will LTM lenses work on FSU bodies

<p>hello all, this is my very first post here.<br>

i just picked up a summitar and am looking to put it on a body and get shooting!<br>

it might take a while to find a leica m5, which is what i ultimately desire, so i am looking to pick up a cheap FSU camera, like the FED4.<br>

my question is, will the summitar mount and focus properly on the FED 4?<br>

any replies helpful and thank you.</p>

 

<p>This may become obvious but what is an FSU body?</p>

<p>former soviet union body? i am guessing?<br>

i am new to this too. but i've seen this term all over in reference to all the former soviet union (russian) made rangefinders - a huge vast assortment including cameras with names like FED, Zorki, Kiev, ..<br>

i am particularly looking at the screw mount (LTM, leica thread mount) ones so i can fit a leitz (leica) summitar 50mm on there. i've narrowed it down to the FED 4.<br>

i've read that there might be issues with mounting a leica lens on a russian rangefinder, something about having to adjust the viewfinder to custom to that lens, and stuff about how just screwing it in might damage the camera or the lens?! and the aperture readings will be facing the bottom? not sure who to believe.<br>

any experts out there? ?</p>

<p>Yes the lens will mount and focus correctly. The question is, will the FED body focus correctly?</p>

<p>That is, is the flange to film plane set correctly?</p>

<p>Is the RF adjusted correctly?</p>

<p>You will have to try it to see. The FED quality control is not what genuine Leicas have. My advice is to get a Leica IIIf RD. I have and use one and they are very fine cameras.</p>

<p>Here is a long answer.My take of it is don't use a long focus lens, dont open up too wide ,rangefinder accuracy may vary with distance.For some Feds/Zorkis the instructions for rangefinder adjustment are on the net.<br>

<a href="http://www.dantestella.com/technical/compat.html">http://www.dantestella.com/technical/compat.html</a></p>

<p>I totally agree with Anthony's observations.</p>

<p>Though a Russian camera is pretty inexpensive, in the long run you're better off looking for a Canon P or a Leica IIIc.</p>

<ol>

<li>The Canon has <strong>many</strong> things better than every one of Leica's screw mount offerings. </li>

<li>The IIIc is cheaper than a IIIf and lacks the <strong>unnecessary</strong> flash sync complexity.</li>

</ol><div></div>

<p>I wouldn't recommend Fed-4 either. It's huge in size, thanks only to the incorporated primitive lightmeter. The selenium lightmeter is probably dead or at least totally misleading by now. And it's film rewind mechanism is worst I've ever seen on any camera.<br>

If you still want a cheap russian camera, Zorki's and earlier Fed's (1&2) are generally better cameras than later Fed's.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>"What is an FSU camera?"</p>

</blockquote>

<p><a href="http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=What+is+an+%22FSU+camera%22%3F">Let me Google that for you....</a></p>

<p>Russian LTM cameras accept a subset of LTM lenses. <br>

A Leica body will accept about all.</p>

<p>A Russian body has no roller cam; it has a pie or finger cam.</p>

<p> If one tries to mount my 10.5cm F2.5 LTM Nikkor on my Zorki; it will not work.</p>

<p>The 10.5cm is a stub type of cam surface.</p>

<p>To mount a lens like this one can open up the zorki;</p>

<p>place the shutter on bulb;</p>

<p>open up the shutter;</p>

<p>stick a finger through the shutter;</p>

<p>pull back the pie/finger cam to allow one to screw on the lens. </p>

<p>A good way to loose a finger or ruin a shutter!</p>

<p>With the Russian Lennigrad; the lens flange is recesses. My 50mm F2 LTM Summicron Rigid will not work; nor will my 50mm F1.2 canon LTM</p>

<p>The 50mm F1.5 Summarit LTM will work on some Russian bodies and not others. Its round cam ring is very thin; it does contact the pie cam on some russian bodies;and not others</p>

<p>In general most 50mm LTM lens will work on a Russian LTM body; often NON Russian telephotos will not work.<br>

A Russian LTM lens tends to work on most LTM bodies of any brand,<br>

There are lots of exceptions</p>

<p>sounds like a mixed bag on these russian shooters...<br>

anyone selling a m5 in black with 134xxxx serial numbers, perhaps CLA'd recently? haha</p>

<p>I never had problems with mounting a lens with rangefinder coupling tab on FEDs and Zorkis. Maybe on my lenses the tab was wide enough to match the cam follower. You should set the lenses to the close-up position prior to mounting them, in this case the tab goes inward the lens and usually does not cause any problems with tipped cam followers.</p>

