Art

Okay, this image is more art than photography. If you couldn't tell, I have photoshopped the original image, taken with my FED-3 Russian rangefinder camera, and turned it into a painting.

I had gone to an 'Earth Day' event at a local community college, and they had hundreds of little white tents where people sold their wares, and companies showed off their 'Green' technology.

The FED-3 has a prime lens, and I haven't really got a handle on how best to utilize it. The lens gives images that are razor sharp, but the camera is finicky, leading to extra time spent composing and prep work, thus losing the shot.

I'm thinking stationary people are this camera's party piece, but I need more work to be certain.

In any case, the image, while nice, just looked better converted in PhotoShop, so I posted it here.

Rangefinder

FED-3 Russian rangefinder to be exact.

Every camera maker should have as 'colourful' a history as FED. Given this is a family-friendly journal, I won't post it here, but look them up sometime, it's worth the read.

My example is from 1966 and in mint condition. FED made millions of them, but finding one in good condition can be a bit of a task. Fortunately mine, as near as I can tell, was mint. Not surprising really, given they were never sold outside of Russia until recently. Probably made and then stored away since that time.

The lens is fixed (prime) at a useful range of 53mm with a minimum aperture of 2.8, which is very nice. It's also sharp as a tack and gives nice bokeh, as this image demonstrates.

I'm still experimenting with what a rangefinder can offer me over my other gear, if anything, but with the weather getting better all the time, I expect this will be my knockaround camera for the future.