Fed 3 (Pink) – Fuji Superia 400

 Industar-61( И-61/ЛД) 53mm f/2.8

So this camera is pink, with what appears to be a duct tape body wrap. I’m sure it didn’t come off the factory floor in the former U.S.S.R. this way. But it’s pink now, and I’m guessing that’s why I was able to buy it for pennies. Despite its toy-like appearance and low price, this camera is seriously good (so good that I eventually bought an unmodified black & silver body). It’s a rangefinder built in Ukraine sometime between 1961 and 1979 and takes m39 LTM lenses. LTM stands for Leica Thread Mount, but this is obviously no Leica. Nonetheless I really enjoyed shooting with it, it feels good in my hands and all the mechanics feel positive, if not buttery-smooth.

This was also my first time shooting Fuji Superia 400, which ended up being a problem. It wasn’t a problem because I didn’t like the film stock – in fact I love the color coming off the negatives and now prefer it over all the Kodak I’ve shot thus far, excluding Ektar. The problem was that this roll had 36 exposures, but the previous six rolls I had shot all had 24. That muscle memory, when combined with my unfamiliarity with the somewhat obtuse rewind mechanism of this camera, caused me to open the film back before the roll had been fully rewound. So as you can see there are some pretty serious light leaks in this roll. Luckily, not every shot was ruined and despite the imperfections, these are some of my favorite pictures. I am still getting used to framing with the tiny viewfinder found on the Fed (though focusing is relatively easy), but I did finally get some padding for the horribly scratchy metal ring around the viewfinder/diopter that had ruined a pair of eyeglasses. Lesson learned.

Hit Rate: 21/36 (58%)