My "new" FED-5 -- shutter tension issues?

Blake Werts

Blake Werts

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Recently received a "new" FED-5 camera that looks fantastic, and even sounds as good as you could hope a FED-5 should sound. I shot a test roll of film and in about 1/3 of the images I get a dark vertical stripe on the right-hand side. Please see a couple of attached examples below...

Is this a shutter curtain tension issue? Fixable?

Thanks Much!
Blake
 

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It looks like shutter bounce.
first curtain bouncing back, guessing from the darker line at the edge.
you need to have the brake adjusted.
 
There is a brake on the FED 5, it's under the little cover inside the base of the camera - 2 screws to remove the cover. Check it's making contact - if you wind on and fire the shutter it's easy to see how it works. If you do need to adjust it, bend the fixed part but only a tiny bit at a time.

I do agree that the tensions should be checked as well though, as others have pointed out.
 
wolves3012 said:
There is a brake on the FED 5, it's under the little cover inside the base of the camera - 2 screws to remove the cover. Check it's making contact - if you wind on and fire the shutter it's easy to see how it works. If you do need to adjust it, bend the fixed part but only a tiny bit at a time.

I do agree that the tensions should be checked as well though, as others have pointed out.
Click to expand...

It appears that I do have a shutter bounce happening. I can shoot the camera at slow speeds, even on the B setting, and I have convinced myself that every two or three shots, the first curtain gives a little 3 or 4mm bounce when it reaches its destination before the second curtain comes trailing behind.

So I removed the "brake cover" as suggested to give it a look. While it does look simple, I'm not exactly sure what my goal is--what is it that I need to get this thing to do?

I've attached a close-up shot of what I see under the cover. When I cock the shutter, the thing that looks like a round gear on the right spins around and "readys" itself. When I press the shutter release, it spins around like lightning and appears to be stopped by a little metal claw that is attached by the two screws painted red along the bottom.

Is this the piece that I should be bending? The little claw? If so, couldn't it be adjusted somehow by loosening up the two screws?

Thanks!
 

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Here are the same parts on one of mine. Notice the wavy, upright part. The little tang on the rotating disc sits in the indent of the fixed (wavy) part after the first curtain closes. Wind on very slowly and you should see the rotating part push past the indent, bending the wavy part aside very slightly. You need to bend the wavy part closer to the tang on the rotating part, it's this that holds the first curtain from rebounding. Don't overdo it (these springy parts are quite brittle) but the two should *almost* touch. From your photo, I'd say they never touch on yours, hence the rebound.

EDIT: Looking again, I'm not convinced the tang is vertical on yours - you may need to bend that too.
 

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Wolves you are exactly correct--the wavy piece is never touched by the rotating tang and, therefore, there is no brushing at all between the two when I cock the shutter. I now understand what I need to do--I'll give it a try when I have a little more time to relax and can be patient. I certainly do not want to snap this thing, the rest of the camera is in superb shape, it seems... even some life left in the lightmeter.

I'll report back with some results soon.

Thanks Much!
Blake
 
Got it!

Got it!

Thanks again Wolves. I just completed the adjustment as you suggested and I can no longer see the first shutter rebounding. It took just a tiny amount of bending of the little wavy piece. Now, the vertical tang brushes against the wavy petal "brush" just slightly nudging it aside.

I think that we've got this one licked. I'll shoot a test roll this weekend. Gotta get some more shots in for the FSU Photo contest, right?

Apprecaited!
Blake
 
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