The FED is a Sovietrangefinder camera, mass-produced from 1934 until around 1996, and also the name of the factory that made it.
FED 1 with 50 mm f/3.5 FED lensFED 2 with the Jupiter 8 LensFED 3 with Industar 61 lensFED 4 with Industar 61 lensFED 4 showing the location of manufactureFED 4 (possibly early model, revision A) with the golden scroll print, showing its M39 mount
The factory emerged from the small workshops of the Children's labour commune named after Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky (the acronym of which gave name to the factory and its products) in December 1927 in Kharkiv (Soviet Ukraine, now Ukraine). Initially the factory was managed by the head of the commune Anton Makarenko and produced simple electrical machinery (drills).[1] In 1932, the new managing director of the factory, A.S. Bronevoy (Russian: А.С. Броневой), came up with the idea of producing a copy of the German Leica camera.[2]
From 1955 FED began to innovate, combining the rangefinder with the viewfinder in the FED 2 and all its successors. The FED-3 added slow shutter speeds and on the later version FED-3 (b) the film advance was changed from a thumbwheel to a lever. The FED 4 (1964–77) added a non-coupled selenium exposure meter. The FED 5 marked the end of the FED rangefinder family and was meant as a replacement for both the FED-3 and FED-4, which were in production at the time of its introduction. There were versions of the FED-5: the original FED-5 had an exposure meter, the FED-5B was a cheaper version without meter and the later FED-5C had reflected framelines showing field of view of 50mm lens and an exposure meter. All FED-5 cameras were delivered with an Industar I-61L/D lens. Production of FED rangefinder cameras ended in the mid 1990s. Fed-5 Serial Number 545446 was made on 28 February 1994; Fed's site claims that it was in fact 1997: "Start of serial production of vertical drive for control system of tanks. Production of all types of camera has stopped. 8,647,000 cameras were manufactured since the beginning." This may be accurate as there are FED-5 cameras in existence with serial numbers up to at least 596692.[3]
The following types are nomenclature used by collectors since no FED 1 or Fedka camera was actually marked in this way. Brief descriptions are included to help with identification.
1a 1934–1935 SN 31- 6000 (some sights have been done on early style, read 1a, cameras up to number 6500.
1b 1935–1937 SN 6000 – 55000 – Some with the NKVD engraving "Peoples Commissariat of Internal Affairs", which was the new name for Stalin's secret police.
1c 1937–1939 SN 55000 – 125000 – In 1937 a triangular cam-follower replaced the circular Leica-type cam follower and the speed dial was modified slightly to resemble the Leica II.
S 1938–1941 – Identical to 1c except that 2000 cameras were produced with a faster 1/1000" shutter speed.
V (B) 1938 – Identical to 1c except with a faster 1/1000" second shutter speed and a slow-speed dial.
1d 1939–1941 (August) SN 125000 – 180000 – Identifiable by the centre retaining screw being off-centre and not concealed by the lens-mount flange. In addition, in 1939 Ukraine lost its nominal independence from Russia and camera engraving changed to highlight this from UkSSR to USSR.
1d 1942–1945 SN 174000 – 178000 – Around 4000 cameras manufactured in Berdsk from parts evacuated from the FED Ukraine factory before it was overrun by the Nazis.
1e SN 174000 – 180000 – Manufactured in Berdsk in Siberia in the first few months of 1946 after hostilities ended, using parts made before the war.
T Engraved "Red Flag" in honour of new masters produced around SN 200000 and was fitted with a coated 50 mm f/3.5 Industar 10 lens
1f 1949–1953 SN 201800 – 400000 – New cursive-script Fed logo, flatter shutter button, coated lens engraved with what were then called the international f stops, f/4, f/5.6 and so on rather than the earlier f/4.5, f/6.3.
1949–1950 TSVVS – Two major circulating theories is that the cameras has either been manufactured at Moscow's Almaz factory or it had been ordered for manufacture by the Soviets from East Germany (possibly Zeiss, but it is also not confirmed). This camera is probably the most mysterious in nature out of all Soviet cameras. An old belief that this camera was made by FED factory is disputed by the fact that the body is wholly made out of brass and it is different dimensions physically than the FED-1 cameras. (see forum discussions at USSRPhoto.com for more detailed arguments about it between various Soviet camera experts).
1g 1953–1955 SN 400000 – 800000 – Shutter speeds changed to 25th, 50th,100th instead of old Leica 20th, 30th, 40th, 60th.
