When I decided to start a camera collection this was the first camera I acquired. My first serious camera was a rangefinder camera and I’d heard of Leicas. However, I didn’t want to spend a lot of money so after browsing around on the Internet for a while I decided to try some of the Leica copy former Soviet Union (FSU) cameras. I didn’t like the idea of trimming the film leader (required to use bottom loading cameras like the earlier Leicas and also the early FSU cameras. So I opted for the Fed 2, which has a removable back. I read that it’s not as well made as a Leica (it’s not), but that it had some features that the early (and in some cases even later) Leicas lacked e.g. wide base length rangefinder; combined rangefinder/viewfinder; easier loading.

I very much like the viewfinder/rangefinder and the controls are relatively smooth. Of course it has no slow speeds so that limits it a bit (although I admit that I hand hold a lot and tend not to use the slow speeds much. I can’t even hand hold effectively at 1/30 sec). The black and white pictures were taken using an Industar-61 and the colour pictures with a collapsible Fed 50mm 3.5. I rather liked the Fed collapsible and was very pleasantly surprised with the results.

As with the Kiev (see post below) there is an interesting story behind the FED cameras . Who would have thought that such a camera would come from commune established by Felix Edmundovich (“bloody felix”) Dzerzhinsky (FED – get it?). He was the infamous head of the Cheka, predecessor to the KGB.