<p>There is an important simple rule for mounting lenses on zorkies and feds - a lens must be set to the closest distance before mounting. This helps to avoid rangefinder decalibration (lack of a rollercam makes Russian rangefinder quite prone to it), as well as prevents problems Kelly mentioned for mounting lenses like LTM Nikkor 2.5/105 or 135mm Hektor (not everytime though).</p>

<p>Even the f/1.2 50mm Canon LTM lens works on my FED1g. Since this lens has a big rear element, the rangefinder coupling ring has a large inner diameter and is very thin. At first it did not meet the tipped cam follower of the FED1g correctly. I had to bend the cam follower a bit upward (i.e. towards the edge of the lens mount, and now it works correctly.<br>

The 135mm black barrel A.Schacht LTM lens has a coupling tap which protudes only a millimeter or so behind the mounting flange when set to close focus. The edges are taken off a bit. You can feel how it bumps against the tipped cam of the FED1 when mounting it but it is possible without problems and damage.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>thank you everyone for such great ideas and pointers.<br>

i'm happy to know about the quirk of how lenses must mount. wasnt aware of that.<br>

winfried, does bending the cam affect the mounting of other lenses? or does it just allow certain lenses that dont match up to be mounted while not affecting other lenses?<br>

i've read that with certain russian rangefinders, you can adjust the rangefinder and the cam, but then the camera is pretty much custom fitted for that lens and that lens only? </p>

<p>Of course you should not bend the cam follower too much upward, it seems as if I got it right just on the first try. The threaded part of the f/1.2 50mm Canon lens has a very thin wall, on other lenses it is much thicker, however it seems as if I have just found the correct position of the cam. Also, if you are NOT using lenses with a very big rear element the cam follower should work with most LTM lenses.</p>

<p>With a non Russian LTM lens with a stub tab; Moving the lens to the closest distance doesnt always work in about all the stub type lenses I own.<br>

<br /> (1) Here it does *NOT* work with any of my zoo of dozen plus Soviet bodies with my 10.5cm F2.5 Nikkor LTM.</p>

<p>(2) It also does *NOT* work with my 8.5cm F2 Nikkor LTM either that has a stub cam</p>

<p>(3) The 13.5cm F3.5 Nikkor with stub cam here will work on some Soviet bodies but not others. </p>

<p>(4) The 13.5 cm F4.5 Steinheil will not mount on any Soviet bodies either; it has a stub cam</p>

<p>I use to sell Feds; Zorkis; Lennigrad's on Ebay in the later 1990's; *NONE* of the Soviet bodies I have held will work with my 8.5cm or 10.5cm Nikkor. If one focuses to the closest position; one cannot place the lenses on my own Fed 2; 3,4, 5 6; or Zorki 3C; 4 or 4K or 6's</p>

<p>I am not saying anothers 8.5 or 10.5cm Nikkor doesnt work on Soviet bodies; but my two lenses *never work*; unless one places ones finger thru the shutter.</p>

<p>With some Soviet bodies; the pivot point of the pie/finger cam is different; here *some* stub cam LTM lenses will go on; but them one cannot get them off unless one takes out the film; puts the finger thru the shutter and pulls back the cam/finger.</p>

<p>The 80mm F2.8 Steinheil culinar will work on any of my Soviet bodies; it has a ring cam surface on its lens.</p>

<p>My experience with my own stub tab LTM lenses is that they usually will *not work* on Soviet bodies; even if one focuses real close one cannot place them on the camera</p>

<p>There are many many hundreds of LTM lenses made in the last 70+ years.</p>

<p>About *every* camera/optical maker at one time or another made a LTM lens.</p>

<p>Thus one a huge matrix/combinations of LTM lens and Soviet LTM bodies; thus there is no black and white answer</p>

<p>Your Summitar will work in any LTM FSU camera. I've had several of these little monsters (FED 1, Zorki 1, Zorki 2, Zorki 3, and Zorki 4), and the Summitar has worked fine in all of them. Keep in mind that on the earliest cameras the distance from the lens flange to the film plan may vary. Early cameras had their lenses calibrated to work with them, using a different lens for which the camera has not been calibrated may give you out-of-focus images.</p>

<p>The proper flange to film plane distance is 28.8 millimeters, and then you have to make sure the rangefinder is also properly adjusted. This is not a difficult job in the early cameras, but it takes a bit of fiddling. If you get a later model camera you are less likely to have problems, my favorite is the Zorki 3. It is easier to focus than the earlier models, and in my experience it is a bit more solidly built than some of the other Zorki models.</p>

<p>The Summitar is a great lens, one of my favorites. Be sure to use a hood on it, the Summitar is very flare prone.</p>