Rare FED

I have to admit it's a source of constant amusement for me 😀 If people would just use E*bays search function they would find umpteen "RARE" FEDs or even another Zorki S 😉 and as for Leica copy , Everyone knows Leica,s go for big money so maybe if your camera is a "Leica copy" some will rub off on yours 😀


Paul
 
I guess i'm missing something. Where does the ad say it's rare? I could'nt find it. But it looks more like my zorki 2c with those 4 front screws than any fed i've seen. Maybe thats what makes it rare?😕
 
"Leica copy" I think basically refers to the shutter mechanism. Camera bodies [especially older ones] are mostly a light tight box to hold the film and shutter. While the outer trappings of "Leica copies" may vary widely, the insides are at least somewhat similar.

The auction item you linked to... geez, I love guys like that. Absolutely no info. As if, "Well, I'm sure this great photo says it all. They'll know what it is." If they don't want to spend a few minutes to write down some info, I move on to another seller.
 
"Rare" will probably describe the amount of real interest the lazy guy will generate from his meager ad. "Please contact me if you have any questions ..." Right.
 
My re-acquaintance with this hobby came when I purchased a Zorki 2 in an antique shop in Poland. I knew it wasn't a Leica, but it certainly resembled what I remembered as a kid about 40 years before. It took me about a month of searching on the web to figure out what it was. Two weeks ago I walked into a major camera shop in Los Angeles (name omitted to protect the guilty), and the salesmen (yes, more than one) looked at my Kiev 2a and wanted to know if it was a Leica. They had never heard of a Kiev, or, a pre or post war Contax. I had to explain it to them.

I guess what I am saying is that we have knowledge that many others do not, including, obviously some who sell cameras for a living. I can't forgive appending "rare" to these cameras, but I can sympathize with a mistake of FED for Zorki. The sad thing is that a less knowledgeable buyer will get the wrong thing.

Dave
 
To be honest, a great number of people think ALL old cameras are rare and valuable, you`d be amazed at the number who think that a basic mass produced Box camera is a rare item of value and anything which collapses must be very rare and worth a fortune regardless of maker..

You can imagine how a Zorki 1 /2 or FED 1/2 must seem to many A:- it looks like a leica B:- was made before 1980 and C:- isn`t an SLR (even the uninformed will have an idea of the difference between a Zenit and a nikon F2 even if they think the F301 is the same as an F3) ..

What amazed me was that the Guy listed it as a FED and it hasn`t got FED written on it - where did he get THAT from? , I`m quite amazed that someone clueless enough to get them mixed up has even heard of FED !.

To those of us gaining interest rangefinders and FSUs after decades of Japanese SLRs, Names like FED and Zorki bring back memories of probably ONE camera in the lineup - for me FED meant the FED-5, a camera I avoided - Zorki was the 4K, a camera I liked and almost bought and likely may have if I`d not found a used battered Spotmatic at the right price (I couldn`t afford a new Zenit-E so getting a **REAL PENTAX** for less cash was a biggie for me) ..

Maybe the last camera guy who did the listing had seen which looked like a Leica II but wasn`t one was a FED and as the camera`s writing is in Cyrillic, he automatically assumed it WAS a FED ?
 
Stanton said:
I guess what I am saying is that we have knowledge that many others do not, including, obviously some who sell cameras for a living. I can't forgive appending "rare" to these cameras, but I can sympathize with a mistake of FED for Zorki. The sad thing is that a less knowledgeable buyer will get the wrong thing.

Dave
Click to expand...
Agreed, I know we have knowledge, through our interest, that others don't. Even so, the fact that it has "Zorkuii" (in cyrillic, admittedly) plastered across the top and "FED" appears nowhere should not tend to suggest it's a FED, even to the ignorant...

If you're selling something you don't know about I'd have thought that a few minutes research would repay the effort. Additionally, I'd be checking the condition (as an honest person) as far as I could. That way I could say the condition was poor/fair/excellent etc and hence realise the best price. For a camera, if the user says it's all working, recently serviced or whatever, wouldn't you pay more than if they just say "I know nothing about it"? The latter involves a heavy gamble on acquiring junk and deters people.
 
gb hill said:
I guess i'm missing something. Where does the ad say it's rare? I could'nt find it. But it looks more like my zorki 2c with those 4 front screws than any fed i've seen. Maybe thats what makes it rare?😕
Click to expand...
It doesn't say it's rare - that was my sarcasm 😀
 
wolves3012 said:
Agreed, I the fact that it has "Zorkuii" (in cyrillic, admittedly) plastered across the top and "FED" appears nowhere should not tend to suggest it's a FED, even to the ignorant...

.
Click to expand...


Years back, a friend told me that a Russian rangefinder camera resided in his boss's closet. He said it was a "Bojokuu"- 😀 The stylised cyrillic script logo of Zorki does read that way to a Latin alphabet-only eye.

Jay
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

E
Jupiter 8 m39 Rangefinder lens off horizontal alignment (the only lens)
Replies
4
Views
354
former member
F
L
How to replace shutter curtain on Fed 5
Replies
17
Views
279
lotech
L
M
FED 3 .
Replies
3
Views
323
Valkir1987
Valkir1987
cyberpunkrocker
FED Zarya rewind knob removal
Replies
1
Views
376
santino
santino
B
Fed 50/3.5 collapsible
2
Replies
34
Views
6K
aw614
A
Back
Top Bottom