FED 1 serial numbers and production numbersedit
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) - see below
1946 SN 175001 - 176000 - 1k - see below
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
V (B) 1938 - 40
S 1938 - 41 - 2k
1983 SN 104442 - 9377287 -150k
These serial numbers and production numbers are approximate. During World War II production was shifted to Siberia as the factory in Kharkiv was overrun by Nazi German forces. During this period and immediately after the war some serial numbers between 174000 - 180000 were used on cameras built in Berdsk in Siberia, even in the first few months of 1946.
FED 1 lens type informationedit
All pre war FED lenses had non standardized flange to film distances. Most of them require a shorter flange distance than Leica (28.8mm) and hence they can't be used on Leica screwmount camera bodies. On Leica bodies they will not focus to infinity and the rangefinder will not be accurate, resulting in unsharp images. This may be the reason for the sometimes poor reputation of FED lenses. However, properly adapted to a modern digital mirrorless camera body, that allows for accurate focussing, these lenses show an amazing image quality (provided the lenses elements are still unscratched and clean).
100 mm f/6.3 FED tele lens: Consists of 4 elements in two groups and was released in 1938 and produced until 1941. Official model dsignation: FED-36. A very sharp little lens that can be used wide open. Stopping down increases the tendency towards internal reflections, since the aperture blades are quite shiny.
100 mm f/5.9 1937–1938 FED prototype lens, best used at f/6.3 or smaller aperture.
50 mm f/3.5 collapsible FED lens: Consists of 4 elements in three groups like the Zeiss Tessar 50 mm f/3.5 (the Leitz Elmar has the aperture located behind the first element, the Zeiss Tessar has it behind the second element). The official model designation before the war was FED-10. There are actually no FED-10 lenses engraved with an "Industar-10" designation. The designation "Industar" was first used on the succeeding model, the Industar-22. The FED-10 was manufactured 1934–1946(?) and fitted to most FED 1a, 1b, 1c and 1d. Pre war lenses feature the old-style aperture scale f/3.5, 4.5, 6.3, 9, 12.5, 18 and a 50 M/M. Post war lenses feature the new-style aperture scale f/3.5, 5.6, 8, 11, 16 and a 50 MM engraving. Most post war lenses were coated except for some very early ones.
50 mm f/2 fast FED lens: Consists of 6 elements in 4 groups like the Leitz Summar, but the unlike the Summar it features five elements with flat surfaces, while the elements of the Summar have only curved surfaces. Official model designation: unknown. Production period 1938–1941. The optical performance is slightly weaker than that of the Leitz Summar, as it shows slight chromatic aberrations in the far corners of the image,
50 mm f/3.5 macro lens. A number of variants with different engravings exist, but they were all not rangefinder coupled. The official model designation was FED-19. They are based on the FED-10 design and were intended for reproduction work. Correct focussing was achieved by measuring the distance from the subject to an engraved ring on the lens barrel. These lenses feature two scales: One with the magnification ratio (M) ranging from ∞ (= 1:∞) to 2 (= 1:2). Above each magnification value one finds the corresponding distance, measured from the engraved ring to the subject. Infinity has obviously no corresponding distance value and so the distance scale starts with 105(cm) for magnification 1:20 and ends with 15(cm) for magnification 1:2.
28 mm f/4.5 FED wide angle lens: Released in 1938 and produced until 1941. The official model designation was FED-35. The optical design was rather complex, featuring 6 elements in 4 groups and it was faster than its contemporary competitors, the Leitz Hektor 28 mm f/6.3 and the Zeiss Tessar 28 mm f/4.5. The FED-35 shows severy vignetting wide open and a quite low contrast. Stopping down to f/6.3 and below boosts the image quality to a very respectable quality.
Aperture settings: f/3.5, f/4.5, f/6.3, f/9, f/12.5, f/18 Lens is screw mount 39mm Leica-type, but not standardized to the Leica 28.8mm flange distance!
