Fed 1 a.k.a. Fedka

Do not set the shutter speed until you have cocked the shutter. If you do it is possible to do permanent damage to your camera.

Fedka it is the most produced copy of the Leica II and as such made serious photography accessible to all. Production run was 22 years with 700 thousand cameras Being manufactured.
My Fedka dates from 1947 , we can see the year of manufacture though the serial numbers :
FED 1 SERIAL NUMBERS – PRODUCTION NUMBERS
1934 SN 000031 – 004000 – 4k
1935 SN 004001 – 016000 – 12k
1936 SN 016001 – 031000 – 15k
1937 SN 031001 – 053000 – 22k
1938 SN 053001 – 082000 – 29k
1939 SN 082001 – 116000 – 34k
1940 SN 116001 – 148000 – 32k
1941 SN 148001 – 175000 – 25k
1942 – 45 (World War 2)
1946 SN 175001 – 176000 – 1k
1947 SN 176001 – 186000 – 10k
1948 SN 186001 – 203000 – 13k
1949 SN 203001 – 221000 – 18k
1950 SN 221001 – 248000 – 27k
1951 SN 248001 – 289000 – 41k
1952 SN 289001 – 341000 – 53k
1953 SN 341001 – 424000 – 73k
1954 SN 424001 – 560000 – 136k
1955 SN 560001 – 700000 – 140k

I found mine in the attic of an uncle of my wife in Ukraine. After the first roll was a bit discouraged because all the pictures are blurry, the camera clearly needed some adjustments.

After some research I decided to repair the camera, with a little patience and calmly managed to make the adjustments and the second roll was much better.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION
-Aperture settings: f3.5, f4.5, f6.3, f9, f12.5, f18 Lens is screw mount 39mm X 26 tpi (not 1mm) Leica-type.
-Shutter is cloth focal-plane
-Shutter speeds: Z – 20th, 30th, 40th, 60th, 100th, 200th, 500th.
-Focusing: 1.25 M to infinity.
-Coupled range finder with a separate viewfinder.
-Film is standard 35mm
-Loading via. a removable bottom.
-Weight 630g.

FILM LEADER
FED, like the Leica, are bottom loaders. As such, they will only load properly with film which has the long, old-style film leaders. 35mm film used to be available with such long leaders. New ones have shorter tongues, which must be cut longer for proper loading.. THERE IS ONLY ONE CORRECT WAY TO LOAD THESE CAMERAS, you can find all information here:
http://jay.fedka.com
http://sovietcamera.110mb.com/fed1/

WARNINGS
A Leica style film leader is required, which is 18 to 22mm wide and 85mm long, and then curves upwards for a total length of 10 or 11cm. There must be no sharp edges or damage can be done to the shutter curtains. It does not have to be that precise as it only required to miss one of the film sprockets when pushing the film home.

written by bongofury on 2011-01-25 in #gear #review #vintage #soviet-camera #bongofury #user-review #fed1-fedka