I have a FED that is nearly identical to my Leica iiif, and it seems to function almost as well. I think the shutter is a tiny bit noisier, but it may just be underlubricated. Other than that, it's a smooth operating, nicely made camera. The FED came with an Industar 50/3.5, which is a dead ringer for an Elmar. The lens is good but not great. I have the excellent Summicron 50/2 Collapsible on my Leica. One of these days I'll have to screw it onto the FED and shoot a roll just for grins. Paul
> On Thu, 23 Sep 2004 23:19:58 -0400, Peter J. Alling > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > What could possibly be lower on the food chain than a FED? > > > > Depends on how you see it. I find Feds (and Zorkis, Kievs, etc) to be > fascinating examples of how camera design will evolve without market > forces and competition as we know it shaping it. > > Besides: Feds and Zorkis as copies of Leicas, but so were early Canons > and many cameras made in the west. Everybody was copying Leica in the > 30's-50's. Nikon was copying Contax. > > Interestingly, Kievs are not Contax copies, but Contax clones, made > with a lot of the same machinery used up until the war by Zeiss, which > was taken by the Soviets (with the blessings of the US and UK) as war > reparations. > > And last, there are some very nice lenses on Leica screw mount. They > are cheap, and good examples are not hard to find. > > j (tape on my camera, and a Russian lens...) > > -- > Juan Buhler > http://www.jbuhler.com > blog at http://www.jbuhler.com/blog >
