FED 5C: A Review of the Soviet Rangefinder

There was no doubt about it. This was an impulse buy. The sensory stimuli that began from cells in my eyes sneakily bypassed my brain and led my hands straight to my wallet. Thankfully I only had to fork out RM190 for this. Dirt cheap yes?

The FED 5C is a rangefinder camera made in the Soviet Union. The company initially started off by making copies of Leicas in 1932 as was evident in their earlier FED models. They then started mass producing the cameras and for such a cheap price, they were notorious for their shoddy quality control.

I had to wait 3 weeks before my camera arrived from Russia. When I took it out from the package, my first thoughts were 'Wow, this is heavier than I thought'. If it turned out to be a dud I could always use it to pound chili or something.

What I love about this camera is the metering. And that it doesn't need batteries. It uses a selenium cell light meter (as you can see below) and I must say that I'm pretty fortunate to get a working copy. Indoors it may get a bit tricky, but outdoors it works like a charm. If you have a camera that has this type of metering, always remember to keep it in the dark when not in use. This will help you to preserve the life of the light meter.

Another concern about this camera was the lens that came as standard on this model. The Industar I-61 L/D lens is not only famous for being sharp but radioactive as well. This is because it contains the the rare Lanthane in its glass elements. After doing some research, I found that the radioactivity emitted by the lens is negligible. You'd probably get more radiation from sunbathing than by carrying this around.

The bottom line is how will this camera perform? Is it just a looker but empty on substance? Is this rangefinder going to be a Kournikova or a Sharapova?

I'd say Sharapova without the grunts. This is probably the start of something beautiful.

More FED 5C pics

Vegenomics 101

A very common gripe among those involved in retail is the constant threat of a price war with your competitors. On the short term this may benefit the consumers and those who gladly cut their prices, but on the long run this may make the business too competitive and many players will exit altogether. The retailers who remain may find that while they have the volume, their margins are so pitiful that they wonder why do they still want to do whatever they do. It is usually the retailer with the deepest pockets that will survive. As for the consumers, there are less shops for them to choose from and maybe they have to drive further to find the things they want.

But wait...if you think retail is tough - have you been to a market?

I was at the Kundasang Market a few days back and it really got me thinking - how do they survive? If you see the picture below, the 3 red arrows are the same items being sold but by 3 different stalls. The same goes for the blue arrows. Yes - the stalls are really that close to one another.

So lets say the average space between two tiangs (columns) can accommodate 2 stalls. From the picture all the way to the end I can see around 8 tiangs. Given that I took this photo somewhere in the middle of the long market, there are probably around 25-35 stalls in that one long stretch of road. All selling more or less the same thing. *Gulps*

To their credit, most of them offer the same pricing. There were some who after peeking over their shoulders to see if their neighbors were listening, quoted slightly below market rate. There were a few that were more enterprising and sold additional items that the rest did not - flowers, cacti, etc.

However, I should not judge them based on all my preconceived ideas. They may seem to have many challenges, but who knows they do make a lucrative living and are very happy with what they do. The latter one being what I consider as an invaluable resource.

Bus Number 11

What a week it has been! So much has happened that the end result was me being relegated to doing something that I've not done since my university days.

I was involved in a car crash about a week ago. It was raining heavily and as I approached a traffic light that was turning yellow, I instinctively stepped on the gas not realizing that the car in front of me was already stationary.

This is the first time I've been involved in a major accident and I hope it will be the last as well. It will take up to 3 weeks (I hope they keep to their word) to get the car up and running again, but till then, my mobility has been seriously reduced. Its a good thing that I stay relatively near to my workplace - it takes around 20-25 minutes walk. Public transport is less of a convenience than walking and definitely not an option.

Good Ol' Bus Number 11

What gets me most is the timing of the accident. My mom is coming to visit me later this weekend and without a way to get around ... well I guess we can do some work on the garden!

Monochromatic Dreams

I don't think you can ever shoot with film in its full glory until you've tried shooting black and white. And I don't mean shooting in color and then converting to monochrome. I've picked up a few rolls Ilford XP2 Super 400 and immediately got hooked like flies to turd.

