FED2 - DIY VF/RF Service (long w/images)

Bravo!!

Makes me want to crack open the M3 and see if I can do the same with it !!!

..kidding...I'm all thumbs....

Excellent tutorial!

P.S: For some Leica repair stuff this is a pretty good place: http://www.mediajoy.com/en/lrc/index.html
 
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My god I wish I had the patients to do something like that.

Great info Laika, thanks.
 
Hi Laika,

That was a good one. So that was how you mastered Fed 2 repair! So how many Fed 2 were sacrificed in the process of uncovering its anatomical secrets?

Regards,
Peter
:p
 
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Peter wrote:
..So how many Fed 2 was sacrificed in the process of uncovering its anatomical secrets?

I can assure you no FED2s were harmed during this procedure! :D
 
WOW ! :eek:

Laika THANKS a lot for posting all that info and for all that work ! Amazing ! Now I'm really curious about that Fed-2 you're completely rebuilding and the custom shooter Fed3.

Only dreaming, but if a Fed-2 could be fitted with a 'modern' bigger brighter VF and slow speeds, well what a winner camera then !

IMO the Fed-2 is a great design success, the original Feds and Zorkis were mainly Leica copies but with this Fed, designers really took a step ahead. BTW do you know if the original Fed2 was going to feature a separate VF/RF ? If you look at the eyepiece you clearly see it's placed on one side, leaving enough room on its right for the twin eyepiece...

Only thoughts... :rolleyes:
 
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I'm going to need this. This will be most helpful. Thanks. I've gone off the deep end on these FSU cameras. I have two cameras and a lens coming (I hope) from three separate Ebay auctions. A Zorki 6 with a white Jupiter 8, a black Jupiter 12, and a late Fed 2 with a panda Industar-61. At least so the auctions claimed. This thread is both a help and an inspiration. At least I will be able to get my Fed 2 cleaned.
 
Welcome, Gordon! I used to work not far from there, in Mukileo. What's that camera in your avatar photo; do I see a red dot? ;-)
 
Gordon welcome to RFF :) ... Looking forward to seeing some pic's from your Z6 & FED2 (nice start in Soviet RF's btw) when they arrive.
 
Welcome to the forum, Gordon! :)

Laika: Fantastic job with this info. I hope your thread gets linked to in other FSU forums so it will get a really wide readership.

Your effort deserves no less!
 
Ah, right! Thanks, Richard, I just knew Leica had copied that red dot from somewhere! :-D
 
Hey Laika,

I have just ebayed a late FED 2, just because of your posting. :)

Is a Zorki similar inside?

Berci
 
taffer said:
...Only dreaming, but if a Fed-2 could be fitted with a 'modern' bigger brighter VF and slow speeds, well what a winner camera then !...
Click to expand...

I'm wondering what makes a VF bright or not. Why are the Bessa and Leica VFs so much brighter than the FED's? Obviously the size of the window ill have something to do with it, but what else? Would resilvering the mirror or using clearer glass make a difference? I'm thinking that it shouldn't be too difficult to make the FED's VF at least a bit brighter than it is now....
 
RML said:
I'm wondering what makes a VF bright or not. Why are the Bessa and Leica VFs so much brighter than the FED's? Obviously the size of the window ill have something to do with it, but what else? Would resilvering the mirror or using clearer glass make a difference? I'm thinking that it shouldn't be too difficult to make the FED's VF at least a bit brighter than it is now....
Click to expand...

I think beyond the clean up I posted it would need new optical elements using modern materials. The main glass of the viewfinder is made up from two triangular sections of glass glued together, one is amber and one is green in colour. I'm guessing the combo was to give contrast to the RF spot. The down side is the dark finder (compared to modern cameras). The mirror issue is only relevant if the focus spot is not strong enough looking thru the viewfinder. My thoughts are it comes down to the dark glass and small size of everything optical, the eyepiece lens is only 5.5mm in dia. I have heard of people removing the diopter lens to help brighten up the finder a bit but haven’t tried it myself.
 
berci said:
Hey Laika,

I have just ebayed a late FED 2, just because of your posting. :)

Is a Zorki similar inside?

Berci
Click to expand...

Cool, the late FED2's are nice... but then so are the early ones .. Ok they are all nice :D

What Zorki are we talking about? I'd say they are similar if you’re talking about the Z5 and Z6 with the long RF base length and lack of slow speeds.
 
I don't know it exactly and can't check it at the moment because the camera is one thousand miles away from here. As I remember it looks very much like an early FED2 and has an Industar 26.
 
I also would like to know if Zorki cameras are similiar from inside ? I have a Zorki 1, which rangefinder needs some tuning (distances just don´t match), but I don´t know if I have to remove the top plate to fix that problem or not. Any help ?

I also have a Moskva 2 camera which has a similiar problem, but that´s a different story, I think...
 
C-Petteri said:
....I have a Zorki 1, which rangefinder needs some tuning (distances just don´t match), but I don´t know if I have to remove the top plate to fix that problem or not. Any help ?
Click to expand...

The top doesn't have to come off to setup the RF. Its much the same as mentioned above. Have a look at this link :)
http://jay.fedka.com/index_files/Page422.htm
 
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