USSRPhoto.com Wiki catalog entries for the FED-1 cameras. Use left navigation to see other FED models
Oscar Fricke: The Dzerzhinsky Commune: Birth of the Soviet 35 mm Camera Industry
January 01, 1970
camera, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, camera, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor, july, 2012,. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources FED camera news newspapers books scholar JSTOR July 2012 Learn how and when to remove this message The FED is a Soviet rangefinder camera mass produced from 1934 until around 1996 and also the name of the factory that made it FED 1 with 50 mm f 3 5 FED lens FED 2 with the Jupiter 8 Lens FED 3 with Industar 61 lens FED 4 with Industar 61 lens FED 4 showing the location of manufacture FED 4 possibly early model revision A with the golden scroll print showing its M39 mount The factory emerged from the small workshops of the Children s labour commune named after Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky the acronym of which gave name to the factory and its products in December 1927 in Kharkiv Soviet Ukraine now Ukraine Initially the factory was managed by the head of the commune Anton Makarenko and produced simple electrical machinery drills 1 In 1932 the new managing director of the factory A S Bronevoy Russian A S Bronevoj came up with the idea of producing a copy of the German Leica camera 2 From 1955 FED began to innovate combining the rangefinder with the viewfinder in the FED 2 and all its successors The FED 3 added slow shutter speeds and on the later version FED 3 b the film advance was changed from a thumbwheel to a lever The FED 4 1964 77 added a non coupled selenium exposure meter The FED 5 marked the end of the FED rangefinder family and was meant as a replacement for both the FED 3 and FED 4 which were in production at the time of its introduction There were versions of the FED 5 the original FED 5 had an exposure meter the FED 5B was a cheaper version without meter and the later FED 5C had reflected framelines showing field of view of 50mm lens and an exposure meter All FED 5 cameras were delivered with an Industar I 61L D lens Production of FED rangefinder cameras ended in the mid 1990s Fed 5 Serial Number 545446 was made on 28 February 1994 Fed s site claims that it was in fact 1997 Start of serial production of vertical drive for control system of tanks Production of all types of camera has stopped 8 647 000 cameras were manufactured since the beginning This may be accurate as there are FED 5 cameras in existence with serial numbers up to at least 596692 3 Contents 1 FED 1 collector information 2 FED 1 serial numbers and production numbers 3 FED 1 lens type information 4 FED 1 technical specifications 1934 or Fedka 4 1 Notes 5 References 6 External linksFED 1 collector information editThe following types are nomenclature used by collectors since no FED 1 or Fedka camera was actually marked in this way Brief descriptions are included to help with identification 1a 1934 1935 SN 31 6000 some sights have been done on early style read 1a cameras up to number 6500 1b 1935 1937 SN 6000 55000 Some with the NKVD engraving Peoples Commissariat of Internal Affairs which was the new name for Stalin s secret police 1c 1937 1939 SN 55000 125000 In 1937 a triangular cam follower replaced the circular Leica type cam follower and the speed dial was modified slightly to resemble the Leica II S 1938 1941 Identical to 1c except that 2000 cameras were produced with a faster 1 1000 shutter speed V B 1938 Identical to 1c except with a faster 1 1000 second shutter speed and a slow speed dial 1d 1939 1941 August SN 125000 180000 Identifiable by the centre retaining screw being off centre and not concealed by the lens mount flange In addition in 1939 Ukraine lost its nominal independence from Russia and camera engraving changed to highlight this from UkSSR to USSR 1d 1942 1945 SN 174000 178000 Around 4000 cameras manufactured in Berdsk from parts evacuated from the FED Ukraine factory before it was overrun by the Nazis 1e SN 174000 180000 Manufactured in Berdsk in Siberia in the first few months of 1946 after hostilities ended using parts made before the war T Engraved Red Flag in honour of new masters produced around SN 200000 and was fitted with a coated 50 mm f 3 5 Industar 10 lens 1f 1949 1953 SN 201800 400000 New cursive script Fed logo flatter shutter button coated lens engraved with what were then called the international f stops f 4 f 5 6 and so on rather than the earlier f 4 5 f 6 3 1949 1950 TSVVS Two major circulating theories is that the cameras has either been manufactured at Moscow s Almaz factory or it had been ordered for manufacture by the Soviets from East Germany possibly Zeiss but it is also not confirmed This camera is probably the most mysterious in nature out of all Soviet cameras An old belief that this camera was made by FED factory is disputed by the fact that the body is wholly made out of brass and it is different dimensions physically than the FED 1 cameras see forum discussions at USSRPhoto com for more detailed arguments about it between various Soviet camera experts 1g 1953 1955 SN 400000 800000 Shutter speeds changed to 25th 50th 100th instead of old Leica 20th 30th 40th 60th FED 1 serial numbers and production numbers edit1934 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 see below 1946 SN 175001 176000 1k see below 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 