How to determine if the viewfinder/rangefinder on Zorki is ok

[Celesta]

Hi everyone, it is my first post on the forum. I shoot on digital and automatic film cameras, and recently ventured into the rangefinder world by acquiring a Zorki 4. I read the manual and multiple articles about the way rangefinder cameras work, but here is one thing that people do not usually describe in enough detail, because I guess it is supposed to be very obvious - but it is not. How can I say if the viewfinder is actually ok? I do not mean the horizontal and vertical alignment, but rather what exactly I am supposed to see when I look through the viewfinder.

I read that Zorkis have bright viewfinders. With my Zorki 4, when I look through the viewfinder, I see the world in front of the camera alright, but the area where I am supposed to see if the lens is not focused is really small. There is a tiny yellow spot in the center of the viewfinder where if I point the camera towards bright light I can see that the objects in front are not in focus (by that I mean seeing their misaligned duplicated shapes). But only in this tiny yellow spot and only if there is a plenitude of light in front. It is practically useless in dark, and overall the duplicated shapes are almost transparent, very very tough to see. The dioptrics are already adjusted for my vision. Does it sound like the viewfinder is broken? Can you describe in detail what I am supposed to see through the viewfinder?

 

[BradM]

Hi Celesta,
you have described in detail what you are supposed to see!
It doesn't sound broken at all.
The rangefinder on my Zorki 4 is not very bright either.

 

[TaoPhoto]

The viewfinder on the Zorki 4 is bright, compared to the Fed-2 and many other older rangefinder cameras, but rather dark compared to Leica M cameras or D/SLR's. Your's doesn't sound broken, though they yellow patches should be clear. Yours may have faded. If the viewfinder is out of focus, that is a problem. The world through it may not be a bright as an SLR, or as large, but it should still be in focus.

Focusing a rangefinder at night is a challenge, though focusing any camera in the dark is no picnic. After a while, with practice, you will get better at it. It's a matter of finding some point of relative light that you can use to focus, that's about the same distance as the object you plan to shoot. You've probably had to do the same thing to get autofocus to work sometimes.

 

[Coldkennels]

Celesta: You're describing my exact problem with the Zorki 4. A lot of people love the viewfinder because it's so bright, but I find it means you don't have a lot of contrast on the rangefinder spot, which can make focusing difficult in certain conditions.

Still, give it some time. With practice, you become much better at using it; your eyes "adjust" to the process eventually. But if you really, really loathe it, see if you can find a Fed to try out. The viewfinder on those is darker, meaning the rangefinder spot is brighter in comparison. You might prefer that.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Focus on something very distant, and set the lens to infinity. The images should be superimposed. Usually, if the lens is OK at infinity, it will be OK at closer distances.

For a further and better check, put the camera on a tripod; measure 1 metre from the film plane; and see if the lens/RF agree.

Otherwise, what you describe sounds pretty typical.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Celesta]

Thank you everyone! Sounds like at least from the clarity point the viewfinder works as it should. It is really different from what I imagined, but I will work it out 🙂 A friend showed me her rangefinder Olympus OM (I don't remember the number), the viewfinder was so clear, it had distance rulers, and I could see the duplicated shapes out of focus not only in the center, but all over the viewfinder, so I could judge the DOF with high precision. But that's a much newer camera 🙂 I'll take my time with Zorki.
I am currently on my first roll, should know if the rangefinder needs calibration once the film is processed.

 

[konicaman]

You can enhance the rangefinder performance by adding black tape or even using a speedmarker in the middle of the viewfinder window. There is a description here (concerning a Yashica - but procedure is the same):
http://www.ehow.com/how_7892601_repair-yellow-yashica-rangefinder.html

I suppose you are aware of the dioptre adjustment?

 

[adninzainandiputra]

I think you are confusing slr and rangefinders here celesta. An Olympus OM series is a slr where it does have some advantages over a rangefinder on determining depth of field on the screen.

 

[Celesta]

You can enhance the rangefinder performance by adding black tape or even using a speedmarker in the middle of the viewfinder window. There is a description here (concerning a Yashica - but procedure is the same):
http://www.ehow.com/how_7892601_repair-yellow-yashica-rangefinder.html

I suppose you are aware of the dioptre adjustment?

I am going to try to add black tape, thank you. I already noticed that putting my finger in front of the viewfinder makes it easier to see the yellowed area.
I am using the dioptre adjustment: although my vision seems to be ok, I found that tuning the dioptrics a little bit gave me a better view.

I think you are confusing slr and rangefinders here celesta. An Olympus OM series is a slr where it does have some advantages over a rangefinder on determining depth of field on the screen.

Yes, true, I got it confused. I thought what I saw through the OM viewfinder was what I was supposed to see in a rangefinder camera 🙂