JPG Magazine: Stories: My Precious: Workhorse: The FED 5B

My Precious

Workhorse: The FED 5B

FED 5B by FED

By Jason Canavaggio

29 March 2008

FED 5B

In 1934, the FED was started in the Ukraine. FED was named after Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky, who was the founder of the Cheka. Since its start in the 30s, the camera company has produced cameras that copied the Leica design that happened to be so close they were frequently given the Leica markings and sold as Leicas, despite the cruder design. The FED led the way in making Leica style cameras, which was followed by Zorki in the late 1940s. In 1941 the factory was destroyed by the Germans, which ended production until 1946.

1955 marked a new era of the FED cameras where the company decided to become more innovative with their cameras. The different models would include such things as slower shutter speeds that were unavailable on older models, selenium exposure meters, lever film advances opposed to the thumb wheel, and combining the rangfinder with the viewfinder. The factory ended its mass production of cameras around the mid 1980s, having produced 8,647,000 cameras. Approximately 633,096 of those were the FED 5B.

The FED 5B being one of the last models the FED ever produced started its run in the late 1970s. This model is built like a tank, using 35mm film. This heavy metal machine features eleven different shutter speeds from B to 1/500 of a second. The sync speed on the FED 5B is set at 1/30 of a second. The lens is an Industar-61L/D (2.8/55mm), with the diaphragm scale from 2.8 to 16. The focusing is 1 meter to infinity. It has a removable back that locks into place with shackles, along with the ability to be used with a cable release, and had a screw mount on the bottom, so it can be used on a tripod.

As previously mentioned this camera is pretty heavy to the cameras we're used to lugging around, but one gets used to the weight of it after awhile. It's also nice to know that the camera is super duty and can take a beating. The carrying case for the camera also functions as a neck-strap for the camera utilizing the screw mount on the bottom, however, the thing leather strap and the weight of the camera isn't too comfortable around the neck, which is why I'll carry it over my shoulder when it's not in my hands.

I think the biggest problem with this camera was that the instructions were in Russian, but anyone can go to a search engine and search for the English instructions. The lens isn't too accurate on the distancing listed to the actual distance it can focus, but that was a flaw in any Russian copy of the Leica, yet as long as someone follows the rangefinder inside the viewfinder they should be fine when focusing. Unless you plan on using the flash all the time, you'll have to have a light meter since this model was to be a cheaper version of the FED 5 and did not contain a built-in light meter.

I found the pictures the FED 5B took to be a unique combination of a sharp focus with a slight dream-like quality. The black hues turn out to be very deep in the pictures and really make your pictures pop when shooting in color. I have yet to shoot black and white with this camera, but I expect to get amazing results.

Unfortunately www.lomography.com has run out of their stock (which is where I got mine), but they do have the older siblings of the FED 5B. Lomgraphy.com has been running deals on these cameras where for a little extra on the price you can get rolls of Agfa film and a colorsplah flash. I have also seen EBay carry some listings of the FED 5B which varied from reasonably priced to being overpriced.

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