ChrisCummins
Couch Photographer.
So as most people do, I received my FED from a Ukrainian ebayer, packed in bubble wrap and a neat cardboard box covered in cyrillic text. However, while many can favorably compare a well kept FED to an early Leica, my camera feels much more like it's on it's last legs. The shutter coughs and spurts it's way through exposures, the winding mechanism is uncooperative and the lens feels stiff and feeble.
The camera is clearly in need of some love and repair work. Thanks to the generosity of a RobbieChad on this forum, I have already been able to replace the original rangefinder prism which had been mangled in (presumably) a previous botched repair job, but there is still much more that needs seeing to - so in order to prevent myself from littering the forum with countless threads, I've consoled all my questions into this post and will use this as a running diary of my repair attempts.
Here it is next to my 'new' Yashica Mat-124. The FED itself is in pretty good shape cosmetically.
So here's a few initial problems which I need to sort out first:
Lazy Shutter
When I depress the shutter release in Bulb mode, the shutter springs open pretty snappy, but on releasing the shutter, it visibly slides closed very slowly, which I assume can't be normal behavior. I assume something similar happens like this on other shutter speeds, but it's harder to see visibly.
Shutter winding is stiff
Even without film loaded, the winding knob feels quite stiff. It is certainly not possible to do the one-finger wind technique which I've heard of. With film loaded, it becomes slightly more stiff, and whilst rewinding, the whole mechanism makes a bit of a squeaky noise.
Reflections inside the viewfinder
During my initial disassembly and quick CLA, I cleaned the viewfinder and rangefinder prisms, as well as giving the inside of the top cover a coat of matt black paint. However, I still have problems with reflections and other visual relics appearing in the viewfinder. While looking through the viewfinder, the right side of the prism reflects almost a perfect mirror which is very confusing and disorientating. Also, I've found that the orange dot of the rangefinder can sometimes overpower the regular view, making it hard to see when the two images are aligned.
Lens focus ring too stiff
I've stripped down my I-26 and I-61 following Matt's instructions, and relubed the focus ring with some cheap Granville Multi-Purpose Grease (Lithium Based), however I still find this to be a little too stiff to be described as 'smooth'. Can anyone recommend a less viscous lube to use?
If anyone could help me with any of these problems I would greatly appreciate it. Sorry to overload y'all with so many questions - I'm just keen to do this camera some justice 😀
Best regards,
Chris
The camera is clearly in need of some love and repair work. Thanks to the generosity of a RobbieChad on this forum, I have already been able to replace the original rangefinder prism which had been mangled in (presumably) a previous botched repair job, but there is still much more that needs seeing to - so in order to prevent myself from littering the forum with countless threads, I've consoled all my questions into this post and will use this as a running diary of my repair attempts.
Here it is next to my 'new' Yashica Mat-124. The FED itself is in pretty good shape cosmetically.
So here's a few initial problems which I need to sort out first:
Lazy Shutter
When I depress the shutter release in Bulb mode, the shutter springs open pretty snappy, but on releasing the shutter, it visibly slides closed very slowly, which I assume can't be normal behavior. I assume something similar happens like this on other shutter speeds, but it's harder to see visibly.
Shutter winding is stiff
Even without film loaded, the winding knob feels quite stiff. It is certainly not possible to do the one-finger wind technique which I've heard of. With film loaded, it becomes slightly more stiff, and whilst rewinding, the whole mechanism makes a bit of a squeaky noise.
Reflections inside the viewfinder
During my initial disassembly and quick CLA, I cleaned the viewfinder and rangefinder prisms, as well as giving the inside of the top cover a coat of matt black paint. However, I still have problems with reflections and other visual relics appearing in the viewfinder. While looking through the viewfinder, the right side of the prism reflects almost a perfect mirror which is very confusing and disorientating. Also, I've found that the orange dot of the rangefinder can sometimes overpower the regular view, making it hard to see when the two images are aligned.
Lens focus ring too stiff
I've stripped down my I-26 and I-61 following Matt's instructions, and relubed the focus ring with some cheap Granville Multi-Purpose Grease (Lithium Based), however I still find this to be a little too stiff to be described as 'smooth'. Can anyone recommend a less viscous lube to use?
If anyone could help me with any of these problems I would greatly appreciate it. Sorry to overload y'all with so many questions - I'm just keen to do this camera some justice 😀
Best regards,
Chris
