Selecting an FSU camera: Beginner's Guide

So..... while I'm waiting.....

What is a good, appropriate Russian portrait length lens to go on the FED-1?

I have a Canon 100/2 for my 7s/0.95 combo....Do the russians have anything similar in the 100mm range?

And, how about speed? What is a reasonably fast russian lens for this body?
 
DrLeoB said:
So..... while I'm waiting.....

What is a good, appropriate Russian portrait length lens to go on the FED-1?

I have a Canon 100/2 for my 7s/0.95 combo....Do the russians have anything similar in the 100mm range?

And, how about speed? What is a reasonably fast russian lens for this body?
Click to expand...

There are effectively 2 choices, Dr Leo, neither of which is exactly what you want :)

These are:

1) The f2 85mm Jupiter 9 - an excellent lens, although sometimes requiring adjustment (it is said) due to inept reassembly by previous owners.

2) The f4 135mm Jupiter 11, which has a fairly undistinguished reputation, probably as much to do with the current unpopularity of the length as with any optical deficiency.

The prewar FED f6.3 100mm is a collectors item and is most unlikely to work on a standard LTM FED 1.

The Jupiter 9 is the Soviet portrait lens par excellence.

Cheers. Ian
 
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Got My Fed-1

Got My Fed-1

Thenks and much appreciate you ramarks about the lens recommencations and ....

I got the camera this afternoon, 10 days .... NOT bad.

I am really pleased with the initial appearance and feel, ... nice, well constructed. There has been a repaint to make it a "Black FED" but that is ok with me. Seems to work very well, now to run some film through.

Shutter sounds good, lens focus mechanism is greasy, aperture is smooth and glass is clean. Curtains look new, obviously, black paint is new, interior is spotless.

I'm very pleased with this camera and will enjoy putting it through its paces.
 
Got all the dirty grease cleaned out of the focus and lens mount threads and relubed them with my special fluorocarbon lube (NO volatiles, No creep) .

Boy, how smooth the focus now...nice and easy. Off I to to do some shooting...
 
Enjoy!

Depending how old the FED 1 is you may have some issues if you try other lenses. Firstly, the pre-war (ish) FEDs had non-standard threads that will not accept later lenses. Secondly, the lens and body were matched, originally, to each other and other lenses *might* not focus properly.

Jocko forgot to mention a fast lens - that'll be the Jupiter 3 50mm f/1.5. They also suffer from the effects of inept repairmen, I believe.

The Jupiter 9 is also a fast lens at f/2. Many of these have been disassembled and put together again incorrectly, resulting in an inability to focus. Beware, if you buy one - make sure there's some sort of guarantee/return policy!
 
Thanks for the advice, I am now starting the hunt...

Was easily able to screw my Summarit 50/1.5,Canon 100/2 and Nokton 50/1.5 on and smoothly focus with all so I guess I got lucky with the threads, although, I did get A LOT of crud out of them when I cleaned them.

My "Fedoshka" is looking fine.
 
DrLeoB said:
Thanks for the advice, I am now starting the hunt...

Was easily able to screw my Summarit 50/1.5,Canon 100/2 and Nokton 50/1.5 on and smoothly focus with all so I guess I got lucky with the threads, although, I did get A LOT of crud out of them when I cleaned them.

My "Fedoshka" is looking fine.
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One major thing I forgot to mention when fitting other lenses - make sure any lens that you try has a full-circle RF cam on it. Some non-FSU ones didn't and they can hang up on the RF sensor. Once mounted it's not possible to remove them again from a bottom-loading FSU! I'm not sure which lenses these are had but it's a known issue...
 
Fed-1 Arrived/Canon 1.8 arrived - Now together

Fed-1 Arrived/Canon 1.8 arrived - Now together

I like this look, lens fits easily and looks nice.
 
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DrLeoB said:
I like this look, lens fits easily and looks nice.
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Looks a nice example, it's a FED 1g. Interestingly it's the only FED with a locking shutter-release (and the Zorki 1 was the only Zorki without it!). You shouldn't have any particular focussing issues since the later ones were (supposedly) standardised, I believe. Just beware the circular cam issue with any lenses you try on this, since it's a bottom loader!

