Difference between revisions of "FED"

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m (Purged routine slag-off of Soviet cameras)
(Edited intro with info drawn from Oscar Fricke article. Added image rights and made pictures less tiny.)
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|image_rights=  with permission
 
|image_rights=  with permission
 
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Originally an orphanage in Kharkov, Ukraine, the '''FED''' factory was turned into a labor commune in the 1920s and renamed after Felix E. Dzerzhinsky, founder of the NKVD which was the forerunner to the KGB. Eventually it came to be known by the initials, FED (cyrillic '''ФЭД''' or '''фэд''').
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The '''FED''' factory in Kharkov in Ukraine was founded as a children's commune, for children orphaned or displaced by the combined upheavals of the First World War, the Revolution and the subsequent civil war.<ref>Fricke, Oscar (1979) [http://www.fedka.com/Useful_info/Commune_by_Fricke/commune_intro.htm The Dzerzhinsky commune: Birth of the Soviet 35mm Camera Industry] ''History of Photography: an International Quarterly'' Vol. 3, No. 2, pp 135-155. Source for much of this article. Reproduced as a reprint with an extra short article in PDF or other formats, at Yuri Boguslavsky's [http://www.fedka.com/Frames/Main_Frame.htm Fedka] site; the article has photographs of the factory, the cameras and the electric drills!</ref> It was founded in 1926, immediately after the death of Felix E. Dzerzhinsky (founder of the soviet secret police, the Cheka (ЧК, for чрезвыча́йная коми́ссия or 'emergency commission'), which later became the GPU, part of the NKVD), and named in his honour. Dzerzhinsky had used the power of the sectret police to bring about government action to help children, so the naming is not as strange as it may seem.
  
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After the groundbreaking introduction of the [[Leica II]] in 1932, Soviet leaders stopped the import of photographic equipment and set the FED factory to its task of creating a [[Leica]] of their own. Only 18 months later, in 1934, the FED factory began churning out its first clone of the Leica II [[rangefinder camera]]. FED has produced many millions of cameras.
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The Dzerzhinsky commune was set up and directed by educationalist Anton Makarenko, who had previously run the Gorky Colony, also a commune for children, combining education and practical training. Whereas the Gorky Colony had been mostly agricultural, The Dzerzhinsky Commune trained children in skills such as carpentry, sewing, shoemaking and locksmithing. The products were sold, and the children were paid wages. In 1932 a new workshop was opened, making electric drills, the first in the Soviet Union.
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Also in 1932, a work unit was set up to plan the production of cameras. The first three examples were made in October of that year, with lenses made by [[VOOMP]] in Leningrad, and the feat was reported in the national newspaper Izvestiya, where the cameras were describes only as  'Soviet Leicas'. These were copies of the [[Leica A]], with an uncoupled rangefinder only as an accessory. However, Leitz had meanwhile produced the [[Leica II]], with a built-in coupled rangefinder. By the end of 1933, the factory had made only about 30 of its cameras. In 1934, true production began of a Leica II copy, now with lenses made by FED; about 4000 were made in the first year.
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FED has produced many millions of cameras.
 
   
 
   
  
 
== Screwmount Rangefinder Cameras ==
 
== Screwmount Rangefinder Cameras ==
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* [[FED NKVD]]
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<div class="floatright plainlinks" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 15px;">
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* [[FED S]]
 
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* [[FED 1]]
 
 
{{Flickr image
 
{{Flickr image
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| image_source=http://www.flickr.com/photos/artysmokes/3339508480/in/pool-camerapedia
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| image_source=http://www.flickr.com/photos/artysmokes/3339508480/in/pool-camerajunkie
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| image=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3654/3339508480_3e7f274b7f_t.jpg
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| image=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3654/3339508480_3e7f274b7f_m.jpg
 
| image_align=right
 
| image_align=right
 
| image_text=[[FED 4]].
 
| image_text=[[FED 4]].
 
|image_by= Arty Smokes
 
|image_by= Arty Smokes
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|image_rights= non-commercial
 
}}
 
}}
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</div>
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* [[FED NKVD]]
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* [[FED S]]
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* [[FED 1]]
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* [[FED 2]]
 
* [[FED 2]]
 
