The old Fed 'fred'

[Dralowid]

I'm keen to see pictures of earlier Feds. By earlier I suggest pre war or pre s/n 10,000. There are lots of interesting variants out there that rarely come to light.

As a starter, here is an old picture of my collection of different engravings etc when it was at its height...OK so there are Zorkis lurking in there and some are post war but you get the general idea...

IMG_0053 by dralowid, on Flickr

 

[Dralowid]

And...here is my only pre 10,000 camera. This is 8344, note the shape of the viewfinder window frame, the very fine knurling on the knobs and the so called 'lavatory bowl'. The camera also has a collimation plug in the back and corresponding hole in the pressure plate. It is very well made and functions 100%

FED 002 by dralowid, on Flickr

FED 001 by dralowid, on Flickr

IMG_0762 by dralowid, on Flickr

I'm not 100% sure how the rangefinder windows were originally finished, maybe just blackened brass?

Let's see your interesting Fed.

Michael

 

[Dralowid]

Sorry folks, I've put this in the wrong place, can one of the Mods move it all to the FSU section please?

Thanks

Michael

 

[geoffox23]

Hello Michael

Your FED is in nice condition for it's age. Can you show a shot of the back?

I'm guessing the papers are build history or QC.
Can you show uncovered shots? These are quite unusual as I have not seen hand written forms before. (Later forms are printed sheets).

My earliest FED is 36618, so sadly I can't contribute.

Cheers
Geoff

 

[Dralowid]

Geoff,

The papers are just home made exposure charts, nothing from the factory. I'll take a pic of the back in due course.

There are no real rules...I'm sure we should include 36618, it certainly qualifies as being pre-war.

Michael

 

[geoffox23]

Yes, I see that now from Google translation of the sheets.

My 36618 is nothing special, a bit rough and came from Oleg (OK Photocameras) in Russia without papers.

In a book by Albino Pegorari & Claudio Asquini called "From Russia with a click" it notes "In September 1935 the camera with serial number 10000 is produced"

Cheers
Geoff

 

[David Hughes]

Yes, I see that now from Google translation of the sheets.

My 36618 is nothing special, a bit rough and came from Oleg (OK Photocameras) in Russia without papers.

In a book by Albino Pegorari & Claudio Asquini called "From Russia with a click" it notes "In September 1935 the camera with serial number 10000 is produced"

Cheers
Geoff

Hi,

Now I wonder where that figure came from?

The first camera off the pre-production line was in mid to late 1932 and by 1933 they were talking about a production run of 100 with 250 FED 10 lenses on order. And at the time the new factory hadn't even been completed and was planned for the end of 1933. And the cameras were copies of the "hockey stick" Leicas.

Then two years later (1935) an ex-orphanage group have reached 10,000 cameras. Although they* were talking** about VOOMP making the lenses.

Having read their opinion of the Spitfires we (UK) gave them during the war I'm inclined to take it with a pinch of salt or two...

Regards, David

* Пролетарское фото; a 1933 magazine: trans. "Proletarian Photo".

** Article here:- http://www.dvdtechcameras.com/info/5.htm

 

[Dralowid]

If you look at:

http://www.sovietcams.com/index.php?414372438

It gives the impression that once they had mastered the hockey stick camera they wanted to get production of the rangefinder camera up and running as soon as possible and developed the thing on the hoof. By s/n 10,000 (mine is PE0175) they seem to have got the measure of the thing and are starting to produce consistent runs of the same camera.

It seems odd that the first 8,000 or so had a space for an accessory shoe but no shoe...maybe they hadn't made anything to put in it yet???

In the past I have tried to buy even older Feds but they achieve the sort of money that makes Leicas look dirt cheap. Still hoping for pics of some.

 

[geoffox23]

David

From a FED Factory History book, I have google translated the following from page 29
" With the departure of A. Makarenko commune Dzerzhinsky continued to operate. In September 1935, photo released ten thousand unit production mark "FED". It was a great victory for the labor collective. Setting the camera to master serial production was carried out. A group of workers of the commune has received letters of the NKVD of the USSR. Among them the chief of the optical shop LP Perfil'ev locksmith VN Fedorenko, polirovschitsa NI Kareva and many others."

The book is light on production figures, being more a history of factory and workers, but it adds some validity to the 10000 number.

