Fed Berdsk - Known Examples

One of the major obstacles in find out such things for Westerners is the knowledge of Russian language.. Well fortunately I don't have such impairment since it is my first language.. If someone like Alain can find out who the contact was that JLP talked to on FED factory and if there is a way to get in touch with someone who used to work there, I would be very happy to call them on the phone and interview them... I just need some leads.. maybe soon I will call FED factory itself and try to find out who may be the person who can help me about getting some information who is hopefully still alive..

Vlad

Hello all,
An interesting Fed-1 on e-bay:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Camera-FED-NKVD-Perfect-condition-Number-174341_W0QQitemZ150229213092QQihZ005QQcategoryZ15234QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262

Accordiing to the engraving and the serial number this should be a Berdsk!
Regards, Jim.

BTW, In my earlier post regarding the three visible screws as opposed to five in the base plate of some FED Berdsk's perhaps I didn't explain as clearly as I might have.
As far as I can gather some Berdsk's have only three visible screws in the baseplate, and other Fed Berdsk's have five visible screws. The three visible screws applies only to the Fed Berdsk, and no other Fed-1, so if only three screws are visible, and other parameters are correct then I believe that the camera is without doubt a Berdsk.
Of course there are also some Fed Berdsk with five screws in the baseplate just as all other Fed-1's.
And just to confuse matters more, we don't even really know for sure if these cameras were ever assembled at Berdsk.
Will the Fed mystery ever end????
Regards, Jim

Hi Jim,
As for me, I hope it's a never ending story. It is why I collect these cameras!
Amitiйs. Jacques.

Hi Jacques,
I couldn't agree more!
Regards, Jim

quote:

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Originally posted by James McGee

Accordiing to the engraving and the serial number this should be a Berdsk!

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"NKVD"?... Not made in Berdsk.
From February 1941 the FED plant was under heading by NKAP.

Hi Zoom,
I'm not quite sure what you mean, but the engraving on the camera that I referred to mentions neither "NKVD, or "NKAP".
I could be wrong, but as far as I am aware the engraving and the serial number of this camera means it is a so called Fed-1e "Berdsk"
If I have misunderstood your post please explain further.
Best wishes, Jim


http://www.ussrphoto.com/UserContent/Fed-174xxx.jpg

Hi Jim,
Zoom was referring to the title of the seller: "Fed NKVD". This # 174341 is not a NKVD, of course.
It is an "e", probably not "Berdsk"!

Amitiйs. Jacques.

Hi Jacques,
Thanks for the information, and forgive my ignorance of e-bay sellers. In fact I never looked at e-bay before joining this forum, and now I just made my first purchase, a FED lateral viewfinder.
With regard to the Fed-1e #174341, I bow to your supertor knowledge. I had assumed that it was probably a "Berdsk" because of the number and the engraving. Now that I check JLP he says that the Fed-1e "Berdsk" spans serial numbers 173600/174000, and #183000 upwards. So I suppose the serial number of 174341 is a little high.
Best wishes, Jim

Hello again Jacques,
I have just now checked the WIKI, and Fed-1e #174341 is actually entered there as a "Berdsk". In fact there are quite a lot of other cameras with much higher serial numbers also entered there.
Please let us know your thoughts.
Best wishes, Jim.

quote:

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Originally posted by Jacques M.

Zoom was referring to the title of the seller: "Fed NKVD".

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Yes. (I have a problems with an eBay pages).

Yes Jim.
No problem with JLP about 1e, with numbers from c. 173600 to 184000.
But in this very topic, we had too discussed about the town where they were made.
Can they all be named "Berdsk" if it appears that some of them were made in Kharkov, perhaps up to # c. 180000?

That is THE question! Not by Shakespeare!

Amitiйs. Jacques.

Hi Jacques,
Once again I agree with what you say. I don't think anyone really knows how many Fed-1e were assembled in Berdsk, even if any were!!!
I think the term "Berdsk" has now just become a familiar name for the 1-e, pretty much in the same way that "Fedka" has become a familiar name for the early Fed-1.
These mysteries will keep us guessing for years come!
Best wishes, Jim.

My three FED-1e, two of which are FED-S, all have 5 screws in the baseplate.

