Fed 5 - No 60th second selection?

muf · 07-13-2004

Hi,

I purchased a Fed 5. It is new unused stock. I got it and can honestly say it certainly looks like it's never been used. The lens, the body and inside are spotless. I have never used one before and the instruction manual is in Russian. I own a number of RF camera's and pretty much can find my way around a camera fairly quick.

I took the camera out to test it with a 36 exposure film in it. I can't seem to get the shutter speed selector to click in to 60th/sec. I can lift it and move it into all the other shutter speed slots but it won't drop down into it's position on 60th/sec. Has anyone got experience of this camera and maybe enlighten me. Could it be a fault or is there something i can do to remedy this. It's very odd that this is occuring it what is basically a brand new camera. Any help would be appreciated.

Paul

[edit: I have noticed that it clicks down into what would be 30th/sec but as there is no 30th labelled i'm wondering if it is in fact 60th/sec but is just a little out of alignment. There is another 30 on the dial but i'd be surprised if this is 30 seconds and maybe is 30th/sec and is the selection for flash as well. Only guessing. Help!]

muf · 07-13-2004

One other thing. Is the lens a Industar 61 or a 61ld. See piccy the actual lens.

Paul

DickS · 07-13-2004

I have a FED 5 C and 1/30 of a second is the synchronization speed and it is marked in red and it out of sequence from the rest of the shutter speeds on the dial, on my camera.

Starting at B and going around the dial clockwise the settings are B, 1/30, 1 second, 1/4, 1/8, 1/15, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, and 1/500.

There is also a dot between the 1 second mark and the 1/4 second but I don't think it means anything. And the shutter speeds all work for me.

Dick

back alley · 07-13-2004

that looks like the ld version, 55/2.8.
is one set of numbers red? (sorry can't remember which set distance of f stop).

joe

growlerman · 07-13-2004

The dot markings on the speed dial are quite difficult to see. I have a Fed 5b that I bought as a new unused camera. The first one was faulty ie the shutter won't fire. This happened maybe twice every 24exp film, the only way to fire was pressing the rewind button.
I enjoy the Fed 5 and feel it was a good buy and I'm very happy with the results from it.

pshinkaw · 07-13-2004

You have an Industar 61L/D. The L/D is in Cyrillic characters at the end of the 61.

1/30 of a sec is located between the 1 second and B setting. If it doesn't drop, there mught be something wrong with it. Perhaps they forgot to make a hole?

It is also possible that the shutter speed dial was not put in the proper place or it moved. Try this. By trial and error locate the B setting. If it does not line-up with the letter B you can loosen the single set-screw that holds the dial and make it line-up. It is only a friction fit. Once you are sure that the dial is in the proper place, try to locate 1/30 again.

-Paul

pshinkaw · 07-13-2004

Sorry If I wasn't too clear. If you are looking for 1/60th, it is 180 degrees away from 1/30th, berween 1/15th and 1/125th.

The Fed 5 progressions is (clockwise) 1, 1/2 (unlabeled, a dot only) , 1/4, 1/8, 1/15, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, 1/500, B and 1/30 (also flash sync speed). There is no way to go directly fro 1/30 to 1 sec without going counter-clockwise.

Also, don't try to change the shutter speed w/o cocking the shutter first.

-Paul

muf · 07-13-2004

Thank you all for your replies and assistance. It seems that it is finding 60th/sec and that it is slightly out of alignment. On my dial it clicks in with the marker pointing exactly between 15th/sec and 60th/sec. And also you confirmed my suspicion that the 30 oposite to the 60 is in fact 1/30th and is flash sync. I tried it and it works fine.

As i said, i have never used one of these and wasn't too sure. I'm looking forward to the first set of prints out of this. Especially as i've heard a lot of good things said about the industar 61ld. I can confirm that my lens does have red writing(well more orange to be precise and then has a set of aperture settings in green, then the adjustable aperture is in white. Does this sound correct?

As i said, thanks for your help. It really is appreciated.

Paul

pshinkaw · 07-14-2004

The photo you posted is unmistakeably an I-61L/D.

A Fed 5 is as straightforward a 35mm camera as anyone can design. No frills at all. Jas an example, just look at the takeup spool! The hardest thing about it is to figure out how to rewind the film.

I keep one in my office along with a Vivitar selenium cell meter in case I need a camera because it needs no batteries and no one will want to borrow it.

The 1/60 alignment marker is easy to fix, provided that it doesn't throw off the other markers. Just loosen the set-screw, move and re-tighten.

-Paul

DickS · 07-14-2004

This site http://www.russianplaza.com/fed%201%...20PG%201a.html
has information on all FED cameras but it has been down as often as it has been working recently, so I don't know how much you'll have getting to it.

Dick

pshinkaw · 07-14-2004

This is a good exposition on using a Fed-5C. The author was a columnist for Byte magazine. remember them?

http://www.halfhill.com/fed5c.html

-Paul