One more Soviet Leica (Geodezia FAG)

Thanks, Alexey and Vlad, for this very interesting article. We know a bit more what happened during this 1934 year (at least concerning Russian cameras!).

So, that some points will be to reconsider, as the stiffness of some buttons. I must say that most of my early Feds share that default!

Concerning the trio FAG, VOOMP and Fed, we always don't know why Fed was chosen for mass production (whereas the FAG was the best of the three ones, after the journalists!). A political decision?

Jacques.

Hi Jacques,

possibly FED was chosen due to the cheap labor force in the commune?

Cheers,
Vlad.

Hi,
I like the idea of Jacques. I think the FED was decorated with modern and has a chrome coating. Pioneer and FAG are nickel plated. Nickel is not as stable as chromium. Cameras Pioneer and FAG in many of the details are made by hand.

Hi guys,
I think it was also political decision. "The best" was no the most important criteria in the USSR in 1934/35. More important was, that the camera was made in the commune of "street children", named by Felix Dzerzhinski, the hero of the soviet people in that time.
But I agree with Vlad too, the cheap labor force in the commune was also very important.

Regards, Alexander

Maybe Fed already had better machinery and experience for mass production, like the black and decker drills. It seems they are more machined and less hand crafted then the FAG and VOOMP examples.

Maybe.
I think too that the background (a school for orphans, the cover of the NKVD...) was very useful for the Soviet.
In France, in the early sixties, Makarenko was considered as one of the masters in pedagogics and was studied like Rousseau, Pestalozzi or Binet in the French schools for masters. The three times of pedagogy: learning, making and selling were most interesting. Selling above all.

Of course, I don't speak about the real condition of the pupils...

Jacques.