In his "Authentic Guide to Russian and Soviet Cameras" JL Princelle also concurs stating "Bookmarks: Sept 1935- 10000th FED, Feb 1936 #16721 with lens #17322".

Michael, have you been to the Fotoua site, for many good pics.

Geoff

 

[geoffox23]

This detailed FED section is a little hard to find so see here.. http://www.dvdtechcameras.com/collect/fed/fed.htm

also some FED pics in here ..http://www.reocities.com/asquinet/

Hope this helps

Cheers
Geoff

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

The commune was a group of 13 to 17 year old orphans/kids working part time and making other things and also being in the class room doing normal schooling. 10 or 12 thousand cameras straight off in the first two years in a new factory with a new model to be mastered just seems OTT to me. And, as I said, I think they exaggerated things a little and Stalin & Co, via the NKVD, had set the target for them to achieve. These figures are political and I don't trust politicians.

Regards, David

 

[Dralowid]

Hi,

The commune was a group of 13 to 17 year old orphans/kids working part time and making other things and also being in the class room doing normal schooling. 10 or 12 thousand cameras straight off in the first two years in a new factory with a new model to be mastered just seems OTT to me. And, as I said, I think they exaggerated things a little and Stalin & Co, via the NKVD, had set the target for them to achieve. These figures are political and I don't trust politicians.

Regards, David

Which would further explain the rarity of the early cameras and the diverse variations.

Geoff, many thanks for the links,

Michael

 

[wolves3012]

I have no. 99254, which I believe dates it to 1939. The inscription looks exactly the same as the lowest left FED in the first post above. I'm not sure of the provenance of this example, it appears to have been made from more than one body - some screws don't line up properly with their threaded holes so it's a bit of a b*gger get apart/put together. I bought it cheaply though and re-curtained it, it's quite smooth (for a FED) in operation.

 

[goamules]

Here is one of my earliest, that had the Fed 50/2 lens, and 500 speed dial. It came from a guy that used to work in the USSR, right after the fall of the wall. No. 46,339.

 

[johannielscom]

Garrett,

sometimes the 1/1000th mark wasn't engraved, but the setting was there underneath the hood. Have you ever tried to set it to 1/1000th? You might be lucky and have a true Fed-S without the 1/1000th mark.


For all interested: www.ussrphoto.com has a wealth of information on Russian (rangefinder) cameras, due to articles and serial number wiki for the older FEDs and Zorkiis. Look for 'Wiki catalog' in the top menu.

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

Yet another pointer to my doubts about output; it took Reid until 1951 or so to produce a copy Leica and I remember a story about some US attempts to copy it, which resulted in complaints that Leica's drawing were wrong. I just can't recall where I saw it but the JISC(?) was involved. It was in one of those UK Govt. reports with the blue covers.

Regards, David

 

[citizen99]

Hi,

Yet another pointer to my doubts about output; it took Reid until 1951 or so to produce a copy Leica and I remember a story about some US attempts to copy it, which resulted in complaints that Leica's drawing were wrong. I just can't recall where I saw it but the JISC(?) was involved. It was in one of those UK Govt. reports with the blue covers.

Regards, David

'...were wrong...'
😉 I'm sure I'll be corrected if this is wrong, but coming at this from a different angle ... my impression from what I read is that Leica used 'craftsman final adjustment' rather than super-precise production tolerances. Whereas Reid, accustomed to precision work for the government, engineered the production of the (obsolescent) design magnificently and expensively. Meanwhile, Leica had said nuffink whilst designing the next generation, which made the Reid uncompetitive anyway 😀 .

 

[citizen99]

PS I had a Reid for a while, enjoyed its beauty, but didn't use it enough to justify keeping it as my preference for medium format revived.
Now, I'm into FEDs, have a FED2 and just got a FED 1F for 35mm 🙂.

 

[David Hughes]

'...were wrong...'
😉 I'm sure I'll be corrected if this is wrong, but coming at this from a different angle ... my impression from what I read is that Leica used 'craftsman final adjustment' rather than super-precise production tolerances. Whereas Reid, accustomed to precision work for the government, engineered the production of the (obsolescent) design magnificently and expensively. Meanwhile, Leica had said nuffink whilst designing the next generation, which made the Reid uncompetitive anyway 😀 .

Hi,

I found this recently and put it here:-

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2573770#post2573770

It's post 109

Regards, David

 

[citizen99]

Ah yes, thank you, that was it 🙂