Just Joined up

[EnglishBob]

Hello to All,

I recently became interested in rangefinders but I didn't want to pay Leica's (or even Voigtlander's) price of admisison to try one out. After lurking here for a few weeks I decided an FSU RF was the perfect way to satisfy my curiousity.

I just bought a Zorki 4/Jupiter 8 combo on ebay from alex-photo(sergiy2002@yahoo.com). I hope this is the same alex-photo I have read good things about on this forum.

Is there anything I need to do to the camera first or can I just load up some film and start shooting?

Thanks,
Bob

 

[Wayne R. Scott]

Welcome,

First thing you need to do is buy another rf. You need one for color and one for B&W🙂

Wayne

 

[rover]

Welcome and good luck with the new rig.

 

[captainslack]

Excellent choice of camera, lens, and ebay seller!!!!

As always, heed the cardinal rule of FSU cameras: DON'T CHANGE THE SHUTTER SPEED WITHOUT WINDING THE SHUTTER FIRST!

 

[wyk_penguin]

May GAS be with you.

 

[ray_g]

Welcome, English Bob.

And be on the lookout for Li'l Bill. 😉

 

[brians]

Excellent choice of camera, lens, and ebay seller!!!!

As always, heed the cardinal rule of FSU cameras: DON'T CHANGE THE SHUTTER SPEED WITHOUT WINDING THE SHUTTER FIRST!

Welcome EnglishBob,

Indeed, the Zorki 4 with Jupiter 8 lens is a very beautiful blend, and from what I hear alex-photo is a great seller and very reliable.

Rule #2: Take off your lens cap before you shoot. Since these aren't SLRs, you won't know if they're capped or not until you're done taking that perfect shot, or when you get your whole of negs developed and they all turn out to be black.

 

[reagan]

Welcome aboard! Yep, just load it up, wind it up and pull the trigger. Shoot a couple of rolls of cheapo, go to a park and get shots of your dog, the statues, the ducks, etc. then get it processed cheapo... Afterwards you'll know if you've got any light leaks, hanging shutter, a dead rat in the VF or.......??? No matter what, you've come to the right place to share so let us see a couple of shots after you've given her a test drive. You're in for a blast so enjoy!

 

[Fred]

Still havn't mastered Rule 2 completely but am improving 🙄

Welcome to the forum English Bob.

If Bill was sick, would that be Ill Bill 😉

 

[Socke]

Welcome in our small global village.

My first FSU was a Zorki 4 with Jupiter8. Nice kit to get you hooked on rangefinders.

Next thing to get is a Leningrad 7 lightmeter 🙂

 

[Peter Klein]

Are you by any chance the English Bob I know on the Olympus DSLR list?

A Zorki 4 and Jupiter 8 is a nice combination, and a perfectly respectable shooter. Just load up some film and shoot. Since the viewfinder has no framelines, be aware that if you start moving your eyeball around as you view, you'll think that there's more in the frame than there actually is. Just look straight through and you'll be OK. Also, since the viewfinder has no parallax correction, when you get closer than about 10 feet, leave some room at the top of the frame, and the left, so you don't cut off people's heads.

There's a nice diopter adjustment--the lever under the rewind knob--that you can use to focus the viewfinder image (especially useful if you wear glasses and want to use the camera without them).

An excellent resource for FSU cameras is
http://www.commiecameras.com/

And he has some links to other sites:
http://www.commiecameras.com/sov/index.htm

Enjoy your Zorki. Remember, RFs are different from SLRs, and Soviet cameras are sometimes quirky. Who else puts a 1/60 and 1/15 second next to each other, with 1/30 way off somewhere else on the dial? But they are oh, so affordable if you get a good one, and the J-8 is basically a Zeiss Sonnar that was kidnapped and sent East. 🙂

--Peter

 

[Peter Klein]

More info: If you go here:
http://www.btinternet.com/~stowupland/

And then select "Zorki 4" in the right-hand column frame, it will take you to a very informative page on the Zorki. Somewhere in the middle is a link to a translated manual that you can download and print out.

--Peter