FED2 Rangefinder Camera

It is time to return to the photographic roots.

When I talk about roots, I mean film photography.  I shot on film throughout the 1980’s, 90’s up to mid 00’s, then I turned to digital. So it was refreshing again to return to film and the magic it has. I have been capturing Street Photography using a beautiful former Soviet, mid 1950’s  Fed2 Rangefinder Analog camera. Which has been fun and exciting to use.

The Fed2  is completely manual, fully mechanical metal camera. It has helped me to learn to expose photos without the need of a light meter or any auto settings, and having to do the calculations in my head, which becomes second nature the more you practice using the Sunny 16 rule. The Fed2 has allowed me to become fully immersed in photography. My photos have to be more calculated due to the expense of film photography plus only having 24-36 shots per film. I am essentially training my eye and photographic mind to be sharper and making more shots count. Below are some of the photos I have taken us the FED2.

There are other advantages of the FED2:

*   It is more discreet than a large DSLR, people seem to care far less when you are taking photographs.

*   It is lightweight and durable should it take a knock or two.

*   The Rangefinder focusing is very accurate using it’s zone focus system.

*   The batteries will not run out of charge, as this camera does not use them.

*   You have that unique film look, rich in tones, and grain should you choose it.

Using a film camera, makes photography exciting, as you can not see your photograph, until it gets developed. Why not try it yourself, get onto ebay and grab a wee bargain.

Due to the price of film rolls and the developing, I plan in the near future to develop my own Black & White prints to save money, achieve desired results and to deepen my understanding of photography.

Here are great resource links to FED and the Fed2 camera

My Fed2 photos can be found by “clicking here”