rbiemer
Unabashed Amateur
I've been reading the Casual Photophile blog and there was recently a post about the FED 5b camera. Nice overview and a very brief history. See here:
https://www.casualphotophile.com/2018/05/21/fed-5b-camera-review-35mm-film-rangefinder/
Part of the quick history was this statement by the author of the blog: "But the skilled craftsmen and expert engineering employed by Leica was something sorely missing in the USSR. The Soviets, instead, had Ukrainian orphans."
Which I seem to remember from the Princelle book. And the book has one or two photos of the young workers. I think.
However, one of the comments had this to say:
"That’s a myth. The FED factory was built in place of former orphanage. Orphans were moved to other orphanages. It would be impossible to make such a complex devices as rangefinder cameras and optics using unqualified labour, even considering that soviet cameras were of more crude design."
(italic emphasis added by me) I agree that "unqualified labour" wouldn't be able to make a camera but I also think that well trained and supervised teenagers absolutely could learn to assemble a camera--they wouldn't need any optical or design experience--nor much knowledge--to assemble one correctly. A workforce like that would need supervisors and testing regimes such that the final product could be checked for function.
In fact, I worked in the Smith Corona factory building typewriters when I was 18 or 19 and I sure don't know anything about designing typewriters. But I was quickly trained to take a set of parts and put them together in the correct order and to see that they functioned how I was told they should. Got to be fairly quick at my task as well--it was a piece rate job so the more assemblies I made the better my pay was. 🙂
Anyway, I can't find my copy of Princelle's book about FSU cameras, so I can't check but I thought that the, presumably high-school aged orphans were actually the work force at the time--prior to WW II.
Anybody here know the actual history?
Thanks!
Rob
https://www.casualphotophile.com/2018/05/21/fed-5b-camera-review-35mm-film-rangefinder/
Part of the quick history was this statement by the author of the blog: "But the skilled craftsmen and expert engineering employed by Leica was something sorely missing in the USSR. The Soviets, instead, had Ukrainian orphans."
Which I seem to remember from the Princelle book. And the book has one or two photos of the young workers. I think.
However, one of the comments had this to say:
"That’s a myth. The FED factory was built in place of former orphanage. Orphans were moved to other orphanages. It would be impossible to make such a complex devices as rangefinder cameras and optics using unqualified labour, even considering that soviet cameras were of more crude design."
(italic emphasis added by me) I agree that "unqualified labour" wouldn't be able to make a camera but I also think that well trained and supervised teenagers absolutely could learn to assemble a camera--they wouldn't need any optical or design experience--nor much knowledge--to assemble one correctly. A workforce like that would need supervisors and testing regimes such that the final product could be checked for function.
In fact, I worked in the Smith Corona factory building typewriters when I was 18 or 19 and I sure don't know anything about designing typewriters. But I was quickly trained to take a set of parts and put them together in the correct order and to see that they functioned how I was told they should. Got to be fairly quick at my task as well--it was a piece rate job so the more assemblies I made the better my pay was. 🙂
Anyway, I can't find my copy of Princelle's book about FSU cameras, so I can't check but I thought that the, presumably high-school aged orphans were actually the work force at the time--prior to WW II.
Anybody here know the actual history?
Thanks!
Rob
