Strange Fed-1 #55890

Saw this on ebay yesterday.

Hi Lenny,

I fear it's no more on eBay...
Sure, I can tell you more in a while.

Amitiйs. Jacques.

quote:

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Originally posted by Jacques M.

I fear it's no more on eBay...
Sure, I can tell you more in a while.

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Good day Jacques,
yes on some occasions you need to be quick before the rest of the wolves smell the meat. At least this Fed wasn't expensive. I thought that I won't use this occasion and give the luck to the next fastest collector. Happy it was you.

So what all is strange? A wrong shoe put into it? And something extra in camera rear, below shoe, not clearly visible in pictures?

Best regards,
Juhani

Yes, Juhani: the shoe and the rear part.
I just wonder what it is.

Amitiйs. Jacques.

Another riddle:




It seems that the extra window on the rear is connected to something which looks like a periscope inside. The periscope being driven with the small crank... All that is jammed. I will dismount it when I have time.

If you have ideas... The first reflex camera?

Amitiйs. Jacques.

Yes Jacques, all these cameras take a lot of time. At the moment I'm trying to remove some black shoe polish from the vulcanite. I hate shoe polish on a camera.

Do you think your viewfinder looks like factory made?
I don't have a clue what it can be.
Thanks for your photos.

It must have held some small flip up and down mirror to peak through the lens. For microscope use perhaps?

quote:

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I hate shoe polish on a camera.

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I agree, there is nothing better than pure undyed beeswax to conserve leather and vulcanite.

No, I don't think the modification was made by the factory. But certainly it was made professionaly. Probably for a technical use: microscope, telescope or other.

It seems the inside has been repainted in black after the work. As for the date of the modification, impossible to say. The seller knows nothing.

Of course, this camera is not the first reflex. But it is the first NKVD reflex. Sure! And it is one of the first S (without lens).
I will dismount it tomorrow.

Amitiйs. Jacques.

Well, some new photos:




A very neat work on the cover, with the handle and a cam.
The cam works (it should work) on the small lever, near the extra finder.

The end of the "periscope". When looking through the extra finder, I see a frosted glass. Of course, there is a prism or a mirror between the two.
All is jammed, so, it's difficult to know how all that worked exactly. Certainly the lever served to push the periscope downwards. And probably the spring raised it.

One or two parts are certainly missing.

The film plate was replaced by black velvet....



Another image of the extra finder, and the speed wheel with nine holes on the S ("Z" position on the photo).

I am surprised by all this tiny work, really well made.
Impossible to imagine it could have been made on the corner of a table...
Certainly the cost was high, so the utility of this modification was probably important.

Really I wonder what it was used for... Industry? Laboratory?
All ideas are welcome!

Amitiйs. Jacques.

Thanks Jacques,
and because this modification was expensive it might happened when this Fed was new, long time ago.
Sad that parts are missing.

Very cool, congratulations Jacques! Is it possible it's the earliest known PDF (periscope FED) version? It's too professionally done..
http://ussrphoto.com/Wiki/default.asp?WikiCatID=17&ParentID=1&ContentID=469&Item=P%2ED%2EF%2E

Vlad

this cвmera Works in a similar way to Ucaflex

http://www.novacon.com.br/odditycameras/Ucaflex.htm

The following pictures show the operation principles of such cameras.



In this picture – Elements in the focusing position





In this picture – Elements in the picture taking position.



Regards LP

Thanks Luiz,
and the little mirrow is missing.
I think there must be much more Feds with this modification.

Thousands of thanks for your schemes, Luiz. Fascinating!

So,with this Fed, there were two lines of sight:
- one through the extra finder, via the prism and the frosted glass,
- the other through the usual viewfinder.

There is not much room inside the chamber, so, the mirror had to be small. Anyway, there is a trace of its rotating axle, towards the rear of the "periscope" (my photo posted at 11.27.23)

All that was certainly not very easy to use. This camera was made in 1938 (perhaps 37) and the SLR had officially appeared two years before with Exaktas and GOMZ Sports which were probably expensive and difficult to find. So, a very special work for this camera? A prototype? Made before WW2? And with which lens?

Thanks for the link towards the Zorki 4 periscope, Vlad. I remember having seen it at Alain's. What a mess to mount and dismount it!

Amitiйs. Jacques.

this interesting system of course have to hб a very small mirros aiming the center of the lens. In Ucaflex I saw a very slight "V" in the moving mirror mount
That way all the system can be contained in the small lens register of FED cвmeras.
A beter solution was made in Periflex cвmeras where a fumm rigid periscope comes up and down.
This system does not deregulate in full camera's life and no matter in which position it will stand.

Anothes extraordinary solutin was built in French Focaflex prototype where the screen is a cylindrical frosted mirror in the bottom! having a semi transparent fixed mirror! -current production boasts moving mirror!

Regards from a hotting Brazil impeaching the President!
LP

Focaflex schematics (moving mirror)

Many Focaflex(es)work no more, alas.
It was a very clever system, but fragile. And Foca was no more at its best in these years: it was too late.
Thanks for this beautiful scheme, Luiz.

About my NKVD "reflex", I wonder about the mirror.
The axle of the periscope is not exactly centered. So, if I understand how all that could mechanically work, I am not sure of the optical work. Certainly several parts are missing.

All that just to discuss. As we don't know what was the use of the camera, it's difficult to imagine how it worked.

Amitiйs. Jacques.