Re: [Leica] Zorki 4

[m037iu00@cwcom.net]

Francisco,
Perhaps I can illuminate your knowledge of the camera as I owned one as my first 'serious' camera, hey! Don't laugh everyone!

The Zorki 4 was the penultimate Zorki design, succeeded only by the Zorki 4K which had a fixed take up spool instead of the removeable version, and a rapid wind lever rather than the wind on knob yours posesses.
The Zorkis were made from (old tractor parts, no! that's only a joke!) 1948-1978 and the name actually means 'piercing eye'. So watch out for the sharp edges on the viewfinder (sad joke...)
Built in Krasnagorsk the original Zorki Ia was a pretty crude replica of the Leica Model II which came with a replica 50mm Elmar. Several versions of the type followed before the Zorki 2 in 1954 which introduced a self timer mechanism, wow!
The Zorki 3 (1951) introduced a higher top plate and started to lose the Leica lookalike status, it also featured slow speeds with the front dial like the early Leicas but this was soon changed (on the 3S, 1955) to the way your camera is, ie. with the slow speeds on
the top dial.
The Zorki 4 was introduced in 1956 with the sync. speed upped to 1/30th sec! and the 4K in 1972 with the additions mentioned earlier.
Bizarrely the Zorki line went off on a tangent with Zorkis 5 and 6 (1958 & 9) where they extended the rangefinder base length for increased accuracy and the look changed to something very similar to the later Fed cameras, this didn't catch on though and these
cameras were finished by the mid 60s.
The lens (if you have one) is likely to be a Jupiter 8, a 50/2 copy of the pre-war Zeiss Sonnar, they also made other (mainly) old Zeiss based designs, a 20/5.6, a 28/6, a 35/2.8, a 50/1.5, an 85/2 and a 135/4. There was also a range of viewfinders to match. These
can all be either wonderful lenses (if you get a good one) or quite disappointing (if you don't) but they all offer excellent value for money and a great way to enter rangefinder photography on the cheap.
The Leica connection means you can swop lenses and enjoy yourself without worrying too much if a steamroller runs over your camera accidentally!
The first two digits on the serial numbers (of your camera and lens) should tell you the year of manufacture, eg, my 1976 Zorki is ser. # 76314150.

best of Leitz,
Jem
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Francisco.ACOSTA@DG3.cec.be wrote:

> Friends,
> Last week, in an italian flea market, I came across a camera that looked like a funny hybrid between a Leica screwmount and a M2. It was Zorki 4 with a Jupiter 50 f2. I was'nt in a very good shape but was working fine. After some bargain I bougth it for the fun.
> But later on I discover a quite nicely made camera (not closer to Leica manufacturing quality, though), with some interesting mechanical solutions.
> I would like to get some more information about it (I haven't found anything interesting in the web) eg, manuals, books about Zorki and Jupiter history, these kind of things.
> Anybody?
> TIA
> Francisco, Brussels