Enjoy...
 
wolves3012 said:
One major thing I forgot to mention when fitting other lenses - make sure any lens that you try has a full-circle RF cam on it. Some non-FSU ones didn't and they can hang up on the RF sensor. Once mounted it's not possible to remove them again from a bottom-loading FSU! I'm not sure which lenses these are had but it's a known issue...
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Wolves: This is a very important observation.
FSU cameras have a fixed metal piece in the RF coupling arm which touches the lens barrel.
Leicas have a similar arrangement but the feeler is a small bearing (don´t know if it´s a ball bearing or not), which rotates.
This is the reason why a non flat shaped lens coupling tongue is OK for the Leicas and may produce a horrible situation when used in a Zorki or Fed.

As an example, the Leitz Hektor 135 f 4.5 (both prewar or postwar) has a a trapezoid shaped RF tongue which protrudes about 1 mm when focused to the minimum distance. Unless the tongue angles are very smoothly rounded, it´s almost impossible to mount it on a Zorki (or FED).

Cheers
Ernesto
 
Both of you make excellent points about the focus pawl in the Fed, it is a fine little point which can get caught behind one of the tab type lens couplings. All of the lenses I have tried have been "full circle" or very broad tab type rangefinder coplings. Interesting how sharp this rider is....

I have dis-assembled a number of the regular leica rangefinder couplers and find that they are just a round steel bearing surface, no ball or pin bearings in evidence, other than the shaft.

The Fedka is actually a more finely adjustable assembly from what I can see.

I also must amend my previous post, the Canon 100/2 does screw into the threads just fine, but, because of the tab coupling, cannot be fully screwed down to the flange. Darn.... And thenks for the cautions, gang.
 
Hi All...
This is a great Thread to be "Stickyed."

I have a Fed-2c in the mail from Oleg, having been CLA'd, and a Zorki-4 is waiting
for me at the PO. Lenses for checking them out include an excellent Fed 50/3.5 Collapsible, I-26m, I-61 l/d and the lovely Jupiter 8, 50/2. A recently arrived J-12, 35/2.8 is as yet untested.

Do I assume correctly that these lenses will work OK on the Fed-2c and Z4?
Thanks, Mike
 
Mike:
All FSU made LTM lenses can be used in your cameras.
Only exceptions to this are the old M39 lens made for the old Zeniths which had a different register (lens mounting plane to film plane) than 28.8 mm.
Unfortunately I do not remember lens names to tell which are.

Cheers

Ernesto
 
Mike,

One common lense to be avoided is the MIR 37mm (it's 39mm but an SLR-design, a great lens but useless on LTM). It's often advertised as "39mm, for FED/Zorki etc". One to be careful of is the Jupiter 11 135mm, which came in Zenit-39mm and LTM-39mm mounts; make sure you get the right one!

The Industar 50 also came in both mounts - the very squat version is for Zenit SLRs. Also, anything with a stop-down ring (pre-set) is not suitable.

The old FED uncoated collapsibles may not thread onto a newer mount and may have focus issues. Other than that, avoid anything that doesn't have a full-circle RF coupling cam (all FSU lenses DO have this) because they can hang up on the RF sensor tip.
 
mike goldberg said:
Hi All...
This is a great Thread to be "Stickyed."

I have a Fed-2c in the mail from Oleg, having been CLA'd, and a Zorki-4 is waiting
for me at the PO. Lenses for checking them out include an excellent Fed 50/3.5 Collapsible, I-26m, I-61 l/d and the lovely Jupiter 8, 50/2. A recently arrived J-12, 35/2.8 is as yet untested.

Do I assume correctly that these lenses will work OK on the Fed-2c and Z4?
Thanks, Mike
Click to expand...
Nice starters! Yes, they'll all interchange and should give no problems. You may find the I-26m and I-61 L/D have lousy focussing unless they've been re-lubed. All six of mine needed it, badly!

I doubt you will tell the difference between the I-26m and I-61 L/D to be honest. The FED 50 reputedly is sharper at the edges and the J-8 is just a nice lens. As for the J-12, I was blown away with the picture quality of mine - you should love it!
 
DrLeoB said:
I like this look, lens fits easily and looks nice.
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Now that`s "From Russia With Love" really looks crazy that Black FED and that kool Canon f1.8 a nice choice......I wanna see some PIX done with it soon!

Tom

PS: Leo were these made for the Swedish Army? (hahhahaha just kidding!)
 
Hello all... RF newbie here...

I've read through the threads, and after deciding on a Russian vs. Yashica RF, I'll go for a russian. It seems that the top contenders here are a Fed 2, Zorki 6 and an early model Kiev 4.

Can you help me narrow my choices further? I most likely will be making my acquisition from eBay.

TIA!
 
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