Trying to focus with an old Fed

[harmantzis]

Hi.
I’m working on an old fed camera. Here is something strange that didn’t manage to resolve after reading several posts. There is a focusing lever which is extremely stiff and hard to rotate. Is it normal due to lens’s age or it is something I’m doing wrong?
Also, there is a so called infinity lock which I don’t understand it’s purpose and furthermore it doesn’t seem to make any difference either pressed or depressed.

Any suggestions please?

[Wladimir]

Hello everybody, I'm Wlad.
I have FED-2 with similar lens.
I guess lens helical is stiff from old greese ?
Infinity lock locks only when lens focused at infinity, normally.
If it don't lock, maybe it's bended ?
Maybe other members have ideas to solve your problem.

[brachal]

The focusing lever should rotate smoothly and easily. Most likely the lens needs to be cleaned and relubricated. The infinity lock should only engage when the lens is focused to infinity. Slight pressure on the button will disengage the lock and allow you to focus.

Your camera would probably benefit from a thorough cleaning and adjusting. Oleg at www.okvintagecamera.com is well regarded here.

[Spyderman]

If you decide to relube the focussing helical - note carefully where the 2 parts disengage, because it's a multi-entry-point helical.

The purpose of the infinity lock is to be able to loosen the lens when changing lenses. You wouldn't like to loosen the lens when focussed at its closest distance when it is held by a relatively thin pin.

[Kino Glaz]

Dear Ondrej

I am following this thread because my Zorki-4 has a surplus collapsible Russian Elmar with it. It does not move very well, and I can see a lot of dirt in the rotating part. Do you have further instructions on how to clean this lens? Putting vaseline on the moving part does not help very much.

[harmantzis]

Thank you.
I guess the best thing to do is sending my camera to this Oleg guy, his pricing seems reasonable. Most probably the rangefinder will need some adjustment too. I wouldn't risk doing it myself, since this camera has significant sentimental value.
Regards,
George.

[wolves3012]

The lens helical is very easy to re-lube. Remove the close-focus limit screw (the longer one) and unscrew the helical right out. Do it slowly and make a note of the position where the threads come apart. Clean the old grease off, re-lube with silicone grease or white lithium grease and put it back together. It's a 10 minute job.