* [[FED 3]]
 
* [[FED 3]]
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== Fixed-lens Viewfinder Cameras ==
 
== Fixed-lens Viewfinder Cameras ==
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<div class="floatright plainlinks" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 15px;">
 
{{Flickr image
 
{{Flickr image
 
| image_source=http://www.flickr.com/photos/siimvahur/3566486829/in/pool-camerawiki
 
| image_source=http://www.flickr.com/photos/siimvahur/3566486829/in/pool-camerawiki
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| image=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3309/3566486829_54b5afb789_s.jpg
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| image=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3309/3566486829_54b5afb789_m.jpg
 
| image_align=right
 
| image_align=right
 
| image_text=[[FED 50]]
 
| image_text=[[FED 50]]
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|image_by= Siim Vahur
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| image_by= Siim Vahur
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| image_rights=with permission
 
}}
 
}}
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</div>
 
* [[FED Micron]]
 
* [[FED Micron]]
 
* [[FED Micron|FED Micron 2]]
 
* [[FED Micron|FED Micron 2]]
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===Stereo camera===
 
===Stereo camera===
 
* [[Fed Boy Stereo|FED BOY Stereo]]
 
* [[Fed Boy Stereo|FED BOY Stereo]]
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*[[Fed Stereo]]
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* [[Fed Stereo]]
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==Notes==
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<references />
  
 
== Links ==
 
== Links ==

Revision as of 12:56, 3 October 2011

4162729555_a9b6df1f7c_m.jpg
Fed logo on a FED 5
 (Image rights)

The FED factory in Kharkov in Ukraine was founded as a children's commune, for children orphaned or displaced by the combined upheavals of the First World War, the Revolution and the subsequent civil war.[1] It was founded in 1926, immediately after the death of Felix E. Dzerzhinsky (founder of the soviet secret police, the Cheka (ЧК, for чрезвыча́йная коми́ссия or 'emergency commission'), which later became the GPU, part of the NKVD), and named in his honour. Dzerzhinsky had used the power of the sectret police to bring about government action to help children, so the naming is not as strange as it may seem.

The Dzerzhinsky commune was set up and directed by educationalist Anton Makarenko, who had previously run the Gorky Colony, also a commune for children, combining education and practical training. Whereas the Gorky Colony had been mostly agricultural, The Dzerzhinsky Commune trained children in skills such as carpentry, sewing, shoemaking and locksmithing. The products were sold, and the children were paid wages. In 1932 a new workshop was opened, making electric drills, the first in the Soviet Union.

Also in 1932, a work unit was set up to plan the production of cameras. The first three examples were made in October of that year, with lenses made by VOOMP in Leningrad, and the feat was reported in the national newspaper Izvestiya, where the cameras were describes only as 'Soviet Leicas'. These were copies of the Leica A, with an uncoupled rangefinder only as an accessory. However, Leitz had meanwhile produced the Leica II, with a built-in coupled rangefinder. By the end of 1933, the factory had made only about 30 of its cameras. In 1934, true production began of a Leica II copy, now with lenses made by FED; about 4000 were made in the first year.

FED has produced many millions of cameras.


Screwmount Rangefinder Cameras

3339508480_3e7f274b7f_m.jpg
FED 4.
image by Arty Smokes (Image rights)

Fixed-lens Rangefinder Cameras

Fixed-lens Viewfinder Cameras

3566486829_54b5afb789_m.jpg
FED 50
image by Siim Vahur (Image rights)

Stereo camera


Notes

  1. ↑ Fricke, Oscar (1979) The Dzerzhinsky commune: Birth of the Soviet 35mm Camera Industry History of Photography: an International Quarterly Vol. 3, No. 2, pp 135-155. Source for much of this article. Reproduced as a reprint with an extra short article in PDF or other formats, at Yuri Boguslavsky's Fedka site; the article has photographs of the factory, the cameras and the electric drills!

Links

Bibliography

  • BOUSSAT, Jean-Claude .- Les appareils soviétiques. In : France-Photographie, n° 209, février 2008, pp. 8-9.
  • Princelle, Jean Loup - Made In USSR - The Authentic Guide To Russian And Soviet Cameras, Le Reve Edition, 2004
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