There is currently a late FED1-e camera #182948 on ebay which also has 5 screws.
http://www.ebay.at/itm/FED-NKVD-Type-1e-BERDSK-Rare-Russian-35mm-Rangefinder-Camera-182948-/360706589152?pt=US_Vintage_Cameras&hash=item53fbc9c1e0

Another one, #176596 seems to have only 3 screws but it's a little hard to see.
http://www.ebay.at/itm/USSR-Soviet-Collectible-FED-1-Berdsk-35mm-RF-camera-with-FED-3-5-50-lens-EXC-/390554007760?pt=Film_Cameras&hash=item5aeed538d0


I found something else - we have two consecutive FED1-e serials, one of which is a FED-S.:

#174290, sold on eBay
#174291 (1/1000 speed - Fed-1S), sold on eBay

Regards,
Christian

My 1e-s have five screws too.
So, we are not far from s/n 184000 now. Interesting...

The two consecutive serial numbers are interesting too. So it would be confirmed that the S-s were made in the normal production, "in the middle of" the other cameras. To be sure, we should have the s/n 174289 or 174292!... I personally have two cameras with consecutive numbers, an S and a NKVD c series.

Jacques.

I have 2 Fed 1e, all with 5 screws.
1e n. 174389
1eS n. 174836
Vittorio

It would be interesting to know if the absence of the 2 screws is limited to a certain serial range. Please check your cameras.

Also, could you submit your lens numbers to the wiki?
I don't know if it may help but any further information on these cameras is helpful.

Check the engravings on the baseplate of this FED1e #179708:
http://www.fotoua.com/4colcam.php?seek2=34&seek1=28&usl=&usl1=&rd=4&st=7&collector=1&stat=

Could anyone translate what it says?
I read something about 41-45 which would suggest a post-war date, at least for the engraving.

Regards,
Christian

I have a FED-1e which also has the five screws. The lens that this camera came with is a FED 'STEMAR'No. 47, one of the original series or first version of the fake stereo lens. I have added it to the WIKI and I'm afraid I have messed up the nice columns by doing so. Of course this lens is not the original lens and so is meaningless to the lens numbers.

Regards, Bill

Thanks, Bill!

Please continue to submit more data, the wiki can easily be repaired, that's no problem.

Could anyone please transcribe the base-plate engravings I mentioned in the link above?

Regards,
Christian

I have 2 Fed-1e, both with 5 screws in the base plate.

s/n 175475 lens 174208/14
s/n 183885 lens 180983/2 12

I find this Berdsk question very interesting - to me it gives real character to the cameras. In my opinion the question of what was made where is almost insoluble (I say almost - we may yet!) for a number of reasons.

1 - I would expect that any unused Kharkov passports would be used up in Berdsk before printing new Berdsk ones, assuming they took the passports to Berdsk - they may have destroyed them before the evacuation, or left them behind.
2 - We do not know that the date of the 'S' s/n 180024 is the real date - the evacuation was a big upheaval and they may have just completed a whole bunch of passports for all completed or near completed cameras at any time prior to or after the evacuation - I am very suspicious of passport dates at the best of times, my guess is they were probably done in batches pretty much as and when.
3 - The Red Flag cameras were a new build (completely different vulcanite amongst other things) and may have been produced at Berdsk - but the Berdsk passport for one of them I would discount for the same reasons as 1 above, ie they would use up the Berdsk ones before printing more Kharkov ones after the return. Could the Red Flags have been produced at the KMZ factory? It seems rather unlikely they would set up a complete production line with new parts just to make the Red Flags when they would soon be returning to Kharkov.

My two Fed-1e are absolutely identical, and I also have a very late 1d s/n 173012 which is also identical apart from the engraving. I would say that both my 1e are made from the same parts as the 1d, which would probably mean that all 3 used parts made at Kharkov before the evacuation. It is interesting that no 183885 still seems to use Kharkov parts and it is the second highest s/n recorded for a 1e.

I did a bit of passport research a while ago (I can't find my records at the moment) but I remember being highly sceptical about that date for 180024. I do not think that we will ever be able to say which cameras were assembled in Berdsk without further documentary evidence. We need many more passports from this period - not very likely, although they must have produced something at Berdsk otherwise there would be no need for a Berdsk passport. Too many imponderables to be sure of anything, but it's fun trying.

ATB ChrisS.