Need Fed 2 help.

[ully]

I have had a Fed 5 for some time, and have Industar 61 and J12 lenses.
I recently got a Fed 2 from ebay after seeing much on this forum about
them. It is a small camera and handles well, it has the collapsible Fed 3.5
50mm lens. What I am confused about is the lens has smaller threads
than the Fed 5 lenses have. The body has the flash terminal on the front
body and has the lever type diopter adjustment. The serial number on it is
217421. I think this is a pre 1958 Fed 2. I didn't know they had differnt threads.
It works fine and has not been beat up. I am just curious.

Can some of you confirm this?

Thanks much.
Richard

[pshinkaw]

The treads for the lens mount should be exactly the same, it is the M39 (39mm) Leica screw mount or LTM.

Some of the earliest Feds, those made before and during WWII, used the same thread mount, but had non-standard lens to flange distances (the standard for LTM is 28.8mm +/- 0.02mm). Those lenses will fit the Fed-2, but the photos will be out of focus. They are not very common.

If the threads look different to you, you may be observing the lens focusing helical itself from the back of the lens. That is a different pitch and diameter than the actual lens mount thread.

As long as you have both the Fed-5 and the Fed-2, you could try and interchange the lenses. They should interchange readily.

Some Fed-2's have a rangefinder cam that hangs too low in the lens mount throat. It can prevent some lenses like an Industar-61L/D from engaging the rangefinder cam properly. It can also scratch the back element of a Jupiter 12.

To see if you have that problem, mount the lens very carefully. The first time you try this, it may help to remove the camera back and lock the shutter open at B with a locking cable release. That way you can watch the lens clearance from the back.

-Paul

[ully]

Originally Posted by pshinkaw

The treads for the lens mount should be exactly the same, it is the M39 (39mm) Leica screw mount or LTM.

Some of the earliest Feds, those made before and during WWII, used the same thread mount, but had non-standard lens to flange distances (the standard for LTM is 28.8mm +/- 0.02mm). Those lenses will fit the Fed-2, but the photos will be out of focus. They are not very common.

If the threads look different to you, you may be observing the lens focusing helical itself from the back of the lens. That is a different pitch and diameter than the actual lens mount thread.

As long as you have both the Fed-5 and the Fed-2, you could try and interchange the lenses. They should interchange readily.

Some Fed-2's have a rangefinder cam that hangs too low in the lens mount throat. It can prevent some lenses like an Industar-61L/D from engaging the rangefinder cam properly. It can also scratch the back element of a Jupiter 12.

To see if you have that problem, mount the lens very carefully. The first time you try this, it may help to remove the camera back and lock the shutter open at B with a locking cable release. That way you can watch the lens clearance from the back.

-Paul

Paul, Thanks much.

It was the helicoid threads. The lens was on so tight that it would not rotate
until I gave a little muscle to it. I popped it off and screwed on the Ind. 61.

Looks good
Richard