Some Soviet-themed Zorki C, I-61 photos

[Mr_Flibble]

Spent an afternoon at Fort Vechten (NL) with the WW2 "Krasny Oktjabr" re-enactment group and a few extras and another photographer. The group wanted some new pictures for their website and I had voluntered to help them out (and provided some extra uniforms and equipment). I carried my Epson R-D1 (with Jupiter-3 attached), a Zeiss Ikon Nettar, a Leica IIIa and a Zorki C.

Yesterday I finally got round to scanning some of the negatives with the Zorki C. All exposures were based on Sunny-f/16 guesstimates. The Spector 200 film got in an argument with my HP G4050 scanner so I desaturated some of the images. And I played with the contrast and brightness a little bit.

Please forgive the mix&match of gear and some faux items used in this shoot. Note that these folks are NOT communists, but history buffs.

M1935 Gymnastiorka and M1943 Telogreika cold-weather uniform

Mosin Nagant Rifle with a (reproduction) 3.5x PU scope of "Enemy at the Gates"-fame (they are also used in "Kelly's Heroes" for some reason)

"Za Rodinu! URRAH!"

Parts of Fort Vechten are being restored to their former glory. Which provided us with some interesting backdrops.

Time for "Mahorka"


The camera was suffering from curtain hang-ups a few months ago, but with regular exercise it appears to have behaved well enough.

Well, back to scanning the rest of the film,

 

[oftheherd]

All good photos. I really liked number 4. it has that old patriotic propaganda look to it. All are really well exposed for no light meter.

 

[Mr_Flibble]

Thanks,

How different is the LTM I-61 from the M42 mount I-61? Because the images I got with an MTL-50 and the latter lens were a lot sharper then these in my opinion (or maybe my scanner's backlight is dying).

 

[paulfish4570]

what a fun bunch ...

 

[02Pilot]

FYI, the scoped M-N was used in Kelly's Heroes because the movie was filmed in Yugoslavia using Yugoslav army equipment. They had tons of US stuff that was delivered after the war, and lots of left-over German equipment, but the only non-Mauser scoped rifles in service were M-N M91/30s, so that's what they used.

And FWIW, the guy holding it is going to get himself killed after ever soldier on the battlefield spots his muzzle flash the first time he takes shot with the rifle hanging outside of cover like that.

 

[Alowisney]

Thanks for posting these! These are great shots. I love to see reenactors doing something other than the American Civil War since I get to see that pretty often.

 

[Coldkennels]

I wouldn't mind running into any reenactments, to be honest. They don't seem to be quite so common in England. Or maybe I'm just not looking in the right place?

I love that bottom shot. Got a real charm about it.

 

[Mr_Flibble]

Al the big WW2 events are in England (and the US) to be honest. Gunpowder mills, Beltring War & Peace. Have a look here: http://www.wwiireenacting.co.uk/forum/viewforum.php?f=104

O2Pilot, the other photographer put him that position. His spotter would also be sticking out like a sore thumb 😉

 

[Stuart John]

Nice photos. Thanks for posting them. The industar 61 should be pretty good but if the rangefinder is off or if the lens need adjusting the focus may not be sharp. I have a zorki C too but the industar 22 that came with it is so scratched it can't be use for any kind of normal looking photography.