FKD view cameras
| ||
|
FKD cameras (ФКД - sometimes only labelled FK)[1] are folding tailboard cameras made in the Soviet Union from about 1930 until the mid-1980s. An entry for the FKD 13x18 at USSRPhoto.com (a wiki), apparently repeating information from the Fedka web-shop, states that the cameras were made in a number of workshops in different parts of the Soviet Union, some of which originally made wooden furniture.[2] According to notes at Photohistory.ru, the first cameras were made in the workshops of a photo-technical school in Leningrad; production in the 1940s and 50s was in Moscow, and then in Kharkiv from 1969. In larger sizes, some studio cameras were made, designated FKP (ФКП).[3]
Cameras
- FKD 13x18cm (about equivalent to 5x7 inch)
- FKD 18x24cm (about 7x9½ inch, though this is not a plate size in inches)
- FKP 18x24cm (non-folding studio model made in Kharkiv)
- FKP 30x40cm[3] (non-folding camera, mostly for reprographics)
There are variations in the models, presumably with time over the years the cameras were made, or perhaps between manufacturing locations. The examples of the 13x18-cm camera shown at Fotoua.com are listed as Types 1a and 1b to 4a, 4b and 4c. Unfortunately the photographs were not archived with the site.[4]
The 13x18-cm camera has an Industar-51 21cm f/4.5; a barrel lens, i.e. without a shutter built-in. Exposure would normally be long enough to be controlled with the lens-cap, though it would be possible to mount a shutter behind the lens. GOMZ made a suitable shutter unit,[3] but it is not clear when this was available. The 18x24cm model has been seen for sale with an Industar-37 30cm f/4.5.
The front standard of the camera has sliding panels allowing front rise and fall and left-to-right lens movements. Front tilt is not possible. The rear standard allows tilt and swing.[3]
The camera uses wooden double dark-slides. The focusing screen and dark-slide can be mounted in vertical or horizontal orientation.
Notes
- ↑ The name is a shortening of Фотокамера Дорожная (Fotokamera Dorozhnaya; 'road camera', or Reisekamera) - see the manual linked below.
- ↑ FKD 13x18 page at USSRPhoto.com
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 FK cameras including the 30x40-cm camera, at G. Abramov's Photohistory.ru
- ↑ For example, some examples of several versions of FKD camera listed at Fotoua.com (archived at archive.org), but shown only as thumbnail images.
