Kodak Retina 111c vs Fed 2

[Moto-Uno]

I've had my lovely Retina now for a couple of years,and nice as it is, I'm not using it. SO, I'm considering trading it for a Fed 2 in similar shape,BUT ( isn't there always a "but") can anyone tell me if there's similar IQ in the lens available for the Fed 2. Believe me I'm rather naive about the FSU 35mm cameras,I've got a couple of Mockba-5's that with the light leaks fixed are good carry around folders. Any help and offers would be appreciated.
Regards,Peter

 

[Roger Hicks]

Dear Peter,

Good lenses? Sure. Most of the CV range. Bolt them on the front of a Fed tractor and as long as the body works, you should get superb results, comparable with the Retina.

Cheers,

R.

 

[matt_mcg2]

In terms of the standard FSU lenses. I've had a couple of good J8s, and one not great one. And a decent Industar 61.

I'm sure the 50mm Retina-Xenon on the Retina IIc I had was a better lens, though. It's a camera I regret selling as I liked the ergonomics and the image quality was excellent. The only downside was the small pokey viewfinder and poor rangefinder. The FSU bodies I've had have been better in that respect.

 

[68degrees]

In terms of the standard FSU lenses. I've had a couple of good J8s, and one not great one. And a decent Industar 61.

I'm sure the 50mm Retina-Xenon on the Retina IIc I had was a better lens, though. It's a camera I regret selling as I liked the ergonomics and the image quality was excellent. The only downside was the small pokey viewfinder and poor rangefinder. The FSU bodies I've had have been better in that respect.

+1 on Retina IIc.

 

[lukitas]

Never had a retina in my hands.
I quite like the fed2, and the jupiter 8 I put on it does very well indeed.

Ok, it's not a leica, but it is a lot better than the pokey little viewfinders on the first zorkis and feds. And the diopter adjustment seems a nice feature. Best to stick it down though.
If the rangefinder patch should be hard to distinguish, it helps to put a small round sticker on the front of the viewfinder, right where the patch is (and the same size, of course). You could use a sharpie, if you're brave and precise. That makes focusing very easy, even in low light.

The shutter is a bit limited, 1/30 to 1/500 in one stop increments, but it is the most reliable of all the soviet cameras I have used. It's the only one of them that doesn't mind when you set the speed : before or after cocking the shutter.

There is no accounting for taste, but I say the fed2 is the most beautiful, most racy, most elegant and most sexy of all commie rangefinders, especially if you put some big glass on there, like a jupiter8 or 3.
And people will ask if it is a leica.

A lot more were made of the fed2 than the M3 and M2 combined. About a quarter of a million M3's were made, a bit more than 80.000 M2's, but the fed2 came near to two million. The People's Camera, Indeed. Picasso had one.

 

[nparsons13]

I love my IIIc, but I love my Fed 2 as well--each for different reasons.

Why trade? Why not keep keep the Retina and get a nice Fed with an Industar 26m or Jupiter 8, pick up an Industar 61 along the way, and then learn the conditions in which each camera shines?

 

[Sylvester]

The Kievs are very nice too, way better built then my zorki.... worth considering

----

I compare it to my zorki 4k, maybe the leica barnak copies are better

 

[yek]

I find the old cameras are all different from each other. Since your Retina works very well, I think it's bad to let it go. Should you miss it later, it maybe troublesome to get back another good sample from the market.

However, the Fed-2 is a very good camera too. Mine works smoothly. You can mount various brands of ltm lenses on it, while the Retina has strict limitation in this aspect. I used to have a Retina IIa. I think the Xenon lens is as sharp as my Jupiter-3, and maybe even a little sharper around f5.6. While the Jupiter-3 is faster, and its character is very nice for portraits.

I love the simplicity of the Fed-2 very much. I think Fed-2 and the other FSU cameras are very worth owning and playing with. But since your Retina works fine, maybe you won't get much benefit from the trading.

 

[pschauss]

My personal experience with FED 2's is that they have light leaks where the back joins the body. For that reason I prefer the bottom loaders like the Zorkii 1. They are also smaller than a FED 2

 

[fanshaw]

My personal experience with FED 2's is that they have light leaks where the back joins the body. For that reason I prefer the bottom loaders like the Zorkii 1. They are also smaller than a FED 2

I don't, think light leaks of this type are very common because of the rigid die cast back. Such a leak is easily cured by glueing some black knitting wool along the channels on the body.