Pre war FED f:4.5 / 28mm (FED-35)

[Alex Kraus]

Before the war started, FED offered three different focal lengths lenses for their rangefinder cameras. The f:2.0/50mm and the f:6.3/100mm were already presented in two parallel threads. The missing wide angle option is presented here.
I couldn't find another thread for this lens, but the search function seems to absolutely useless. (The search string FED and 28mm gave 1176 hits with 28mm but none of them contained "FED"). In case there should be already another thread, I apologize in advance...

It is very surprising to me that FED came out with a 28mm wide angle lens instead of the more common and lens complicated 35mm focal length.
28mm wide angle lenses were a huge challenge in the time before WW II. Zeiss offered a very slow f:8/28mm lens if form of a Tessar (4 elements in 3 groups, the last pair cemented. The Leitz approach was a bit more progressive. Their Hektor f:6.3/28mm was a Heliar design of 5 elements in 3 groups and 2/3 stops faster.
But FED topped them all with a double gaussian design of 6 elements in 4 groups - and it was TWICE as fast as the Leitz Hektor!
Four groups means 8 air-glass surfaces that cause internal reflections - and this without having a coating!

FED f4.5 28mm by Alexander Kraus, auf Flickr

Look at the diameter of the lenses and imagine how thin theses lense are, especially the 3rd one! Only a fraction of a millimeter! I guess many of them broke during manufacturing and this might be the reason why the lens was discontinued quickly.

FED f:4.5 / 28mm by Alexander Kraus, auf Flickr

A very remarkable design for the time! But was it any good?

I was fortunate to get a very clean sample without any haze, scratches or cleaning marks and tested it on my Sony A9.
The first observation was that when I screwed it into an m39-M-Adapter, the focussing lever pointed to 12 o'clock and I couldn't unlock the lens because the rim of he adapter blocked it. This was not a major problem since I have the Voigtländer VM-E close focus adapter which has its own focussing helicoid. However, when I took it out to shoot, I noticed that I wasn't able to focus to infinity, just too approx. 2-3m. So the adapter was too thick! This was my first pre war FED lens and I was very surprised. It turned out that the early FED cameras didn't have the 28.8mm flange distance like the standardized Leicas! In fact the flange distance seems to be in the range of 28.5mm (not exactly measured). Later it turned out that the same applies to the 2.0/50mm and the 6.3/100mm. I didn't want to mess around with the lenses themselves and so I bought a cheap chinese M39-Sony adapter and grinded it down until I could reach infinity.

[Alex Kraus]

Now the first test shots:

wide open at f:4.5

FED f:4.5/28mm @ f:4.5 by Alexander Kraus, auf Flickr

Vignetting is very heavy and the contrast is very low - but if you look closely (in flickr you can look up the original file in 100% view) you will find that the details are alread sharp in the majority of the frame (without the edges)

Stopping down to f:6.3 boosts the conrast a lot!

FED f:4.5/28mm @ f:6.3 by Alexander Kraus, auf Flickr

Stopping down further lowers the vignetting and improves the corners:
@ f:18

FED f:4.5/28mm @ f:18 by Alexander Kraus, auf Flickr

Not a bad performance for an uncoated lens from 1938! And it is free of distorsion due to its symetrical disgn!

[Alex Kraus]

Shooting directly into the sun with an uncoated 6 elements lens is not a good idea:

FED f:4.5/28mm (1938, uncoated) by Alexander Kraus, auf Flickr

As expected you get tons of flare, but not a complete whiteout!

[Alex Kraus]

Now some real world images I shot with this lens:

Wasserburg am Inn by Alexander Kraus, auf Flickr

My point of view by Alexander Kraus, auf Flickr

Sony A9, f:12.5
(Wasserburg am Inn, Bavaria, Germany)

[Alex Kraus]

Color is possible too:

Seeon by Alexander Kraus, auf Flickr

Sony A9, f:9
(Seeon, Bavaria, Germany)

[Alex Kraus]

It doesn't even reuired huge manipulations in order to get the such results. A slight adjustment of the tonal curve (or histogram) and some dampening of the lights.
That's all!



This lens has no problem to cope with a modern 24MP sensor!

[Alex Kraus]

more examples:

May foliage by Alexander Kraus, auf Flickr


Enchanted houses in Hölltal near Truchtlaching by Alexander Kraus, auf Flickr


At the Bansee near Seeon by Alexander Kraus, auf Flickr

[Alex Kraus]

An example @ f:4.5

Castle Oberbrunn by Alexander Kraus, auf Flickr

[serkol]

http://forum.mflenses.com/fed-35-28-4-5-prewar-uncoated-and-ricoh-gxr-t75396,highlight,%2Bprewar+%2Bfed.html

I have to try it with Sigma fp

[lumens pixel]

Stunning results. A pre war lens and a wide angle !

[kypfer]

I had one of these FED 28mm f/4.5 lenses but it was badly misaligned internally … of course, I didn't know that 'till I'd run a roll of film through the Zorki 6 … rather disappointed
Still, it sold to a Japanese collector in 2018 for several hundred pounds, significantly more than I'd paid for it a few years earlier
I remember reading that these lenses weren't made to a strict standard and that they usually needed an appropriate thickness of stiff paper/card shim between the lens and the camera to correctly couple with the rangefinder.
I continue to be happy with my Orion-15, even though it's only f/6!

Here's an example from my FED lens taken with my NX5 … the distortion is prominent even on a crop sensor!

[AberratedSoul]

Those are lovely results! They simply ooze nostalgia in the best possible way.

[Alex Kraus]

[Ultrapix]

I see in the pictures many similarities with the old Biogon 21 4.5