Russian classic with history.

<p>Hi gang! I was going to lay off this post for few more days, but since I got few minutes on my hands, I will just go ahead and do it now. About a week ago I got me another camera to add to my ever-growing camera family. Let's go back a bit. I was browsing the 'bay when I found this very nice looking camera. It was for sale from Ukraine and the price felt right. Now, I have bought two cameras from overseas before and both were not very working, so this time I took all the steps I could to assure I was going to get a good working classic. I asked the seller to give me more details, since the pictures don't show how accurate the shutter is. He told me that all is working, but there is an inscription on the top plate. I said OK and hit the magic button. Few weeks later the camera shows up. I promptly opened it up and checked it all out. All is working fine, the shutter sounds like freshly oiled mechanism, the lens is super clean and the rangefinder is accurate. Great, let's run some film. I loaded a roll of Fuji Acros and took this camera out to shoot. So it happened that this year, for the entire Summer, City of Mount Prospect sponsors classic cars meet at the municipal parking lot. Every Saturday through September, you can see some nice cars and talk to some very interesting people. This is where I was going to test my Russian.<br /> Let's talk camera. It is a FED 2 with Industar 50 f/2.8 lens. Super clean with an inscription on the top plate that reads " To dear son, Igor R. On your birthday. From dad and mom. 11/11/1959." <br /> It is so neat to know that someone got this camera as a gift in 1959. I realize it must've been quite common for parents to give their children camera gifts, since I saw few other cameras, Zorki, with similar inscriptions, but the cool factor is still there. So here, I present you my FED 2.</p><div></div>

<p>Inscription</p><div></div>

<p>Classic cars</p><div></div>

<p>Odd looking car, I forgot its name....</p><div></div>

<p>The show was filled with Thunderbirds. Almost one side of the lot was just that.</p><div></div>

<p>Now, here I noticed that I got a bit of flare. The sun was getting low and it was right in my lens in this next shot. I will try to avoid that next time around.</p><div></div>

<p> close up of the dash</p><div></div>

<p>and more cars. </p><div></div>

<p>and this one here is for JDM. I know how much he likes water towers, so I got one from my town. It is the tallest structure and is all freshly painted blue.<br>

I will have to work on my direct sun avoidance technique, but I'm quite happy with the results. I find the lens is sharp, but with right conditions in play, prone to flare. I hope you enjoyed my short Russian presentation.</p><div></div>

<p>The 'odd looking car' is a 1954 Kaiser Darrin. Produced in the twilight of the Kaiser Frazer automobile company. Henry J. Kaiser had made a fortune producing Liberty ships but could not compete against Detroit after the war.</p>

<p><strong>Kris</strong>, I think that lens is an Industar 26M. It was made mostly for Feds; but also fitted on the Zorkis occasionally. It is a lovely lens with good resolution, sharpness and rendering. You have demonstrated that too in your pictures. I have used that lens to make some excellent portraits too. They seem to have produced some 1.6 Million Fed 2s, all of good quality. Though the standardization and precision in fitment was a bit wanting. I found it easy to dismantle CLA and repair; but the re-assembly was quite a chore, as the alignments were not standardized. Reputedly, the Fed 2 was the best of the Fed series. Thanks for the pics. sp.</p>

<p>I think more of as camera than just a manufactured item.<br>

It must work. possibly not perfectly . but iyt must take photos.<br>

maybe not with the same ease as a more modern camera. I do not miond the lecxk of a wind lever , auto focus or auto exposure. I strongly prefer a rangefindedr.<br>

or a good viwqfinder., I am not really botherered if the camera is " a blind focusing;' non rangefinder.<br>

Most of the old folders are , in my mind -useless-0- as the VF are primative.<br>

One thing I will NOT tolerate is a awkward or nearly impossible film loading.<br>

I know that the leica;s and clones the m39 barnack cameras all share this troublesome feature.<br>

the few Canon';s and possibly others with a swinging open back are good machines,<br>

UInless I was given a typical leica clone. I would never be interested.<br>

I do not have any " display case models"<br>

I know the leica piuoneered and made 35mm popular.</p>

<p>It is an unfortunate shortcomong of all these cameras.<br>

there is no excuse for this dumb design feature.<br>

I know many outr there will jump to complain and say.<br>

" once you get used to it it is not difficult"<br>

OK to each his own.<br>

but your next automobile may have a tiller ( like an old boat)<br>

what would you say to that?<br>

Leica and others were 25 years behind the times.<br>

sorry to sound so sur. but why are all the opening back canoin m39 cameras so expensive?<br>

If I could afford one I would enjoy it.<br>

not so with all those others.,<br>

I can even excuse the old two window model;s . and the jamanese and russions changed that as soon as possible.<br>

precision manufacturing is no excuse for deliberate awkwardness</p>

<p>A FED 2 is an interesting evolution of the Leica II design. I like that the Soviet/Ukrainian designers decided to go for a removable back for easier film loading. It also has a wide RF base length between the two windows.</p>

<p>Here it meets up with American cars from Golden Era of the Fifties. The old US Army M-715 was designed by Kaiser Jeep Corporation to replace the older Dodge M37 Power Wagon.</p>

<p>Best Regards,</p>

 

<p>Of all Soviet Leica Thread Mounts, actually, of ALL Leica thread mounts except the Canon RFs, this is my personal favorite. Nice work, and the inscription is wonderful.</p>

<p>Classic and classy work with it.</p>

<p>I like the FED 2 for the wide base of its R/F and its utter simplicity.<br>

Screw mount Leicas and their copies are loaded in a rational way which did not seem odd to those of us who hadn't seen a camera with an opening back. It is a completely dependable method.</p>

<p>The screw mount Leicas and Canons have come down somewhat in price unless a rare variant so that for not much more one of these can compete nicely with Russian, Ukrainian, Japanese look-a-leicas. Allowing the collector photographer to own and use a Leica. This is what I have done. I prefer prewar Leica II in black and postwar IIIc in satin chrome. 50mm f3.5 Elmar suits me just fine, tho the FSU 50mm lenses perform just fine!<br /> On the subject of the beautiful Kaiser Darrin sports car, it shares with the Chevy Corvette, birth around 1953/54, plastic/fibreglass body, and the Darrin has "pocket" sliding doors which I always thought were cool allowing one to park closer to wall or narrow places(grin).</p>

<p>Strong, simple cameras with good lenses... What more could you need? I think the inscription is a work of art, <strong>Kris</strong>, very unlike the trauma suffered by some of the specimens in my collection...Dremel tools and cameras should be kept apart! Great collection of vehicles, and nice tones to your images.</p>

<p>My IIIc has an inscription on the bottom, from the second owner in the mid 1940s. I actually like inscriptions like this and think they add to the camera. It helps to remind me I'm just another user in the chain.</p>

<p>Kent in SD</p>

Yup. I too think that inscriptions add to the character.

Thank you for visiting my thread.

<p>Nice results. Great to see an old classic so skillfully used. Thanks for posting.</p>

<p>CMC users seem to like classic cars to....fits I guess! Wonderful to have that inscription on your camera, and I find that you wonder about the person who used to own it. Good find and nice pics, thanks for the post.</p>

<p>The Feds could have been great cameras, only if, as mentioned in this discussion already, they had better film transport mechanics. I remember with sadness all the films that were scratched by my parent's Fed 5. Out of nostalgy, I bought a working one a few months ago and while the images were really nice, the handling of film rewinding was discouraging.</p>