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FED-4

The old lady who sold me this camera said that it was her daughter's and she hadn't used it at all. I believed her as the camera seems to be in mint condition. The wind lever is so smooth to operate, and the body clean and shinny.This was mostly a compulsive buy, i saw it in good condition and the price she was asking was right, so i said "why not".
It is a really good camera and i wouldn't hesitate to recommend it as a first time rangefinder. The viewfinder is a bit dark but the focusing patch is quite clear to see and easy to operate. A cloth shutter with speed ranges of 1 sec to 1/500 in a bit unusual arrangement. The lens on this camera is a very nice Industar-61, f/2.8 to f/16, coated and very sharp. It also works on my Leica IIc. A nice feature of the Fed-4 is the lack of light seals. It uses the old good Leica drop in loading (* Correction 31/8/2010 - Drop in loading??? I have no idea what i was thinking when i was writing it, the whole back is removable in order to put the film. Still no signs of lightseals thought...*) . Did i say that you can calibrate the rangefinder by yourself? Yes you can, apparently there is a small screw below the screw next to the viewfinder.
These camera came with a selenium meter and because of their vintage, they tend to be inaccurate. True, in my sample it is at least 2 stops off.

I dropped a film in and i got some really nice pictures out of this camera. The lens is sharp and the camera's weight is balancing nicely on my hands. Pity about the crappy film (400CN)










Conclusion

There are not many things to say about this camera really. It must be the LADA of the photographic industry, cheap, heavy and delivering what it has promised to do. Take good pictures. I think it is a decent camera, well made and the Industar-61 is known to be a sharp and contrasty lens. For those who want to switch into rangefinder cameras but don't want to spend a fortune for a Leica, this is the way to go. They will not regret it.
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