FED-NKVD (1d) test roll

[Mr_Flibble]

I bought this camera a few months ago at the Doesburg camera fair and I got round to putting some film through it at the end of October/early November. That was after I cleared the condensation out of the FED-50 f/3.5 lens.

I discovered there was problem with the film transport, and that resulted in several frame overlaps here and there.

Film is Lucky 200 Color (groan), images were scanned from the negatives with vuescan at 2400dpi and re-sized/desaturated with PS CS2.

Nothing super, but not too bad for a camera from the summer of 1939

Enjoy

 

[Ron (Netherlands)]

Nice shots Rick, nice greys and the lighting is good. It is hard to tell from these scans, but do the original images look sharp? The mushroom looks quite sharp to me, the others a little bit less perhaps (your other postings provide always sharp ones in my recollection)

 

[Mr_Flibble]

Maybe it's due to the local lab's dunk&dip process, but I have gotten grainy (spotty?) negatives every time with this film. Also I believe it's not very forgiving concerning exposure.

The mushroom and fallen log were metered exposures, the others were Sunny f/16 (the horse and carriage was a hasty snapshot at that)

I intend to try the camera again soon. With another take-up spool, a different film and a lens hood.

 

[Stanton]

I have qa similar FED NKVD, serial number 160xxx. It appears to be a 1-d, according to Princelle and dates between 1939-1941. I haven't used it yet. What is the serial number and date on yours?

 

[Mr_Flibble]

I do not have it at hand right now, But I recall it is just below the 100.000 mark.

It has the early pointed RF cam, a top shutter speed of 1/500th and it has an early shutter release collar. Internals appear to have been lacquered black. And there's a hole in the film pressure plate, I assume for collimating the lens.

 

[johannielscom]

Nice one Rick, but a little collimation would do it good for sure. I'm convinced that lens and camera can do better in sharpness!

Maybe Derk has room for a winter project :angel:

 

[Penny Lane]

I did get mine to work pretty well, but that was a bit of a hack 😀


Trawler by bimmer1502, on Flickr

It's supposed to be collimated for 28.45mm IIRC, shims for the lens mount can be made out of pretty much anything you can cut to shape & have handy. It's just that you need a matte screen, a loupe, calipers and/or a micrometer and some way to prop everything up somewhat stable to do your own very basic collimation...

Derk

 

[Mr_Flibble]

I'm not convinced the collimation of the lens, or lack there off, is the problem with the camera to be honest.

The film really is that....interesting...

Leica IIIc + Summar and the same Lucky 200 Color film.




And some more from the FED's test roll:

 

[Ron (Netherlands)]

Rick considering you have same results with different camera's and lenses, it might be the scanner after all

 

[newspaperguy]

I think you may have a keeper there, Rick. The Ruskies can be sleepers.

I've kept a similar Zorki 1d while allowing several genuine Barnacks to pass

on to other hands with no regrets.

If you have a chance, try it with a different lens.

Old Rick in Maryland, USA

 

[Penny Lane]

I wish mine had a sturdier body - I'd be shooting with it all the time. Once I got it set up correctly I was pleasantly surprised with how well it performs.

Derk

 

[Mr_Flibble]

Ron,
Possibly, my HP G4050 is getting a bit dated. But I don't have this problem so much with other more expensive films.

I'll see about testing the FED-50 on my R-D1, that could tell me if something else might be causing the softness in the images. I had the rear lens element out when I was cleaning out the condensation caused by the rainstorm in Doesburg.

Just need to see what the frame-spacing problem is about. I'm told it might be due to using a Zorki take-up spool. The frames on the negatives were slightly angled off the direction of film travel too.

Rick, Derk, it might not be as smooth as a Leica, but like my Zorkis it's definitely a functional camera. I have some Russian screw mount lenses I could try on it. And I would like to add an 85mm to my collection at some point.


But first, I need to run some film through other cameras to test them; a Kodak Signet 35 now with corrected focus, a Yashica 35 GSN, a Voigtländer Brillant, an Ikoflex III...busy busy busy.

 

[Penny Lane]

The angled frames occur on both my Zorki-1c and the FED-1; the FrankenZorki is now on its first roll so I don't know about that one yet. Seems to be a common issue though.

I've heard it has to do with modern film cassettes being slightly smaller than way back when and that a washer on the film lock cures the problem, but all that did for me was keep the frames out of the sprocket hole area & stiffen the winding of the camera. The frames remained skewed...

Derk

 

[David Hughes]

The angled frames occur on both my Zorki-1c and the FED-1; the FrankenZorki is now on its first roll so I don't know about that one yet. Seems to be a common issue though.

I've heard it has to do with modern film cassettes being slightly smaller than way back when and that a washer on the film lock cures the problem, but all that did for me was keep the frames out of the sprocket hole area & stiffen the winding of the camera. The frames remained skewed...

Derk

Hi,

I've often wondered if a washer each end but half the thickness is the answer, or - perhaps - one the other end...

Regards, David

 

[Penny Lane]

So do I; I've got some FILCAs sitting in my cupboard that *should* be correct size-wise. I'm not yet fully geared up to using them, but if the frames remain skewed with a FILCA cassette used to feed film, I would be tempted to think that the frame mask as cut into the shutter crate may be askew with many of these cameras...

Derk