FED-Zorki 1948 in black Leica-body

Hello,

I have got today a very interesting camera. It is FED-Zorki from 1948 (Nr. 01984) in a black Leica "0" body with FED-lens. The seller has told that the camera came from the KMZ development department. It could be true and the FED-Zorki top plate seems to be genuine. In any case (what could it be ), it is very interesting sample.










Regards, Alexander

Hi Alexander!

Delighted you had it!

At the first sight, it could be too a "mix" Leica/Fed-Zorki. It is what I thought when seeing your camera on eBay.
On your first picture, the central screw (half hidden on Fed 1c, completely visible on Fed 1d) seems to be visible, BUT with a previous half hidden mark. Very early 1932 Leica II have this detail. It comes from the conversion Leica I type C / Leica II.

And the leather looks like a Leica's one.

But I wait for more precise pictures...
Anyway, a very interesting camera, for sure!

Amitiйs. Jacques.

Hi Jacques,
I will try to make more detailed photos next week and post them here.

Regards, Alexander

Yes, it's a very interesting camera, I have seen it on eBay too. But I can not confirm to the sellers statement that it is from KMZ develop department. Why should they do this? They have built the KMZ-FED before and for a development piece it has a too high serial number. And as we know FED has built cameras several years ago.

Maybe somebody has put a FED-Zorki body top on a Leica because the Leica has a damaged top and rewind knob? I am sure that it is a true Leica but it looks like as there where only some parts replaced. It could be that this Leica was from a german picture taking soldier, the camera was damaged in WWII and somebody has found/get it? We don't know the story of the camera :-)

Ulrich

http://fotos.cconin.de

On looking for something else, I fall again on this thread...

The two screws which lock the bottom plate show that it should be a Leica mechanism (rivets on Feds and Zorkis, except the early Fed 1a).

To be sure, you could dismount the cover; there must be a Leica serial number engraved it. For me, it could be a Leica I(C) with a Zorki rangefinder.
But it's 5 years now! Perhaps you have this camera no more, Alexander!

Amitiйs. Jacques.

Yes, love it too, very nice camera.
Is this a 1-turn lens? Wonder about the serials on the back.
The cover of the hole on the backside looks same like on a Fed-1a, it's amazing how well Fed copied the Leica.

quote:

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Originally posted by Jacques M.


To be sure, you could dismount the cover; there must be a Leica serial number engraved it.

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Jacques,
I have still the camera and I will dsassemble it on this weekend. It could be really interesting.

Regards, Alexander

Yes, it looks like Leica with rangefinder added from FED-Zorki.
We don't know history of the camera but I have another idea how it could be.
In communistic counties people could not afford to send a camera to Leica service to extend or repair an item. But parts from Zorki or FED were quite common. Somebody wanted to add a rangefinder to an old Leica IC. So service (placed in one of communistic countries) added russian rangefinder and top plate from FED-Zorki. But original rewind knob had too big diamater so it could not be placed on the camera where the top plate was added. So original rewind knob was replaced with thinner rewind knob from FED or Zorki.
I have seen few such Leicas with added russian parts. One of most interesting was black Leica I with added rangefinder too but top plate was painted black and engravings "Leica ..." was added too. But it could be easily seen that the engraving is not original and rangefinder is russian. After the conversion it was already Leica II.

Hello guys,
I could not unscrew it, sorry. Some screws are tightened too tight. I am afraid to break them.

Regards, Alexander

So, we will never know, for sure!
Note that I have a camera not far from yours: a complete Leica II, coming from a I(C), with a Leica rangefinder/viewfinder, but with a Fed cover reingraved Leica.

Probably a repair...

Amitiйs. Jacques.

Very sad Alexander, I was so curious about it.
But thanks for your effort.

Alexander, Quite an interesting example, I just wanted to note that the wear looks consistent throughout the body and the rangefinder top, it just maybe a very old "kotleta" , which is valuable in its own right. If it was indeed a development prototype (which is strange too because KMZ got FED to replicate from Berdsk/Kharkov and not a Leica), it would've had the FED KMZ top... regardless - a cool camera!

Cheers,
Vlad.

quote:

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Originally posted by Vlad

...because KMZ got FED to replicate from Berdsk/Kharkov

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The history of how the FED camera got to the Krasnogorsk, in Russian: http://www.zenitcamera.com/articles/cameras/zenit-prehistory.html

Thank you Zoom, good article!