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My NKVD-FED

johnastovall

Deceased, but remembered fondly here...
I knew I had this camera. It was my step-brother's. His father was a Major in Army intelligence and with the first U.S. unit to enter occupied Berlin. My step-mother (this my father's second wife) told me the Major had gotten the camera from his Russian counter-part in Berlin. Step-brother had no interest photography and gave it me. I never though about the "Russian" camera. For some reason when I was taking Russian I never translated the markings.

Well today was digging in my desk draw I pulled it out. In about 1968, it stopped working and the Dallas Leica techs wouldn't touch it.

I know a bit now about Russian Leica copies and looking saw it was a FED in cyrillic.
Well I did a little playing with an online Russian alphabet and FED serial numbers.I have:

An NKVD FED 1b made in 1937.

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View attachment 13332

Body
View attachment 13333

Now, I want to get it restored and back taking pictures.
I'm going to see if Sherry K. will CLA the lens. Still looking for a FED restorer.
 
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johnastovall

Deceased, but remembered fondly here...
Found both a place to restore the FED and Lens, Fedka.

He also seems to have fine stock of Former Soviet Union cameras and lenses at nice prices.
 
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