Thanks to Wolves for the nice, concise and understandable Beginner's Guide. Well-written. It should clear the fog for many who are new to the FSU rangefinder universe.
There are some flaws to the part about the FED-2, however:
FED 2
This is a re-design of the original FED. It has a more accurate, wide-base RF, incorporated into the VF, a removeable back, flash-synch and strap-lugs. Speeds are 1/25-1/500. Dioptre adjustment is found on this all all subsequent models: on this model it is lever operated, subsequent models use a rotating eyepiece bezel which is the bane of spectacle-wearers!
Not all FED-2 have flash synch. The first ones, up to serial number ~87000, did not.
Also, not all FED-2 have strap lugs. They were dropped on the later models, starting with serial no. ~5640000.
Speeds are as stated up to ~98900000 in 1959, then changed to 1/30-1/500 on later models.
The latest models of FED-2, which looked like a FED-3 and had the lever wind, already had the bezel instead of the lever for diopter adjustment - and the already had the narrower rangefinder base of the FED-3.
Not all subsequent FEDs had the dioptre adjustment - the FED-5C did not.
So the text should read something like:
This is a re-design of the original FED, which has seen significant changes over time. All have a removable back. All but the last, lever-wound version have a more accurate, wide-base RF, incorporated into the VF. Most have flash synch and strap lugs (flash synch was still missing on early models, strap lugs were dropped on late models). Speeds are 1/25-1/500 on earlier and 1/30-1/500 on later models. Dioptre adjustment is found on this all all subsequent models with exception of the FED-5C: on knob-wound FED-2 it is lever operated, subsequent models use a rotating eyepiece bezel which is the bane of spectacle-wearers!
FED 5
Again, there are variations (5C with and 5B without light meter) but the FED 5 is almost the same as the FED 4.
The part about the FED-5 is not wrong, however for a newbie to the FEDdom, it might not be totally clear from the text that there are
three versions 5, 5C and 5B:
Particularly so, because the FED-5 without additional letter were not listed in Wolves feature summary table at all, only the 5C and 5B.
I'd put it that way:
FED 5
Again, there are variations (5, 5C without dioptre adjustment and 5B without light meter) but the standard FED 5 is almost the same as the FED 4.
Corrected, the feature table should read (I've also added the diopter correction to it):
Wide-base RF:
All Kievs
FED 2
(knob wind models only)
Zorki 5, 6
"slow" speeds:
All Kievs
Zorki 3, 3M, 3C, 4, 4K
FED 3A, 3B, 4,
5, 5B, 5C
Flash-sync:
Kiev 2A, 3A and 4-series (syncs correctly at all speeds 1/25 and slower, including 'B')
FED 2 onwards (ONLY syncs correctly at 1/25 or 1/30, whichever is marked
; some early FED 2 models don't have flash synch yet)
Zorki 3C, 4, 4K (syncs correctly at any speed 1/30 or less, including 'B')
Zorki C, 2C, Mir, 5, 6 (syncs at 1/25 or 1/30, whichever is marked, plus 'B')
Light meter:
Kiev 4, 4M
FED 4,
5, 5C
Hinged back:
Zorki 6
Bottom-loading:
FED 1
Zorki 1, 2, C, 2C, 5
Viewfinder dioptre adjustment:
Zorki 3, 3M, 3C, 4, 4K, Mir, 5, 6
FED-2, 3, 4, 5, 5B
Cheers,
Andreas
