The Film Retriever

Ahh... at last, the elusive T-3, the predecessor of one of the most sought after cameras on the net, the T-4. This is a car-boot-sale find, an old lady sold it to me and apologised for the cracked LCD panel which works well though. It came loaded with film so all i had to do is take the camera out and start shooting. The T-3 is a noticeable bigger camera than the T-4. It is weather-proof and of course the centre of attention is the 35mm f/2.8 Carl Zeiss lens.There is a rumour going on the internet that the lens is the same on both the T-3 and the T-4 but on the T-4 it was limited to open up to f/3.5 because it is too soft at f/2.8. That is not correct, these are two different lenses. The one on the T-3 is half a stop faster and the 4 elements are spread in 4 groups rather than 3 in the T-4. Other features include the New Angle Scope which is actually a waist level finder for hip-level shots. I cannot say that i found it terribly useful but i read that there are many peopl...

I got this camera from one of my wife's friends, who very kindly volunteered to give me her camera once she learned that I use old film cameras. Much to my amazement, my wife returned home holding a FED-3 type b but a model that commemorates the 50 years of the Russian Revolution. FED was never good at keeping track of their serial numbers unlike Germans but with the anniversary models, FED kept a basic numbering system, mainly starting with 67xxxxxxx (1917+50=1967) and they did the same with the lens's too. I managed to find some more info on ussrphoto.com. " Although soviet camera industry produced a lot of commemorative cameras, only very few Fed's were among them. That's why an anniversary Feds becoming very scarce nowadays. To commemorate the "Great October - 50" Fed issued three cameras: Fed-3b, Fed-4b and Fed-11 Atlas with special engravings. The Atlas is very uncommon. Although mass-market Fed cameras have no date prefix in their serial numbers, ...