FED Atlas
|
| FED Atlas image by Siim Vahur (Image rights) |
The FED Atlas (also referred to in some places as the FED-11, though the camera itself is not marked with this) is a 35 mm coupled rangefinder camera, made by FED in 1967-71.[1] It is a development of the FED-10, and like it, has a rather tall top housing, accommodating the viewfinder, rangefinder and coupled selenium light meter. Whereas the Fed-10 has a curved light meter match-needle window on top of the camera (it resembles that of the FED 4), the Atlas has a simpler, rectangular window, with two arrows between which to align the meter needle. This meter display is also visible in the viewfinder. The film speed is set on the lens barrel; Georgi Abramov gives a range of 11 - 500 GOST (approximately ISO 12 - 450),[1] but owners of exported examples give the range as 16 - 250 GOST (ISO 17 - 300).[2]
The lens is a coated 52 mm f/2.8 Industar-61. This has a special bayonet mount, and it was intended that there would be interchangeable accessory lenses for the camera,[3] but no such lenses are known. The lens is mounted in a metal plate on the front of the body, reminiscent of some cameras of the 1950s (such as many models of the Dacora Dignette or Kodak Retinette). The shutter release button is on the front (in the top right corner of this plate). The shutter is a leaf shutter, behind the lens (so that the same shutter would serve all lenses, were the accessory lenses available), with speeds 1 - 1/250 second, plus 'B'. It is synchronised for flash, with a PC socket in the lens-plate, a cold shoe on top, and a lever to select between electronic and bulb flash in the lens barrel. This lever also sets the self-timer, where there is one; Georgi Abramov states that an early type was made without, though only about 1300 copies of this were made, compared to 21,500 copies of the second type with a self-timer;[1] Kanai, however, cites Princelle as stating that the cameras without the self-timer are from 1969.[4]
The back of the camera is removed for loading. The film is advanced with a lever, which emerges between the camera body and the top housing. There is a frame counter in the baseplate. Rewind is by a folding crank.
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 FED-10 and 'Fed-11 Atlas' at Georgi Abramov's photohistory.ru. Text in Russian.
- ↑ FED Atlas at Kanai's cccpcamera.stars.ne.jp. Text in Japanese, with several pictures of the camera, including one with the lens removed to show the bayonet.
- ↑ Georgi Abramov (cited above) states that Советского фото No. 5 of 1966 refers to interchangeable lenses.
- ↑ Princelle, Jean Loup (2004), The Authentic Guide to Russian and Soviet Cameras ('Made in USSR'), Le Reve Edition. ISBN 2952252106; or the earlier edition: Hove Foto Books, 2nd edition, 1995. 200 pages. ISBN 1874031630. Paperback. Cited by Kanai (as above).
