Steve M.
Veteran
Guess the title says it all. Just buy a Leica or even a Bessa, don't screw around w/ a FSU camera. I will NEVER buy another one of these pieces of junk ever again.
It all started a few years ago when I bought a Zorki 4. Great viewfinder, but I never could get a whole roll of photos out of it due to intermittent shutter capping. Sold it a loss and decided, what the heck, this guy Oleg in the Ukraine is highly rated, I'll buy a camera from him. They're supposed to be fully ckd out and CLA'd. Ha! The Fed 1 I bought arrived in the customary brown paper and yak string and at first I was happy. It sure looked good, but after a roll of film it was apparent the shutter was full of pin holes. So I sent it back, waited forever, and it came back w/ new shutter curtains and a freebie J8 lens he threw in. Guess what? The new shutter had pinholes. Not as many as the first ones, but enough to ruin almost every photo. Sold it at a loss.
Bought a Fed 2. Worked great for one roll. A miracle! But the second roll showed, what else, pin holes in the shutter. Sat it aside.
Bought a Fed 2 that had been CLA'd from a member here. Light leaks on the first roll. Tried to see where they were coming from, tried another back on it from my other bad Fed 2. Light leaks again. Sent it back to the seller and lost the shipping money both ways.
Bought two Fed 2's from fleabay, thinking MAYBE one will work. First one arrived. Hey, where's the strap lugs? Turns out that some of the later models didn't have them. OK, that's on me. Should have looked at the photos on the ad better. Hmmm, the film wind knob sure is stiff. And the shutter curtain is very slow to close on 1/30. Other speeds seem somewhat OK, except for 1/500 which is actually slower than 1/250. Put my sacrificial roll of film in it. Got the film back. Hmmm, the shutter is capping. Ok, what the heck I'll sell it at a loss. I know the drill now.
In a desperate fit of insanity I emailed Yuri over at FEDKA. Explained the troubles I've had. He replies that the Fed's have the simplest and most reliable shutters of all the FSU cameras. Says I just have bad luck w/ the Fed 2's. Ok, I'll send him the Fed 2 that has pinholes in the shutter for a CLA & shutter replacement.
So now I sit here waiting on my other fleabay Fed 2 to arrive, as well as the overhauled camera from Yuri. When they arrive, I won't even run any film through them. I am selling them. At a loss of course. And I will Never, Ever buy another one of these tin cans again. No one consistently has this sort of bad luck, as Yuri suggested. It's that these things are junk. I'll just buy a Leica or even a clacking Bessa R variant (plastic feel, loud shutters, but they work).
It all started a few years ago when I bought a Zorki 4. Great viewfinder, but I never could get a whole roll of photos out of it due to intermittent shutter capping. Sold it a loss and decided, what the heck, this guy Oleg in the Ukraine is highly rated, I'll buy a camera from him. They're supposed to be fully ckd out and CLA'd. Ha! The Fed 1 I bought arrived in the customary brown paper and yak string and at first I was happy. It sure looked good, but after a roll of film it was apparent the shutter was full of pin holes. So I sent it back, waited forever, and it came back w/ new shutter curtains and a freebie J8 lens he threw in. Guess what? The new shutter had pinholes. Not as many as the first ones, but enough to ruin almost every photo. Sold it at a loss.
Bought a Fed 2. Worked great for one roll. A miracle! But the second roll showed, what else, pin holes in the shutter. Sat it aside.
Bought a Fed 2 that had been CLA'd from a member here. Light leaks on the first roll. Tried to see where they were coming from, tried another back on it from my other bad Fed 2. Light leaks again. Sent it back to the seller and lost the shipping money both ways.
Bought two Fed 2's from fleabay, thinking MAYBE one will work. First one arrived. Hey, where's the strap lugs? Turns out that some of the later models didn't have them. OK, that's on me. Should have looked at the photos on the ad better. Hmmm, the film wind knob sure is stiff. And the shutter curtain is very slow to close on 1/30. Other speeds seem somewhat OK, except for 1/500 which is actually slower than 1/250. Put my sacrificial roll of film in it. Got the film back. Hmmm, the shutter is capping. Ok, what the heck I'll sell it at a loss. I know the drill now.
In a desperate fit of insanity I emailed Yuri over at FEDKA. Explained the troubles I've had. He replies that the Fed's have the simplest and most reliable shutters of all the FSU cameras. Says I just have bad luck w/ the Fed 2's. Ok, I'll send him the Fed 2 that has pinholes in the shutter for a CLA & shutter replacement.
So now I sit here waiting on my other fleabay Fed 2 to arrive, as well as the overhauled camera from Yuri. When they arrive, I won't even run any film through them. I am selling them. At a loss of course. And I will Never, Ever buy another one of these tin cans again. No one consistently has this sort of bad luck, as Yuri suggested. It's that these things are junk. I'll just buy a Leica or even a clacking Bessa R variant (plastic feel, loud shutters, but they work).
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