f/3.5 the entire image is blurry. I'm fairly certain its not because of camera shake. Any ideas? Also, does anyone have examples taken at f/3.5 that they can post for comparison. I will post an example soon (once the negatives dry).
Thanks.
wolves3012
Veteran
Early FED 50s were not necessarily set to the standard 28.8mm lens-to-film distance, they were matched to the body. Later (coated) ones shouldn't suffer that problem but maybe your adapter is upsetting things? I have 2 of them (uncoated) but they "park" inconveniently across the RF window on my IIIC so I've not used them on it. I've used a couple of Industar 22s successfully on the IIIC though.
cmdrzed
wallflower
I was thinking that the adapter could be causing problems too. One other thing is that maybe the lens was not extended properly. I am going to shoot another roll later to test this.
cmdrzed
wallflower
Well, here is a test shot that I made earlier today. It illustrates the problem I was describing. Focus was placed on the rightmost purple flower but as you can see it is not in focus. I read on a site that spacers can be inserted into the lens to set the distance so it gets correct focus. This process seems rather difficult. Any suggestions ???
Fed 50 Example
Fed 50 Example
cmdrzed
wallflower
Posted in the event someone out there does stupid stuff like I do 
I solved the problem. It was a user error problem and I feel completely moronic for it. I removed the lens for inspection and realized that there is a locking mechanism when extending the barrel. It seems that it was not 'fully' extended when I thought it was. The barrel needs to be rotated a bit then it will extend a bit further and lock when twisted in the opposite direction. Geez. The freshly developed negatives look good and I consider the problem corrected. :|
I solved the problem. It was a user error problem and I feel completely moronic for it. I removed the lens for inspection and realized that there is a locking mechanism when extending the barrel. It seems that it was not 'fully' extended when I thought it was. The barrel needs to be rotated a bit then it will extend a bit further and lock when twisted in the opposite direction. Geez. The freshly developed negatives look good and I consider the problem corrected. :|
Murray Kelly
Well-known
Glad to hear you got out of it lucky. I had a Fed with the same lens and the seller told me as I walked out the door that it was a good portrait lens - it was a bit soft. He loved the pictures he took of his Mom with it.
With the first roll I found that it was miles out of focus. At 6' a picture of my wife and her cousin was terrible until I noticed the buildings in the distance were sharp.
It took a 1.6mm spacer to fix the lens and now it is fine. I wish it had only been a simple matter like yours was to fix! I don't know how he ever put up with it, the way it was.
Murray
With the first roll I found that it was miles out of focus. At 6' a picture of my wife and her cousin was terrible until I noticed the buildings in the distance were sharp.
It took a 1.6mm spacer to fix the lens and now it is fine. I wish it had only been a simple matter like yours was to fix! I don't know how he ever put up with it, the way it was.
Murray
fanshaw
Well-known
I have a an Industar-50 which cannot be locked after extending it. A manufacturing defect, I suppose.
cmdrzed
wallflower
That's odd. This was my first collapsible lens so I assumed a simple extension of the barrel would suffice. I was beginning to think that there was something wrong with it. It is a swell lens