FED 4
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| FED 4b |
The FED 4 rangefinder camera was produced by the FED factory in Kharkov, Ukraine from 1964 to 1980. It has interchangeable lenses, fitted with a Leica-type M39 screw thread. The normal standard lens supplied was a 53mm f2.8 Industar 61. It has a focal-plane shutter, with speeds from 1s - 1/500s +B, with flash sync at 1/30s. Frame size is 24x36mm on 35mm film.
Its main improvement over the FED 3 is its added uncoupled selenium meter, with a window in front of the speed dial. The meter has a scale on the user's left of the top-plate, with a match-needle linked to a calculator dial. The placement of the meter calculator leaves the rewind as a thumb-wheel on the end of the camera.
The Fed 4 comes in two versions, Type a & Type b. the FED 4a (F190, made from 1964-1971) has knob wind, with a plain front to the top plate, with a large gap between the viewfinder window and the top, a circular bezel around the rangefinder window, and the name engraved on the front, between and above the rangefinder and viewfinder windows. The FED 4b (F192, made from 1969-76) has lever wind, and rectangular borders to the rangefinder and viewfinder windows matching the height of the meter window. The viewfinder is larger, and the name is printed on the plate around the rangefinder window; the 4a's strap lugs are omitted. Type b comes in 3 variants each with slight cosmetic changes.
Foto-Quelle sold the FED 4 in Germany as the Revue 4 (F194). Special editions were produced for the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, and the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution in 1967.
The camera is a veritable beast, seemingly carved out of a huge chunk of metal - it's also quite large; it doesn't give the impression of a camera that will fall apart. This thing is built to last.
Links
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| FED 4b |
- Fed 4 models at USSR Photo
- FED 4a at USSR Photo
- FED 4b by Roland & Caroline
- FED 4b instructions on the Marriott's site
- Fed 4b at Sylvain Halgand's www.collection-appareils.fr
- Fed 4 at Sylvain Halgand's www.collection-appareils.fr
- Revue 4 at Kurt Tauber's
- JM Burtscher sovietcamera website : Sovietcamera french website
