lenses for a FED II

grizzlyadam

grizzlyadam

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I am lost and frustrated. I love the feel of my FED II and have even produced some decent photos from it. my question is this.

what type of lens mount does it have? does it take leica screwmount or something entirely different?

Where would I look for a wide angle, zoom, or portrait lens for this guy?

Is there a book or manual that someone has already written that would cover all of this, thus saving time and effort of someone on this forum to answer my questions?

right now the camera has a 5cm focal length f/2.8 on there.
 
It has a Leica screw mount.

Suggested lenses - Jupiter-12 35/2.8 for a wide, Jupiter-9 85/2 for a portrait lens.

They are often to be found on the Famous Auction site.

(And rangefinder cameras don't do zooms)
 
New Voigtlander lenses: www.cameraquest.com (in USA)

The problem with the camera and these non-50mm lenses is that you need an external viewfinder... Voigtlander VF's are very nice and small, otherwise you probably need one of those huge honking FSU jobs to put on top of your camera... groan, it's enough to push me into an SLR.
 
Oscrofts suggestion makes good sense to me. Try this link for a guide to russian ltm lenses http://www.swcornell.com/camera/lenslist.html.

I have a Helios Brightline finder which has markings for 35m 85mm and 135mm and it makes a good all purpose viewfinder for non 50mm lenses. It's much brighter than the Fed's original rangefinder.

They do come up on ebay now and again.
 
grizzlyadam said:
what type of lens mount does it have? does it take leica screwmount or something entirely different?

Where would I look for a wide angle, zoom, or portrait lens for this guy?
Click to expand...


it has leica screwmount, you could use leica lenses, canon rf lenses, and many fsu on it. but beware - some people claim that leica lenses dont work so good on fsu bodies. i dont have non fsu lenses so i didnt check...
also there are no zoom lenses for fed. as for wide angle - you can get jupiter 12 35mm/2.8 or you can cheaply buy voigtlander color skopar 35mm/2.5 from cameraquest. skopar is very popular lens here on rff.
 
Check out fedka.com for lenses, finders, etc. Yuri is very easy to deal with, and the gear is more reliable than what you're likely to get from an auction site.
 
thanks I meant longer focal length not zoom. I always get that mixed up. Zoom means changing focal length. I will look into fedka though. I have heard a lot of good things about it.
Adam
 
When buying non-FSU lenses (except for wide) take care for Russian cameras are build to match Zeiss focal length standard and some lenses would require adjustment to focus properly.
 
I've had and used most of the FSU lenses in Leica screw-fit 39mm x 26 tpi (20/5.6, 28/6, 35/2.8, 50/2, 85/2, 135/4) and used them on Leicas without problems. A good rule of thumb is that the longer they get, the better they are. The 20mm is awful, the 135mm superb. For anything wider than 50mm I'd go for Voigtländer.

Cheers,

R.
 
brainwood said:
Oscrofts suggestion makes good sense to me. Try this link for a guide to russian ltm lenses http://www.swcornell.com/camera/lenslist.html.

I have a Helios Brightline finder which has markings for 35m 85mm and 135mm and it makes a good all purpose viewfinder for non 50mm lenses. It's much brighter than the Fed's original rangefinder.

They do come up on ebay now and again.
Click to expand...

Hi,

Many thanks for this link. Great summary of the lenses etc.

Regards, David
 
If you want a good lens for cheap, try the Industar 50, an excellent Elmar clone (some say it is even better than the original) or an Industar 26-2 (50/2.8), very sharp and contrasted. If you're lucky enough, you can get a good sample for 10-20$/€.
A Jupiter 12 is a good match too but since it can be used on a Leica, it's got an utility and get rare so according to the offer and demand rules, it's got really expensive lately!
 
If you happen to fall for VC lenses and you notice adiference then it's easier to adjust the FED's RF to the lenses than the lenses to the FED's body.
@Roger you got lucky as I am still fiddling around to get a J9 compatible with my Bessa R and Canon....seems to be aquestion of shimming with this one, but if it works than I have a great lens for a low price!
 
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