V B 1938 40 S 1938 41 2k 1983 SN 104442 9377287 150k These serial numbers and production numbers are approximate During World War II production was shifted to Siberia as the factory in Kharkiv was overrun by Nazi German forces During this period and immediately after the war some serial numbers between 174000 180000 were used on cameras built in Berdsk in Siberia even in the first few months of 1946 FED 1 lens type information editAll pre war FED lenses had non standardized flange to film distances Most of them require a shorter flange distance than Leica 28 8mm and hence they can t be used on Leica screwmount camera bodies On Leica bodies they will not focus to infinity and the rangefinder will not be accurate resulting in unsharp images This may be the reason for the sometimes poor reputation of FED lenses However properly adapted to a modern digital mirrorless camera body that allows for accurate focussing these lenses show an amazing image quality provided the lenses elements are still unscratched and clean 100 mm f 6 3 FED tele lens Consists of 4 elements in two groups and was released in 1938 and produced until 1941 Official model dsignation FED 36 A very sharp little lens that can be used wide open Stopping down increases the tendency towards internal reflections since the aperture blades are quite shiny 100 mm f 5 9 1937 1938 FED prototype lens best used at f 6 3 or smaller aperture 50 mm f 3 5 collapsible FED lens Consists of 4 elements in three groups like the Zeiss Tessar 50 mm f 3 5 the Leitz Elmar has the aperture located behind the first element the Zeiss Tessar has it behind the second element The official model designation before the war was FED 10 There are actually no FED 10 lenses engraved with an Industar 10 designation The designation Industar was first used on the succeeding model the Industar 22 The FED 10 was manufactured 1934 1946 and fitted to most FED 1a 1b 1c and 1d Pre war lenses feature the old style aperture scale f 3 5 4 5 6 3 9 12 5 18 and a 50 M M Post war lenses feature the new style aperture scale f 3 5 5 6 8 11 16 and a 50 MM engraving Most post war lenses were coated except for some very early ones 50 mm f 2 fast FED lens Consists of 6 elements in 4 groups like the Leitz Summar but the unlike the Summar it features five elements with flat surfaces while the elements of the Summar have only curved surfaces Official model designation unknown Production period 1938 1941 The optical performance is slightly weaker than that of the Leitz Summar as it shows slight chromatic aberrations in the far corners of the image 50 mm f 3 5 macro lens A number of variants with different engravings exist but they were all not rangefinder coupled The official model designation was FED 19 They are based on the FED 10 design and were intended for reproduction work Correct focussing was achieved by measuring the distance from the subject to an engraved ring on the lens barrel These lenses feature two scales One with the magnification ratio M ranging from 1 to 2 1 2 Above each magnification value one finds the corresponding distance measured from the engraved ring to the subject Infinity has obviously no corresponding distance value and so the distance scale starts with 105 cm for magnification 1 20 and ends with 15 cm for magnification 1 2 28 mm f 4 5 FED wide angle lens Released in 1938 and produced until 1941 The official model designation was FED 35 The optical design was rather complex featuring 6 elements in 4 groups and it was faster than its contemporary competitors the Leitz Hektor 28 mm f 6 3 and the Zeiss Tessar 28 mm f 4 5 The FED 35 shows severy vignetting wide open and a quite low contrast Stopping down to f 6 3 and below boosts the image quality to a very respectable quality FED 1 technical specifications 1934 or Fedka editCopy of the Leica II Manufactured 1934 1955 spec as 1934 Fedka Aperture settings f 3 5 f 4 5 f 6 3 f 9 f 12 5 f 18 Lens is screw mount 39mm Leica type but not standardized to the Leica 28 8mm flange distance 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 is approximately 630 g Notes edit 1948 or 1949 onwards Industar 10 lens with international f stops f 3 5 f 4 f 5 6 f 8 f 11 f 16 1953 onwards Shutter speeds changed to 25th 50th 100th 200th 500th References edit FED Archived from the original on 2008 07 23 Makarenko A S 2003 Pedagogicheskaya poema PDF p 669 ISBN 5 88010 166 5 Another Old New Camera Retrieved 2021 06 18 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to FED cameras Film about FED company history To be the first Rus The FED company site Rus FED General Information Rus FED company history Rus Rangefinder cameras of the Soviet era Faraway yet so close Are Leica LTM lenses really compatible with Soviet LTM bodies Industar 26 and 61 Relubing Archived 2011 10 21 at the Wayback Machine rus camera Archived 2011 09 28 at the Wayback Machine Exact Soviet Leica II copy the FED 1 or Fedka camera c 1934 by Stephen Rothery Soviet development of Leica II concept the FED 2 c 1955 by Stephen Rothery FED cameras Price Guide completed auction prices Zorki Survival Site by Jay Javier USSRPhoto com Wiki catalog entries for the FED 1 cameras Use left navigation to see other FED models Oscar Fricke The Dzerzhinsky Commune Birth of the Soviet 35 mm Camera Industry Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title FED camera amp oldid 1215881237, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
