Closeup supplementary lenses which attach to the lens are available, but using them is cumbersome. They require the use of separate framing devices and focus is never exact since focusing requires a conversion table where the lens must be set for each closeup focus setting.

The early SLRs’s touted sales claim was the ability to make close-ups… that was their only selling point because everything else about them was a pain to use. Just handle an Exakta or Contax D, or a Contaflex and you’ll see why RF reigned supreme for years before the introduction of the Nikon F or Pentax HV.

Reflex focusing attachments thus became available for this. These devices convert the RF camera into an SLR. The mirror viewfinder is attached to the lens mount. The extra extension allows the lens to focus really close. With extra bellows, the ability to focus really close even becomes greater. Leitz made VISOFLEX. The Soviets decided to fuse the accessory mirror reflex attachment to the camera and created the Zenit.

This one is the not-so-common Mirax Focabell, made by Miranda Camera. Miranda is a now extinct Japanese camera maker. The Focabell was the only(?) accessory they made for the Leica and its copies. Miranda never made Leica copies; they went to making SLRs right away.

This attachment fits the Leica easily. It will usually fit some of the FED or the Zorki, but because of their non-standard lens mounts, the mirror reflex housing does not always line up properly on them.

I’ve only used this attachment once or twice. I don’t even remember what I took with it…

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“PaRODINAL FILM DEVELOPER CONCENTRATE.”

Our homebrew is derived from the formula first published on the net by Donald Qualls.  It’s a Rodinal-type developer formula derived from paracetamol.  Paracetamol (acetaminophen) and Rodinal (1,4-para aminophenol) are cousins.  And through a process which involves alkaline hydrolisation, paracetamol is converted to para-aminophenol.

However, our paRodinal brew is different.  It does not use the pill type paracetamol, so the solution comes out clean and clear of suspended detritus.  It also uses some ingredients listed in the original Agfa Rodinal formula; using Potassium Hydroxide instead of sodium hydroxide mentioned in the original Qualls formula.  Our paRodinal Brew also has anti-chelating and anti-fog components which are absent from the original one published on the net.

PaRodinal shares many of the traits the original Rodinal is known for.  Longevity, compensation, increased contour sharpness, and ease of use.

This developer is a “one-shot” type. It means that a working solution is diluted (from 1+25 to 1+200) from the concentrate.  With those small amounts, a 120 ml bottle can develop more than 20 rolls of 35mmX36 exp film.    One-shot also means that everytime the developer is used, its potency is assured.  Unlike stored working-strength developers like D76 where re-use always involves the question of how much time should be added each time it is reused to compensate for partial exhaustion.   “One shot” means mix the developer, use it once, and then flush it down the drain.

Like Rodinal, PaRodinal also is stable and has a long storage life, when stored sealed in its container.  The concentrate, which starts clear, will darken until it is as dark as Coca-cola.  The darkening is no sign of deterioration. The concentrate can sit for months, or maybe  years and still be excpected to work like when it was new.  Other Developers like D76 have to used within a month (three months maximum) before they totally become useless.

Dilutions determine how the negative comes out.  Low dilutions (like 1+25) develop shorter, and give higher contrast.  High dilutions (like 1+100) give longer developing times, higher contour sharpness and compensation. High contour sharpness means there is an increase in apparent sharpness in the negative- the details look sharper. Compensation means that highlights don’t block up and shadows catch up- less burned out whites and dead shadows in the print.

1+50 is the suggested dilution for general use.

PaRodinal is not a fine-grain developer. Film grain will be seen as is.  Film developed in other types of developer like D76, which have high sodium sulphite content, will appear to finer grain.  The extra sulphite in the developer ‘shaves’ and eats away at the edge of the grain and make them appear continuous.  In the print, the absence of these edges make it look that the grain is smooth.  But this also reduces the sharpness in the finer details.  PaRodinal, like the original Rodinal instead develops honestly and shows the grain as it really is. HIgher dilutions tend to make the grain look a bit finer.

This developer is used just like Rodinal.  The same times for any given dilution and temperature combination can be applied for the film in use.  This developer must be used at 20ºC.  It is not recommended to be used above 25ºC because the film’s gelatine emulsions can swell and soften too much at higher temperatures.

“EXPRESS FIXER”

“Express” means that this fixer does its job faster than conventional fixers. It contains some ammonium thiosulphate. It fixes the film completely in about 5 to 7 minutes.  Some films will even fix at 2 minutes.

Fixing time is really double the clearing time.  So if an undeveloped strip clears in 1 minute, fixing time is 2 minutes.  A bit more time can be given to make sure that the film emulsion is properly hardened.  This fixer contains some hardener to harden the emulsion and make it more robust against abrasions, scratches, frilling, and swelling.  The last can make the emulsion crack and craze, which gives the film a pseudo grainy appearance.

Typically, Luckypan film will fix in about 3 minutes.  Five or six minutes is sufficient for Fuji Neopan 400.  T-grain films like Kodak Tmax or Ilford Delta will take longer because Tgrain emulsions really clear longer.

