Old Camera Information

[SpAcE126]

Hey everyone,
I haven't posted here in a while, but I'm really left puzzled over this camera and I really need some help. My parents went to Europe this summer (mainly Bosnia), and one of my uncles heard that I'm interested in photography, so as a joke he said that he sent me a high tech camera trough my parents. Well the camera turned out to be a camera made in Czechoslovakia in the seventies. Everything seems to be in working condition inside, and the lens itself is well maintained. The only two problems are that I don't know if regular film goes inside or what's the name of the camera. I posted some pictures belove, I hope anyone can help me out, because I'm really curious to see this old thing in action.




p.s. I don't know if this is the right area for the post, but if there's any problems, well I guess the admins will take care of it.

[bono]

Try this:

FED (camera) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Shooting With the Fed 5C
Google Nachricht

[OsmosisStudios]

That's a 35mm rangefinder. If it works, throw some film in it and enjoy!

[SpAcE126]

Thanks allot, interesting information and history. I guess I'll go buy some film tomorrow.

[inkista]

That's a Fed 5c. It says so on the front. You just have to know the Cyrillic/Greek alphabet. (Φ = Phi = "F")

It's a 35mm rangefinder, uses the Leica screwmount (aka M39, or LTM [Leica Thread Mount]). The Feds and the Zorkis are the cheapest cameras you can find to play with old Leica glass (if you can find it). If you can't, those old Jupiter and Industar lenses aren't bad. They're based on the old Leica Barnack (pre-M) cameras.

The main thing to be careful of is when you wind the film and when you set the aperture (or shutter speed?). Something can break if you do it the wrong way. I forget which, though. I'd recommend finding a group of Fed users on Flickr. There's bound to be about 20.

Rummage... google.

Ah. Here: Flickr: Discussing just bought a Fed 5C: any tips/tricks/gotchas? in FED Users: always wind the film first, then adjust the shutter speed (i.e., do not play with the shutter speed dial unless you're ready to shoot).

Oh, and here's a page for adjusting the rangefinder accuracy: http://jay.fedka.com/index_files/Page422.htm They tend to need it once in a while.

I'd also recommend shooting only a single roll and then getting it processed if you don't know if the curtains are still in good shape and don't leak light. It's got a selenium cell meter, so you don't have to worry about getting batteries that fit , but you may also want to bring a digital P&S along as your light meter.

Here's a Fed 5 manual to get you started.

[SpAcE126]

Originally Posted by inkista

Here's a Fed 5 manual to get you started.

Thanks for that link, really helps out for figuring out the knobs and their functionality. The controls are not that bad, it's just getting familiar with them that's kind of difficult. I'll see what I can do, I'll try to post some shots in a couple of days.

Again thanks everyone for the information and the help.