Smoothest, quietest - FSU cam

[triplefinger]

I'm thinking of a fed 1 or 2 or a Zorki 1 or 2 or 3.

I know they can be very clunky and loud. does anyone have knowledge of the smoothest quietest one?

Thanks!

 

[raid]

Hm ... I have not heard of the existence of a "quiet" FSU camera. They usually range between "very loud" to "unbelieveably loud" with intermediate postions inbetween.

Raid

 

[Peter A (NYC)]

Once in a Prague antique shop, I saw an old Kiev copy of a Contax II. It had a wheezy sound that was so gentle I thought it was broken, until I removed the back and saw the shutter working.

 

[triplefinger]

i see on fedka's website a couple cams where he talks about them as VERY smooth... fed 2 and a couple others

 

[mike goldberg]

Hi...
Fed-2 from the 60's; Fedka is very reliable.
Or check with Oleg for one that's been CLA'd at okvintagecamera.com
Good luck, mike

 

[ZorkiKat]

The build quality- which varies a lot- can determine how much noise a shutter in an old soviet camera makes. My quietest camera is one Zorki-1, but my other Zorki-1 and FED-1 are also among the noisiest as well. My FED-2 also fire with more noise. The laths used in the shutter - early ones used plain metal ones with the cloth wrapped around it, and the latter ones used crimped metal- would determine the firing sound as well. The latter, found in FED-2 and later cameras- tend to create more noise.

Then there is shutter tensioning as well. The more tensioning there is in the shutter, the more noise it would likely produce.

The soviet RF which I found to make the least sound when firing are the Kiev RF, the older ones in particular. They "sigh" rather than "wheeze" as the latter ones would.

If I were to select the soviet camera in my stash which makes the least noise when firing, it would be the Kiev-35A, Smena-8M and Lubitel-1.

Jay

 

[varjag]

A good Kiev will be quieter than most Leicas.

 

[winoto]

my Kievs are definitely quieter than my former FEDs and Zorki 3.

 

[payasam]

I doubt that any Fed, Zorki or Kiev model is inherently smoother or quieter than other models. The same is true of Leicas. All depends on the attention that the particular example has received.

 

[spiderfrank]

One day I handled an old Kiev 4 (Contax copy): the overall impression was of an ugly and heavy tank, but a masterpiece of smooth mechanics, a clear viewfinder and a soft and beautiful shutter sound!
If I didn't have my Bessa R I had bought that "not so little" jewel

 

[darkkavenger]

Definitely a Kiev, the older the better.

 

[oscroft]

does anyone have knowledge of the smoothest quietest one?

One of my FED-2s (but not the other one) 🙂

Considering FEDs and Zorkis I think there's probably more difference between individual cameras than there is between specific models.

 

[Spyderman]

Of course Kievs are quite quiet 🙂

but if you want a screwmount then probably one without slow speeds - FED 1 and 2, Zorki 1 and 2, and maybe 5 nad 6. But it depends on the shape of the camera, and the time from last CLA...

A CLA specially to make a camera quiet should always include decreasing the shutter curtains tension as much as possible. I did this to my Zorki 1 and it's just soooo quiet. I tried to decrease the tension on my Zorki 4, 3C and FED 3, but none of these can compare to the Zorki 1...

 

[Kin Lau]

I have 3 Kiev's and they're all very quiet. You'd think that the metal shutter would be louder, but that's not the case.

My Fed 2 is also very quiet, but not as quiet as the Kiev's. However, my Fed 2 is the smoothest.

 

[raid]

I did not know that Kiev cameras are that quiet.

 

[GeneW]

Like Kin, my Kiev is my quietest FSU, followed by my slightly louder but not aggressively loud Fed-2. My Zorki 4's now, they're aggressive. KA-CHUNK!!

Gene

 

[ZorkiKat]

I doubt that any Fed, Zorki or Kiev model is inherently smoother or quieter than other models. The same is true of Leicas. All depends on the attention that the particular example has received.

That is an innacurate sweeping generalisation. You'd need to have several of these cameras of different models with all the shutter variations and 'average' out their relative firing sounds.

You're comparing three cameras here which used two very different shutter
systems. Kiev RF shutters- metal blinds which glide to and fro with silk ribbons and sufficiently dampened by complicated gear trains- can really fire significantly with less noise than any FED or Zorki, regardless of the "attention" they received.

The FED, Zorki and Leica (pre IIIc) curtains are constructed with less complication and run in a very straightforward manner between drums and rollers through a narrow channel. This is where the manner of treatment during assembly or repair can spell the difference between a sigh or a clunk. Then there's also the shutter lath. The later FED and Zorki all used exposed metal laths, which would make more noise once they meet at the other end of the shutter traverse. No sort of "attention" given will make them as quiet as those with wrapped laths like those found in FED-1, Zorki-1, and Leica, which BTW used the same style laths until the IIIg.

 

[payasam]

Bye, friends.

 

[payasam]

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00Kvkj

 

[brachal]

As everybody else has pointed out, there's a great deal of variation. My Kiev 2a is very quiet. My Fed3b is also extremely quiet -- sometimes so quiet I have to check to make sure it's working. It's much quieter than my Fed2, but was CLA'd much more recently.

All of my FSU cameras are quieter than my Bessa R, which is quieter than most SLRs.