A litre of fixer will fix 25-30 rolls (less with Tgrain films).  Using an Acid Stop bath between developing and fixing will extend the life of the fixer.

This fixer is of the acid-hardening type.

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The lens has the standard Leica M39 thread (LTM39) mount,  but the working distance (the focal plane to lens mount flange distance the lens is positioned which allows infinity focus) is not the the same.  Leica’s is 28,8mm.  Chaika used something like 29 or so mm.  This extra millimetre or so prevents infinity focusing when the I-69 28mm lens is mounted on the Leica.

the “Индустар-69″ 2,8/28mm mounted on a Leica IIIc

As the reader will note later, infinity focus is not the only, nor is it the greatest concern here.  Coverage, or the ability to focus an image large enough to fill the frame.  “Frame” here is relative- the standard 24 X 36mm, ‘half-frame’(a.k.a. “single frame”) 18 X 24mm, and the 23.7 x 15.6 mm APS-C size CCD of the Epson whose 1,5X factor makes it ‘see’ like a 42mm on standard 35.

The lens was modified by altering its focus movement.  Portions of the inner barrel were filed away to make the lens move further in to allow infinity focus.  The focusing scale on the barrel was also reset to synchronise it with the lens’ focus.  The aperture mark no longer coincided at the new positions, so a new mark was made by putting a drop of red paint on the aperture adjusting ring.

The lens too, being originally meant for a non-RF coupled camera, will focus only by scale since it has no means of engaging with the RF cams of the camera.  Scale focusing with a 28mm isn’t that hard- its greater DOF more than compensates for focusing errors.  Plus, the I-69 has three “snapshot” focus settings on its barrel: “Portrait”, “Group”, and Landscape”.  How is this used?  Look through the finder and set the focus against the figure which resembles closest what was seen through the finder:

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It cost about the same, perhaps even more, than the usual, working similar FED model from a later time.  At that cost, those FED even come with a lens.  This one doesn’t even have its lens mount.  Missing just about every exterior fastening screw, and without its pressure plate and pressure plate springs.

This FED has a 5-digit serial number which puts its production year to 1937.  Marked NKVD (НКВД), “Peoples Commissariat for Internal Affairs” the KGB’s predecessor in Stalin’s time.  This does not mean that the camera was  made for the Secret Police.  It only meant that the camera was made by a factory which was managed by the NKVD.  “FED” after all stood for F E Dzerzhinskij, the founder of the NKVD.

The shutter crate bottom is bent and distorted.  The crate isn’t a single cast part, like in later cameras.  In this one, it’s made of several stamped plates joined together.  The crate looks to have been hand stamped and assembled.

At least the parts involved in the shutter and range-finding operations seem to be complete.  Dirty, but intact.  No broken gear teeth.  Gear trains still meshed.

And despite its damage, the viewfinder is very bright and contrasty.  The rangefinder window is also clear, with a very clear patch showing a snappy moving image.  Better than what I’ve seen in better graded old Leicas!.   The Soviets must have used a different, more corrosion-resistant reflective coating on their RF beam-splitters.

The shutter blinds, made of highly perishable cloth and rubber are totally gone.  The fabric tapes which pulled the blinds to and fro appear to still be doing their work.  In fact the long tapes ( looped on brown coloured brass roller on the right) can be seen still tight, reeling in what remains of the long shutter blind.    The shutter blinds and tapes (ribbons) can be easily replaced.

The Rangefinder Coupling “sensor” (the silver coloured part at the top part of the shutter crate) is oblong shaped, not the small tear-dropped shape found in later FED-1 cameras.  Some references say that cameras of this type should have the tear drop-shaped focus follower.  This one still has the oblong version of the first type.

Somewhere on the shutter crate (in the part next to the film cassette) is engraved “II/11/XII” and “5.42″.  Both sets of figures appear to correspond to date marks.  “5.42″, i.e, May 1942 may refer to a later servicing date since the camera’s serial number dates it from 1937.  Russian date notations use a mixture of hindu-arabic and roman numerals:  roman for months and hindu-arabic for month and year.  The usual order is day-month-year; so 28 October 2009 would be inscribed as “28/X/09″.  “II/11/XII does not seem to refer to a proper date.  Is “II” the second year of manufacture?  11/XII may refer to December 11.  But again, the serial number of this camera, starting with “31″ puts it at an earlier date in 1937 since the number range covered by that year goes to “53xxx”.

Restoration will be done soon.  The works can be cleaned, and the shutter blinds replaced and new fastening screws attached.  However, this FED won’t be functional until it gets a pressure plate and a lens mount.   Something with a standard Leica flange would be great to have, and have this camera calibrated to the correct Leica Standard.   This FED originally had a non-standard lens mount and lens working distance.  Only the original lens which the factory issued with the camera would properly work.   Having neither lens or lens mount means more flexibility in restoring this camera.

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