Fed 4

[Jonathan Allen]

I have just bought this Fed camera and gear. He excepted my offer at £40. One of the lenses I think is a Carl Zeiss sonnar f4 135mm. I really hope it is as that is worth the £40 alone.
I think I have bagged myself a bargain. Just hope the film advance Lhasa not been cocked after the shutter speed has been turned first. From what I have read about the Fed4, that breaks them.
Never used a rangefinder so I am looking forward to it. Any of you guys have any tips with rangefinders?
Here is a link to the sale on eBay.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181852150035

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Good price, with loads of extras. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

 

[Jonathan Allen]

Cheers, Rob. Just trying to pick a good film at the moment.

 

[Pete Askew]

You should have a look at Hamish's blog as here is quite a bit on RFs there:

http://www.35mmc.com

About 75% of my personal images are shot on a RF. When I first started it took me while to start to get what I saw and achieve the compositions I wanted. I can't say what made it all start to work but i suspect that there is a tendency to centre the composition or at least not take enough care with the final composition after focussing.

 

[Ian Grant]

It's more likely the lens is a Jupiter copy of a Sonnar, still a good lens though.

Ian

 

[Brian Moore]

Looks like a fine bargain to me Jonathan. I would say Ian is probably right in his hunch that the lens is a Russian one. However, my own experiences with Russian lenses are good.

Tips...? Two things about rangefinders: Remove the lens cap prior to shooting an image, and watch out for parallax error when shooting close in. And with specific regard to the FED4, give up any notion of being subtle about your picture taking; the shutters on some of these Russian cameras are pretty loud.

 

[Julian de'Courcy]

Nice one Jonathan , I picked one up some time ago, it had a Jupiter 8 on. A small all black version , f2 without a clicky aperture dial. Love the lens it sits on my E-M5 some days, with the adaptation of a cheap LTM M39 to m4/3 adaptor. .

 

[Hamish Gill]

Thanks for the link @Pete Askew

Enjoy it @Jonathan Allen - just beware of that icy path toward a Leica

 

[Jonathan Allen]

Sorry for the late reply. Many thanks for all the tips, links and your time
I have shot a roll on it and had a few keepers but if i'm honest, its not for me. I just can't seem to get used to shooting with a rangefinder. If i don't use it again at least i own a piece of history

 

[Ian Grant]

Rangefinders do take a bit of getting used to and the Fed's, Zorki's etc aren't quite as easy to use compared to the Leica M cameras. I seem to have acquired two more Jupiter 8 lenses and another Zorki 4 since this thread started

Ian

 

[Jonathan Allen]

I'll probably give it another go. I take it you are a big fan of the RF, Ian.

 

[Ian Grant]

I was prolific 35mm SLR user for many years, I used a Spotmatic F and two S1a's for quite a long time only switching to K mount because I shot a lot of bands live. However I began using a Leica M3 in about 1988 and loved it, I only have a 50mm Summicron bout can use it full aperture in low light with great results and it fitted my ways of working.

I've been mainly shooting Large format since 1986, and some MF for specific projects. However I found I wasn't printing my 35mm negatives and about 12-15 years ago stopped shooting 35mm.

Things change though and I returned to using TLRs (6x6) about 8 years ago alongside the LF cameras and have in the last year begun shooting 35mm colour (negative) again, I've the chemistry to home process and colour RA-4 papers as well,. I learnt to colour print using Curt (Kurt) Jacobson's Pavelle paper & chemistry, the Pavelle company became Durst UK. Jacobson is best know for his books Developing, and Printing, both running to many editions and re-prints.

As to whether I'm a fan of RF cameras, maybe for certain uses, I'm also back using Spotmatics (I have 3) and have 2 S1a's to repair (£1 each body). In honesty though it's the M3 that's the fair match for the Spotmatics, unless shooting close-up work I'd use either but the Spotmatics are far better for macro work.

The Russian cameras are just fun to use, as is my Leica IIIa.

Ian

 

[Jonathan Allen]

That's some photography journey.
I have ordered another Spotmatic the other day and hopefully the meter will work as it should. I can get by with the one I have but its nice to have a meter working.

My first ever camera was a Polaroid, the ones which eject the film. I have always loved the look at Polaroid and hopefully it will keep on going. I am going to have ago at Polaroid transfer in the next couple of weeks and put some results on here if I have some success.