The FED-2 is more of an enhancement on Leica thread
mount rangefinders of the era than a direct copy. Compared to LTM Leicas,
the FED-2 offers easier film loading and wider rangefinder base.
What does FED stand for? They are the initials of Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky, better known as the founder of the Soviet secret police (the Cheka, which later became the infamous KGB), and whose giant statue was dramatically toppled to the ground outside the Moscow headquarters of the KGB in 1991. As a pominent figure in early Soviet life, his name was applied to many institutions, one of which was the labour commune in Kharkov where orphaned teenagers worked assembling a variety of products, including, eventually, cameras. The earliest FED cameras were more or less copies of the Leica II, much like Zorki-1, but with the FED-2, the Leica heritage was left further behind.
Given
the choice at the time, would you have choosen a FED-2 over a contemporary Leica? Pablo
Picasso did, and he is quoted as having said:
"I have discovered
photography. Now I can kill myself. I have nothing else to learn."
While Picasso is better known for his paintings than his photography,
this must say at least something for the lowly FED-2, don't you think? At very least, it tells us that Sñr. Picasso was much more interested in photography itself than he was with camera gear!
My FED-2 pictured at the top of this page has the 85mm Jupiter-9 lens mounted upon it, but it was normally sold with the Industar-26
52mm lens, as can be seen in the cover illustration of the FED-2 manual above. It's a good lens, though for compactness, I like the collapsible Industar-22 (Elmar copy) 50mm lens instead.
Compared to the earlier FED-1 and Zorki-1 cameras, film loading is made significantly easier in the FED-2 because the entire back comes off with the bottom plate, as shown in this illustration from the FED-2 user's manual.
If you plan to mount the Jupiter-12 (35mm) lens, you
may need to bend the FED's rangefinder arm a fraction to accommodate it. My
FED required this adjustment, and I've since discovered that it's a
pretty common bug. See a description of the fix here.
While Picasso is better known for his paintings than his photography,
this must say at least something for the lowly FED-2, don't you think? At very least, it tells us that Sñr. Picasso was much more interested in photography itself than he was with camera gear!
mounted upon it, but it was normally sold with the 
