This camera always belongs to the Type 1 but it has no rim round the finder.
It always shows:
- the speeds engraved on the dial,
- a cornered moulding.
No other difference compared with the Type 1 first version.
This second version seems to be the rarest of all the Fed 3a-s. It was delivered with the Fed Industar 26m F410.
Serial number of the pictured camera: 1027078. (Jacques collection).
This camera version FED3 Type A version 2, classified as PE0610 in the existing classification system [1], was released in 1961. Its total production is estimated at approximately 8,000 units, with serial numbers ranging from #1,022,000 to #1,030,000 [1]. Until recently, the lowest known serial number was s/n #1,023,094, which was reported from an eBay listing in 2010; the collector of that camera is unknown [1,2]. In 2026, however, a newly reported example with the serial number s/n #1,022,739 was documented in the collection of Xiatong Cai. This newly recorded camera moves the earliest known example from the #1,023,000 range to the #1,022,000 range, supporting the previous estimate that production began around #1,022,000.
The newly documented camera is fitted with a FED Industar-26M PT4325 lens [3], a lens type produced between 1957 and 1959. Given this production period, the lens, s/n #493,944, may plausibly be original to the camera, although a later replacement cannot be ruled out. In contrast, the later FED-3 Type A second-version example in Jacques’s collection appears to be fitted with a PT4365/4370 lens, which represents a later lens variant. This comparison suggests that the earliest FED-3 Type A second-version cameras may have retained the earlier PT4325 lens, while later examples were more commonly paired with the PT4365/4370 lens.
[1]. https://www.sovietcams.com/cameras/detail/428zc4vxeegmq7zywwmpsc1fcb
Uploaded on 10/17/2008 10:39:52 AM by Jacques M.