Th charm of a Fed-3

[manfromh]

I had kind of lost hope in FSU cameras. My two Kievs arent working, Zorki-4k has its problems with the shutter speed selector. I never was fond of the Z4k anyway. My Zorki-6 needs a shutter lube, and a basic CLA. But then I re-discovered my Fed-3. Sure the slow speeds sometimes stick. Sure it has a dark viewfinder. Sure it doesnt have a film door like the Z6. The camera is bigger, but is more comfortable to hold. Especially with the lower part of the ever-ready case (which makes the camera even bigger). The wind lever is comfier aswell. A bit squeeky though. Maybe I can even make the viewfinder brighter.

I am now planning to relube some parts myself and paint the camera black (maybe), and actualy use it. The black Jupiter-8 (rebuilt by Spyderman, very nice work) looks great on it too.

Am I insane for liking the old-ugly fed-3? 😱


PS: Are the outer metal parts covered in chrome? And can I use lithium grease for lubing all kinds of inner parts?

 

[oscroft]

Am I insane for liking the old-ugly fed-3?

Not at all - I like mine and use it a lot 😀

 

[payasam]

If you're insane for liking a camera, then RFF is collectively a bunch of lunatics.

 

[Spyderman]

If you're calling FED-3 ugly, you probably have never seen a FED-4 😀 😀 😀


regarding your questions:
- yes, the top and bottoms are chrome on brass (or even chrome on nickel on brass, I'm not sure). Paint won't stick to it very well. Either strip the chrome, or find some special primer for chrome (not sure if that exists).

- yes you can use white lithium grease, but grease can only be used for parts you can actually disassemble. It won't get inside of a bearing if you put the grease on the outside of the bearing... I hope you get what I mean. Sometimes a tiny drop of good teflon/PTFE oil is better.

- there is no way to make the VF brighter that I can think of. The Soviets intentionally made the VF darker to make the RF more contrasty.

BTW: here's mine: recovered with black soft leather, self timer removed, hole filled with epoxy...

 

[manfromh]

Luckily there is a company here who remove chrome for 17$ per m2. The service is aimed at cars and bikes, but im sure they wont reject camera parts.

The grease/oil would be used to un-squeak the wind lever. I havent taken the camera apart yet, so i dont know whats in there.

 

[wolves3012]

I had kind of lost hope in FSU cameras. My two Kievs arent working, Zorki-4k has its problems with the shutter speed selector. I never was fond of the Z4k anyway. My Zorki-6 needs a shutter lube, and a basic CLA. But then I re-discovered my Fed-3. Sure the slow speeds sometimes stick. Sure it has a dark viewfinder. Sure it doesnt have a film door like the Z6. The camera is bigger, but is more comfortable to hold. Especially with the lower part of the ever-ready case (which makes the camera even bigger). The wind lever is comfier aswell. A bit squeeky though. Maybe I can even make the viewfinder brighter.

I am now planning to relube some parts myself and paint the camera black (maybe), and actualy use it. The black Jupiter-8 (rebuilt by Spyderman, very nice work) looks great on it too.

Am I insane for liking the old-ugly fed-3? 😱


PS: Are the outer metal parts covered in chrome? And can I use lithium grease for lubing all kinds of inner parts?

1) You'd have to de-chrome the chrome parts to have any chance of paint adhesion.

2) Lithium grease isn't suitable for all the internal parts, only things like gears and such. An oil is needed for things like curtain roller bearings, if you intend to go that far into disassembly.

 

[Trawlerman]

I have a very nice FED-3a that I got from Yuri @ Fedka.

It came supplied with an Industar-26, original box, manual in cyrillic and even the passports showing that it was made 23 December 1963!

It's a beautiful camera and I would part with it for the world. It's worth practically nothing but I love it for what it is ..... a lovely old camera that's in perfect working order and one that takes me back to a whole other world and time.

And that's part of the romanticism of owning such olde world camera's. They don't have to live upto modern standards, they just are what they are. If I want modern I can pick up my Pentax K10d and DA lenses and blast of a few hundred shots with that. But my FED-3a and Zorki-4K will always hold a special place in my heart as will my YashicaMat 124G.

Rangefinders are dead ..... long live rangefinders!

 

[howpow]

The Fed 3b's are very underrated cameras. I personally think that they are excellent users, and NO, they aren't ugly at all! I have two mint examples that work perfectly and are beautiful (to my eyes anyway)l 🙂

 

[SimonK]

If you're calling FED-3 ugly, you probably have never seen a FED-4 😀 😀 😀


regarding your questions:
- yes, the top and bottoms are chrome on brass (or even chrome on nickel on brass, I'm not sure). Paint won't stick to it very well. Either strip the chrome, or find some special primer for chrome (not sure if that exists).

- yes you can use white lithium grease, but grease can only be used for parts you can actually disassemble. It won't get inside of a bearing if you put the grease on the outside of the bearing... I hope you get what I mean. Sometimes a tiny drop of good teflon/PTFE oil is better.

- there is no way to make the VF brighter that I can think of. The Soviets intentionally made the VF darker to make the RF more contrasty.

BTW: here's mine: recovered with black soft leather, self timer removed, hole filled with epoxy...

Why did you do that? I have always used the self-timer on my cameras for slow shutter speed shots to avoid camera shake, I don't think I could live without one now.

 

[brachal]

I love the Fed-3. I think it's very attractive. Mine is silky smooth to operate, and it is the quietest camera I own. It is my favorite FSU camera.

 

[Spyderman]

Why did you do that? I have always used the self-timer on my cameras for slow shutter speed shots to avoid camera shake, I don't think I could live without one now.

Because for my style of photography the s.t. is useless. And when I want to use such long exposure times, I better use a tripod and an SLR anyway... So simply said: I never use a RF with a tripod.