Eugene:
I don't think you need to be reserved or embarassed about this. Quality may not have met the photo standards of the Europe or Japan, but given the state of politics and economy in the 1980's and 1990's, I think Fed did pretty well with the resources they had available. At least what has survived seems to show that they were working with an outdated design but were producing workable cameras that were capable of being QA/QC'd. ( I wonder how many cameras are in the local landfill?)
Looking at the interiors, one can see how Fed tried to cut costs and streamline production by redesigning fasteners. They use a lot of snap fasteners where earlier cameras utilized screws. In fact, A Fed-5 is one of the worst candidates as a parts camera for salvaging set screws. There are just not very many of them. That suggests that they were working very hard to modernize their production.
With the enormous outlay that the USSR was making in defense production at the time, it's surprising to me that they were able to put as much effort as they did into a consumer product.
Clearly, the Fed-5 cannot fairly be compared to a Yashica Electro 35 or Contessa S310, But is was made in and for a different environment and economy too.
-Paul
