Fed 5C Film Advance Sticks

[fraley]

I have a nice-looking Fed 5C but the film advance doesn't work so well. Usual behavior is it turns into a double-stroke film advance somewhere after the first few frames. Today though it completely jammed around the 19th exposure. I rewound the roll m and it advances "normally" now with no film in the camera. I fiddled with the film advance tension several years ago, found that it didn't advance at all if tightened too much. Left it as "best guess" but it's never been satisfactory. Does anyone do repairs or have a recommended repair person?

 

[rbiemer]

Either Fedka or Oleg should be able to sort it for you.
I have been very happy with Oleg's service, turn around times, and prices.
He is a member here--not sure how active now (mostly because I have not been very active).
See here:
https://okvintagecamera.com/ocart/index.php?route=product/product&path=67&product_id=144

Fedka is based in the US and has done some work for me a while back. The work was fine just a bit more expensive than Oleg.
See here:
https://fedka.com/catalog/index.php
Good luck!

Rob

 

[fraley]

Thanks Rob! Good info, I appreciate your response. Happy New Year to you!

 

[fraley]

Fedka says they have a four month backlog, I'm trying Oleg. But wondering if I should just salvage the lens and move on? It's the Industar 61 that is sharp.

 

[Coldkennels]

Personally, I have a bit of a soft spot for the various iterations of the FED 5 and used my own FED 5 a lot years ago while I was a poor student, but I'll be the first to acknowledge that they're not the most practical of the FSU rangefinders; short base RF, no strap lugs, unnecessarily tall, often a bit light-leaky. Even so, it'd be a shame to see one go to the scrap heap.

So if I was in your shoes, I'd track down a working FED 2 or Zorki 5 (my personal faves in the FSU LTM world) and put the FED 5C into Fedka's queue. That way you'll end up with a decent two body kit in the long run and also be able to keep shooting while the FED 5C is getting fixed up.

 

[fraley]

Thanks Coldkennels, I'll reconsider... I do have a Zorki 4 and will try the Industar-61 L/D on it...

 

[Coldkennels]

I do have a Zorki 4 and will try the Industar-61 L/D on it...

Haha, that's one of the few "step downs" you can take from a FED-5C in the FSU rangefinder world. Be careful with that thing - something about the Zorki 4 design means it's quite prone to having the shutter lock up on you. I've had to repair a few over the years where the shutter and slow speed mechanisms have gotten tangled up. It's not a hard fix, just a bloody annoying one.

I actually have one on the shelf that I was given for free with that exact problem last year; I repaired it and never put a single roll through it. Maybe I should just for amusement's sake!