Fed-Mikron
FED-Mikron is a Soviet half-frame camera manufactured from 1968 to 1985 at the FED Plant in Kharkov. Although the camera was designed for the classic 35mm film, it has a frame size of 18×24 mm.
What should be noted is that FED-Mikron is designed on the basis of the Japanese Konica Eye camera, like most cameras made in the USSR.
FED-Mikron Specifications
- Type: 35mm scale focus camera
- Manufacturer: FED plant
- Production period: from 1968 to 1985
- Format: 18x24cm on 135 film
- Lens mount: fixed lens
- Lens: Helios-89 f1.9/30
- Shutter: leaf shutter with speeds from 1/30 to 1/800 sec.
- Viewfinder: optical viewfinder
- Lighmeter: built-in selenium light meter
- Flash synchronisation: sync socket “X”
- Selftimer: none
- Weight: 450 grams
The camera body is made of high-quality aluminum. One part of the produced cameras had a removable back cover, and the second part a hinged back cover. When you take the camera in your hand, you understand that it is very well made.
The camera was equipped with a Helios-89 1.9/30 fixed lens. Focusing from 1 m to infinity. The distance scale symbols are displayed in the viewfinder field of view.
The FED-Mikron camera was equipped with a leaf shutter with continuously variable shutter speeds from 1/30 to 1/800 and B. As you can see, the lens has a very decent aperture. In combination with a good range of shutter speeds, this makes it possible to take photos in almost any circumstances.
The camera has an optical parallax viewfinder. The viewfinder has a luminous frame for parallax correction when shooting at close range (less than 1.5 m).
The camera has a fairly comfortable film advance lever. The frame counter is self-resetting. The camera also has a fairly convenient film rewind crank.
It should be noted that the camera has a fairly convenient automated shutter speed system, with which it is quite easy to take photos with the correct exposure.
Conclusion
As has been repeatedly said on the pages of Sovietcameras.org, most of the Soviet cameras are somehow clones of German or Japanese cameras. Most often, cameras have the good build quality, and one of these cameras is the Fed-Mikron.
For the late 60s, the Fed-Mikron was very advanced especially when compared to cameras such as the FED-2, which was produced at the same time and was a more flagship model. This camera had almost everything for comfortable photography, and the lack of a rangefinder or mirror mechanism is one of the few negative qualities of this camera.
The frame format is not quite ordinary, and this is another interesting feature in this camera. On the one hand, this means that you can make twice as many frames, but due to the small frame size, photos will not have the same detail as in the classic 24×36 mm frame size.
