Please Post: Experience with "fedka.com" repair Service

[Sonnar Brian]

I am interested in RFF member's experience with Fedka's repair service for FSU cameras and lenses. The prices are reasonable.



I would like to know of any RFF members sent Fedka an FSU lens asking for it to be optimized for a Leica, and how well it worked out after the request.

This is something that I "tinker" with, and have had some successes. Basically, increase the shim of the FSU lens so that it works wide-open and close-up, stop down a little for infinity. This is required as the FSU lenses are built to a 52.4mm standard, Leica RF's expect 51.6mm. The difference in movement of the lens from 1m to infinity is about 0.1mm.

If Fedka does not do this, I will contact them to see of they are interested in offering it as a service.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

The "by the Book" professional method of setting the shims for a lens means correcting at infinity- which is how Fedka's repair service does it. My "HACK" to get a Russian lens to focus up close and wide-open on a Leica means setting the shims by using a target at close range. You trade close-up performance for the ability to focus to infinity. Once the lens is adjusted for close-up, you stop the lens down for distance work and the Sonnar focus shift corrects the residual error.

So if a lens that was optimized for close-up, be sure to instruct a professional service to NOT touch the shims! The "hack" will get undone.

Next J-3 and J-8 that I do, will document more closely.

 

[Steve M.]

Unfortunately, my one experience was not so good. I sent a nice Fed 2 there for a complete shutter replacement, and a CLA. It came back quickly, Uri was very professional and courteous on our emails and phone conversations, the turn around time was quick, and the camera looked fine. But the shutter speeds were WAY off, and it was capping on nearly every frame. I really don't understand that, not after a full CLA/shutter replacement. Russian cameras are tricky, and I think they should be film tested to verify they work correctly. I ended up soliciting help on the forum here for a forum member that could fix the camera. Found someone, sent the camera to them, and felt such a relief to get that camera out of the house (I've had some other bad FSU camera experiences besides this one) that I told them to just keep it. My experiences w/ Oleg in the Ukraine were 10 times worse, which is why I tried Fedka that time.

Once, several years ago, I bought a Fed 2 from someone here that was in Israel, and had had the camera CLA'd over there. Sure wish I knew who did it, because that Fed was butter smooth and exposed perfectly. I've finally given up on repeating that apparently one time experience, and if I need a LTM camera, which I actually do right now, I wait for a Bessa R or Canon rangefinder to come by at a bargain price. It's much cheaper, and far less hassle to go that route, at least in my experiences.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Essex did a great job with replacing the curtains and cleaning my Nicca III- but was a $180 job a couple of years ago. It can be time-consuming work.

I end up spending a couple of hours getting a J-3 to where I like it.

 

[colyn]

Your link has been hacked..

I just checked his index page and it has been hacked..

 

[Robert Lai]

Good for lenses, had problems with a camera

Good for lenses, had problems with a camera

I sent Fedka a FED-2 for service. It came back with severe tapering of the shutter at speeds from 1/250 upwards. After another trip back didn't correct the problem, I decided that I had nothing to lose by trying to fix it myself, based on the instructions posted here in the FSU forum. It took me a whole summer, and many rolls of film, but I finally got the camera to expose evenly.
The shutter spring tensions had initially been set so high to achieve the high speeds that were indicated. I had to reduce the spring tension a lot, especially for the second curtain in order to get even exposure. I finally got tired of the camera, even though it now worked correctly, and I sold it to Fedka.

I sent him a Jupiter-9 85mm lens as well as the 135mm lens (J-11?). The J-9 was a mess initially. He sorted it all out, and it was perfect wide open and at minimum focus. Even at infinity it seemed fine. The only thing that I noticed was that the aperture controls were now at an angle to the top of the lens. He mentioned that shimming the lens (and correcting the helicals) produced a different distance than the original. To correct the aperture ring angle, he would have to drill a new setscrew hole, and he was reluctant to do it without my permission.
This lens also came back smelling strongly of organic solvents. It needed airing out for 1 week. I still own this lens.

The 135mm also came back focusing perfectly at minimum focus, wide open. I think I had requested this when I sent it to him. It also focused properly at infinity (based on the distance scale), but the RF cam would not indicate infinity properly. I was told that it was a problem with the tolerance of the lens as originally manufactured. The RF cam was a little too "short". I made some good pictures with the lens, but the RF issue irritated me, so I got rid of the lens eventually.

Overall, this experience drove home to me that the comments about spotty quality control in FSU gear is true. Many of the problems that I've had, I can't blame Fedka for. The gear was built faultily in the first place. His correspondence is friendly, and he tries as many times as it takes to correct a problem, at no extra charge. Of course, there is time and shipping cost involved.

So, I got away from FSU gear and bought a gently used Leica M7. After it came back from Leica NJ from getting an MP finder upgrade, optical reader change, and a general CLA, I find that the shutter is tapering at 1/500 upwards!!!!!

NOOOOOOOO!

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Your link has been hacked..

I just checked his index page and it has been hacked..

BIZARRE! Was not expecting it.

Link Removed from the post.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I have seen a lot of issues with the construction of FSU lenses, and "by the book" professional techniques do not always address the problem. I'm a "tinkerer" and have "hacked" lenses into working. I've seen J-3's that will not drive the RF of the camera to Infinity. The solution: take the helical out of the mount, polish the mount down, put the helical back in deeper than it was. Tap out new holes for the Focus ring. Then proceed with shimming, and tapping out new holes for the aperture ring. This can take hours to get right. I suspect it would be cost-prohibitive for a Pro to do this. Most standard "CLA's" done by pro's are done in under an hour. A straight-forward CLA of a J-3 takes maybe 30 minutes. "Hacking" it to work on a Leica.... Longer.

 

[colyn]

BIZARRE! Was not expecting it.

Link Removed from the post.

Hopefully he'll have it fixed soon.

My only experience with Fedka was having a Kiev 2a fixed that came to me with a few missing parts. Still using that camera..

 

[Bill58]

I've bought 3 or 4 lenses from him and had him CLA them too. They arrived perfect.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Bill- did the lenses work well on a Leica close-up and wide-open? Fedka's repair service collimates the lenses for infinity. Perfect on a Russian camera, but usually will back-focus on a Leica when used close-up.

 

[Bill58]

I've used them on Canon LTMs and only at maybe 6 ft. to infinity. Also usually at about f5.6 to f16.

 

[johannielscom]

My Fed-S Komandirski had been on the block to be 'Leicafied'. Fortunately the forgers in time discovered that it was a FED-S and put it back together.

Yuri's repairman Jerry Sorin CLA'd the camera and the 50/2.0 Summar-clone lens (one element was in backwards!). I asked to not change the RF cam assembly and lens (i.e. no Leica specs but prewar, non-standardized FED) and this is what they did. I suppose mr. Sorin had to figure that out from scratch since it was non-standardized, but he did a fine job.

Can't tell you about the option of having a lens set to Leica specs, but can tell you that the service was impeccable, shipping quick and well-packed, communications good too.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Well, my quest to have a "real repairman" add the service to collimate FSU lenses for the Leica will have to continue. The repairman that fedka uses does not want to add a custom service, as it is too unpredictable. That's the second one that I've tried to talk into adding it as a service!

So for now, custom shimming Jupiters will have to remain a Do-It-Yourself project. So easy, a Caveman can do it...