Fed 2 shutter releasing problem

[geg_thomas]

Hello all, newbie rangefinder user here having some problems. I received a Fed 2 for my birthday, put a roll through and about 2 thirds of my negatives came out with only half the frame exposes. About 6 didn't expose at all. After a fair amount of googling and searching and consulting with camera techs, the reported problem was shutter capping, or bouncing (I think capping because it's the LHS of the negs that are unexposed?). The common recommendation was adjusting the curtain tension, except when I did the CRT test the shutters looked fine. Every few releases though I would see mostly darkness on the right hand side of the shutter (side closest to the shutter button). All knowledge pointed towards a bit of cleaning and greasing, which I did. The CRT test was good, the curtains seemed a bit snappier, and I was confident that it was fixed.

Not so.

Second test roll was just as bad, and my mood was pummeled. After another lengthy google trawl (most of the results coming from here) I decided I need to open up the top and see whats what.
Long story short (too late!) the problem seems to lie with my gentle shutter release. When I jab down on the shutter button I get a proper shutter release, with parallel lines when doing the CRT. However, if I gently squeeze the button, like I do with all cameras, the shutter releases with the 1st and 2nd curtain together for half the frame before the first curtain pulls away on the faster speeds, and not at all on the slower ones.

So, whats the cure for this? At the current stage, the camera is in pieces in my studio waiting to be worked on tomorrow when I head back in and the first thing I'll do is grease up the shutter pin with crescent top that runs through the body. I noticed the metal lever it pushes down which releases the cog at the bottom of the film winder spindle is bent possibly more than it should be. It seems when I gently squeeze the trigger the 2nd curtain is being released earlier because of this bend, and whichever part that is supposed to be holding the 2nd shutter lever back isn't doing it's job?

The simple solution is to jab the shutter everytime. Except I have a horrible memory and I will forget to do it everytime, so I'd like to put my mind and rest and get this shutter firing correctly to avoid this problem.

Thanks in advance and sorry if there's an obvious and possibly stickied answer which I have missed!

[wolves3012]

Quite a post and welcome to RFF. I think your diagnosis is likely to be spot on. Actually, it's usually possible to "cheat" the mechanism if you really try hard but it should not be easy to do. The crescent-shaped arm is the second-curtain latch and it's supposed to be lowered into position on pressing the shutter button, pretty much exactly as you have figured out. There is a pin on the speed selector mechanism that is responsible for pushing that arm outwards, releasing the second curtain latch. It happens quite quickly, too quickly to see the action.

If the crescent-shaped arm fails to trap the second curtain, it will simply follow the first and no exposure happens. There are steps you can take to improve matters, however.

Firstly, clean the pivot pin but do not use grease on it, that will slow it down - use a thin-ish oil. Secondly, look carefully at the notch that the latch drops into, they often wear a bit rounded and don't work properly. A bit of careful filing will sharpen the notch to its proper shape. Thirdly, try bending the little spring so that it exerts more pressure - it's supposed to push the arm inwards and downwards. Lastly, consider grinding a small amount off the bottom of the long pivot pin so that it sits a bit lower to start with but do not remove much and keep re-checking. If you go too far there's no going back!

By the way, the FED 2 is a really nice user camera, I hope you get it working properly again. On the shutter tensions, do not use any more tension than is really necessary. A smoothly running camera rarely needs more than 3 turns on either roller. If you need more than that, the mechanism is gummed up somewhere.

[Steve M.]

"So, what's the cure for this"?

Buying a Bessa R. Seriously.

[stratcat]

My FED 3a does this only at the 1/30 speed. I looked at the shutter release mechanism and arrived at the same conclusion. Thanks for the tips for solving the issue, wolves3012. I was planning on dissasembling the top to clean and lube the slow speed mechanism and this will give me a chance to look at the release pin and the latch.

[wolves3012]

Originally Posted by Steve M.

"So, what's the cure for this"?

Buying a Bessa R. Seriously.

Half-plastic, an inferior RF baselength and a rather high price. You can't be that serious, besides you ought to have learned by now that this is the FSU section and the constant pushing of the Bessa R is tiresome, unwelcome and unhelpful.

Also, it's enlightening that in this thread:
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/foru...d.php?t=119695
you didn't advocate the purchase of a Bessa R - why not?

[geg_thomas]

Originally Posted by wolves3012

Thirdly, try bending the little spring so that it exerts more pressure - it's supposed to push the arm inwards and downwards. Lastly, consider grinding a small amount off the bottom of the long pivot pin so that it sits a bit lower to start with but do not remove much and keep re-checking. If you go too far there's no going back!

Thank you! This is what fixed it. I had our senior jewellery lecturer shave less than 1 mm (about 0.5) off the bottom the pin, and it solved all speeds - except B. I had bent the spring completely straight but wasn't pushing back hard enough on shutter release, so I bent it a little further in the opposite direction (i.e. against the body) and that solved it. Test roll came back; no capping and all speeds were correctly exposed, so no need for tensioning. Thanks!

Originally Posted by Steve M.

Buying a Bessa R. Seriously.

A brief eBay search reveals this costs as much as I earn in 3 weeks. Maybe in a few years time...or if I win the lottery eh?

[wolves3012]

Glad to see it's sorted. Now go enjoy it and forget about a Bessa!

[geg_thomas]

Originally Posted by wolves3012

Glad to see it's sorted. Now go enjoy it and forget about a Bessa!

Once I get the rangefinder re-calibrated!

Also I should point out I had less than 1 mm ground off the bottom. Probably more like 0.5-0.6

[Keith]

The Fed 2 is a great camera and well worth perservering with IMO. And it was a birthday present!

Bessa indeed ... I don't think so!