I 61 L/D rear cap ;)

[moretto]

Hi there..it's been a while..

As many, I bought a I 61 L/D for my Zorki 4 and Leica, but it came attached to a very ugly metal brick 😛.

Aside it being ugly, the brick is mint new and 100% working condition. I'm starting to like it, so the project will be to drill-in a pair of strap lugs..and maybe painting it black.
Any idea what is the issue with Fed 5? Aside the looks, of course.
This one is very smooth.(it is 22 years younger than my Z4).
Any particular problems, bugs?
Thanks in advance.

 

[rxmd]

They're quite good cameras underneath the ugly facade. The light meter is often a bit off if yours has one. Otherwise they're decent picture takers.

 

[moretto]

I usually stick out from the oly E , EOS, D80...crowd (a bunch of my friends) with my RFs or Rollei(sometimes even AgfaBox)...never lost much sleep over it..as far as I'm having fun, and at the end of the day the result is what counts. Usually when comparing photos with friends, Zorki can match any digital, and no digital can match Rollei. (as far as you use your feet to zoom in and out 😉)

So our dislike for fed 5 is pure cosmetic..I can live with that.
Thanks.

 

[Kapa]

I've got a Fed 5c with the Industar 61ld and it's true- they are a damn sharp lense.
All the Fed 5's seem to be "like new".... cause they never get used I guess. They're an ok camera though. Nice smooth film advance like the Fed 4, the lightmeter if accurate can be handy aswell as the slow speeds. Just don't get why most of the Fed's have such squinty vf/rf...? Did the Soviet's have better vision or something....

 

[fanshaw]

The Fed-5 has some advantages over the earlier, more popular and better looking Soviet rangefinders. Because they are not so old the shutter curtains are normally in excellent condition and most of them don't need any adjustment to work properly. Like all Soviet cameras the issue is not performance but convenience. If you can put up with the size and weight, feeble viewfinder and fiddly shutter speed dial then you can't do better, except by paying much, much more.

 

[tripod]

The ugly Fed 5 makes any photographer carrying one, look handsome in comparison.

 

[wolves3012]

Like most on here I think the FED 5 (and 4, for that matter) is not a pretty camera. In terms of value-for-money there isn't much else that comes close, however: it's a very competent picture-taker and useful when you wouldn't want to risk more expensive gear. Also doubles as a defensive weapon if you are at risk of physical harm!

Edit: The light meter on mine, as with the two FED 4s that I have, is dead-on. The 5C also has a much brighter VF than most FEDs.

 

[moretto]

Packed-up with an Efke KB50 and two yellow filters to kill 2 stops, and tomorrow is the wide-open test for the lens..and the brick. Will post some eventually..