Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/04/12
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]> So that settles it: it is a real FED and never intended to be a Leica. > It is not a NKVD/KGB camera either, it is just inscribed with the name > of the manufacturer, the Trudkommuna... and OK, UCCP is USSR in Latin > letters. It is an interesting piece of history.<<<< Raimo K offered as did many others great advice on the FED camera! I had no idea what it was other than thinking it a "Russian Leica copy." I brought it home from Russia about 15 years ago, put it in an equipment case all this time until going to the Swap meet.. Actually I don't think I even put a roll through it. Now I will just to see what it looks like. :-) All the shutter speeds sound like they're clicking Ok, time will tell.:-) Thank you all for the assistance in "solving this." ted. " <raimo.m.korhonen@uusikaupunki.fi> To: "Leica Users Group" <lug@leica-users.org> Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 11:36 PM Subject: Re: [Leica] Ted's "KGB camera" > All the best! > Raimo K > personal photography homepage at: > http://www.uusikaupunki.fi/~raikorho/ > > > Quoting Peter Klein <pklein@2alpha.net>: > >> Folks: Here's my take on Ted's camera, essentially a resend of my >> note to >> Ted earlier this evening. I'm not a Soviet camera expert, but I can >> read, >> compare pictures, and my wife is a native Russian speaker. >> ------------ >> >> Ted: >> >> Katya translated the inscription on the top plate. Here it is, line >> by line: >> >> FED >> Labor Commune >> NKVD-USSR >> Named After >> F. E. Dzerzhinsky >> Kharkov >> >> Note: NKVD-USSR stands for "People's Commissariat of Internal >> Affairs, >> Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic." Kharkov, you probably know, is >> a >> large industrial city in Ukraine. >> >> The "Named After" syntax is standard in Russian. For example, a >> friend of >> mine graduated from the "First Leningrad Medical Institute named >> after I. >> P. Pavlov." >> >> Your top plate inscription actually matches the Type 2 inscription of >> a >> real FED shown on the Commie Cameras site. The serial number is about >> right >> for a Fed 1b, second version, which the camera looks like to my >> untrained >> eyes. And the style of chrome on the top plate looks >> right--sandblasted >> and chrome plated with a matte finish. But the top plate does look >> too new >> for the camera, which should date from the mid-1930s. >> >> I was wrong about the NKVD inscription being a fake. Some of these >> cameras >> were actually engraved with the name of, essentially, the sponsor. >> The >> story is that Felix E. Dzerzhinsky, who founded the CHEKA (the first >> name >> for the Soviet secret police), read a report about the problem of >> orphans >> created by World War I and the Russian Revolution. And as Marc Small >> notes, >> Dzerzhinsky and his cohorts contributed substantially to the supply >> of >> orphans by their activities. At any rate, he put the resources of his >> >> organization behind solving the problem. Essentially, in addition to >> >> committing large-scale murder and torture, Dzerzhinsky and his secret >> >> police also built the Soviet equivalent of Boys' Town. >> >> Dzerzhinsky died before the Kharkov labor commune opened, but it bore >> his >> name, and the name of the sponsoring organization. By the time your >> camera >> was made, the secret police had been renamed the NKVD, hence the >> inscription. >> >> It may be that before you acquired the camera, the top plate was >> restored, >> or a new one crafted to match the original. That should be >> determined by a >> real expert, as should the exact model number. I'm just reading a >> Web site >> and matching things by eye. >> >> See here for the story of the FED: >> > http://www.commiecameras.com/sov/35mmrangefindercameras/cameras/fed/index.htm >> >> And click on the first "FED" button on the left to see pictures of >> the >> various types of FED cameras, and your matching engraving. >> >> You know what? Throw a roll of Tri-X in that camera and see what >> comes >> out. The lens is probably very much like an uncoated Elmar. >> >> --Peter >> >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information