All pics shot with Canon EOS 5 with 50mm

Haven't touched this in quite a while

Since I was using a Canon, I also tried using my flashgun for some off camera lighting. What's scary about this is that the EOS 5 does not support E-TTL. So I have to park the flash in manual mode and guess the output. Also this is not digital... so if I get the exposure wrong, I'll only know in a couple of days time.

Fortunately it turned out alright. After I finished this shoot, I realized that I could've shot with the exact settings on my DSLR first, then apply the same settings to the film camera... but hey, where's the fun in that right?

Prison (Holiday) Break!

Normally when someone mentions to you 'prison' or 'jail' what comes to your mind? A dark, dirty and undesirable place that no one in their right mind will ever want to go is what came to mine (we have stories from the oh so feh-mes Kamunting). Rightly so! These places serve as a deterrent.

Apparently some folks in Norway thought otherwise. So they built Halden - the World's most humane high-security prison.

Unbelievably, they've spent around $1 million on paintings, photography and light installations! Rooms are fitted with en-suite bathrooms with ceramic tiles, mini-fridges and flat screen tvs. And according to them, 'Officials say sleeker televisions afford inmates less space to hide drugs and other contraband.' Rrrrright...

This looks better than some of the hotels I've stayed in

The windows have no bars - though anyone trying to escape is probably stupid

This is the scariest picture so far - a dental chair! *gasps* The sound of drills...

And if you do get bored of your stay, you can choose to do some workout, rock-climbing or take up a course (where they'll refer to you as a student and never an inmate). They go to great lengths to do this because they reason that criminals will have to rejoin society sooner or later and they try to make this phase of transition as similar as they can to the real world experience. While this is a very noble idea with lots of merits, it will never work in Malaysia. There will be a sudden surge in crimes as people jostle for places in these so called prisons (yours truly included).

So Not Haute!

I have this black singlet that I have been wearing as a pajamas for about a year or so.

Recently within the space of 2 weeks, I've spotted 5 different individuals that wear the exact same garment (with the Red Edwin words at the back) - 2 at the gym and 3 at my work place. I have such a generic taste in clothing? Or maybe Edwin was having a huge sale. Yea that must be it.

There is a logical explanation to all this. Lets say you're in a department store. Out of the whole floor selling men's clothing, the store will designate a small area to selling underwear (This Edwin garment was bought in the underwear section of a department store by the way...I bet those 5 other guys bought them at more or less the same place too). So thats like what? 10% of all the clothing on that floor? This is not including the independent/chain retail clothing outlets that are also in the mall. So on the whole, lets say Mid Valley, I can safely say that 5-10% of all the clothing sold there are undergarments.

So lets say all the PJ residents shop exclusively at Mid Valley and so the 2 million or so residents get their fresh supply of underwear from more or less the same place. Therefore - if you were to randomly approach people and start pulling down their pants...

TOFWPATA being 'The Other Fella With Pants Around The Ankles'...

Do you see what I'm saying here? Normally I should not be bothered by this, but 5 different people in 2 weeks is a bit too much. I can't sleep well at night knowing that I'm wearing the same thing as the balding uncle with a huge potbelly. Maybe its time to shop at a more exclusive place. Victoria's Secret maybe...and I don't care that they don't cater to men.

Out With The Old

I have always believed that plants were immortal. That given the right conditions and absence of disease, they will live forever. A few months back, someone expressed amazement at the fact that our tomato plant has survived for so long. Since the seeds were the type you can get commercially for under RM2, it is believed that they have a limited life span.

Initially I found it hard to believe. Then suddenly one by one the branches started drying up for no apparent reason. Adding more organic soil or fertilizers did not help at all. Eventually it was no more. So I guess there may be some truth to it (either that or I messed up somewhere... its easier to blame plant genetics in this case).

Immortal or not, there's one thing that I'm pretty sure is finite - real estate. So the tomato is gone and another plant has been groomed to take its place.

I don't exactly know what plant this is yet. My wife brought back some seeds one day and we just planted it. It is definitely a fruit bearing plant, that much I am sure. Oh we'll find out in a couple of years...