New love

[lushd]

Well - you know when you fall in love you become a bore telling all your friends?

So here goes - please try and make your expressions sort of believeably interested for just a few moments while I get this off my chest.

Got a Zorki 5 from Ukraine today. I bought it because it was shiny (ahem). I had been expecting something like the 4k - very competent and workmanlike but with a face only it's mother could love, a bit agricultural. The 5 is a whole different kettle of borsch. It's sweet and elegant and handles so well I am totally besotted. It made me think (for the millionth time) about the differences in cultures. If a western company had a product like this it would have been a flagship, high end, aspirational and expensive. Design of this quality that people could afford - don't we miss it?

Some pics will go up on the gallery later (a roll of Foma is drying right now and looks good).

Now, how long can I stay away from a Zorki 6?

 

[Jocko]

Now, how long can I stay away from a Zorki 6?

As long as it takes to log on to E-bay 😀

The 5 is a very sweet camera - and, as a bottom-loader reassuringly light-tight. I think the 6 is somehow yet prettier due to slight differences in shape and proportions thanks to the swing door - perhaps the best-looking camera the Soviets made (IMHO). It's certainly a very curious thought that at a time when western families aspired to nothing more than Kodak 127 Brownies, their eastern counterparts had lovely red Leicas....

Go on, Donald, you know you deserve one - watch out for that slipping latch... but one of those babies already has your name on it. I can hear it call for Daddy! 🙂

Ian (call me Mephistopheles!)

 

[lushd]

Ian - you are so right ...

Products of new love now in gallery.

Sigh ...

 

[outfitter]

IMO the early Zorki 5 with square RF windows, engraved name (not the tacky little nameplate) and vulcanite body beats the Zorki 6 hands down in the looks department.

 

[kvanderlaag]

Buy the 6. You will not regret it.

 

[kmack]

Nah, you need a Zorki or Fed 1. Those little buggers will make you a true believer.

 

[lushd]

I have three Zorki 1s

I am a lost cause, Comrade!

 

[kmack]

OY, well and truly lost tovarisch, then a 6 it is, then a 3 (if you don't already have one).

 

[Jocko]

Of course, what we haven't mentioned yet is that no mere Zorki could ever match the sheer wonderfuliness of a FED.

The camera Barnack copied. 😀

 

[lushd]

Of course, what we haven't mentioned yet is that no mere Zorki could ever match the sheer wonderfuliness of a FED.

The camera Barnack copied. 😀

Comrade - your remarks are provocative! Brighten the future of the motherland with the diligence of your labour! (saw this painted on a wall in Moscow in 1987).

Is this a Beatles/Stones thing? I like them both but for different reasons.

As I have gone through various GAS attacks more Zorkis have stuck to me than FEDs. I am extremely fond of my FED 3 and FED 2 though.

But as I have said before - if I could only have one camera, it would be a Zorki 4k, although I am wavering with this captivating new creature in my life.

 

[outfitter]

Buy the 6. You will not regret it.

Overly positive statement for Soviet equipment.

My first 6 lost its neck strap lug the first time out - left a big gapping hole in the body - the darn thing is just a press fit. The replacement 6 unfortunately doesn’t have the smooth film advance of the broken one.

The only FSU camera bodies you don’t regret are the ones that function well and are in register with the lens; once you achieve that nirvana the rewards are far greater than the cost.

 

[Jocko]

Comrade - your remarks are provocative! Brighten the future of the motherland with the diligence of your labour! (saw this painted on a wall in Moscow in 1987).

Is this a Beatles/Stones thing? I like them both but for different reasons.

Comrade, before the Komsomol drag me off for re-education by folkdance, I just wanted to say that the Beatles-Stones business strikes me as very apt indeed!

It's really rather strange: Feds always strike me as somehow romantic, whilst Zorki's are more mundane. I realise that this is totally irrational - but I find the weight of history tilts things in favour of the FED and adds that little intangible edge to the pleasure of such a camera. For me, the FED 1 and 2 have an iconic nature: their design crystalizes an age. I'd compare it to the feeling one might get on handling Roman coins - an imaginative connection is made across time.

But... Had they made a Zorki 6 with a meter..... 😉

And the 6 is much nicer than the 4 (IMHO🙂 ). You really need one!

Ian

 

[reagan]

"Design of this quality that people could afford - don't we miss it?"

Ahh, Comrade Donald, don't we though! I've been pleased with the Zorki.5 though I have put only a few rolls through it. After a clean & lube of the film advance, it smoothed out nicely and it's bright RF patch and comfortable size make it quite enjoyable to use.

Mine has the round RF/black nameplate which I decided looks fine, for me anyway. And I'm the only one that has to look at it everyday. 😉 I do plan to re-skin it in the near future; not that crazy 'bout the "nylon feel." I prefer bottom loading for it's simplicity and light-tight qualities, so the Six isn't really a temptation to me at this point. (Rather, a good Comrade has blessed me with another project Zorki.1. 😎 ) But if a ZweetZorki.6 calls your name, I'm sure you'll be as pleased as others have been.

"Stones/Beatles" ~ Just haven't had a big urge to grab a FED, yet, though the FED.2 has turned my head a few times... but not enough to bring one home to meet mama.

Love the quote !!

"Brighten the future of the motherland with the diligence of your labour!"

Pics in the gallery look good. Enjoy the Fiver!

 

[lushd]

Ah yes - the Zorki 1 project. Sounds like an episode from The Man from UNCLE.

Somewhere in my files I have a picture of the mural with that slogan on it. When I went to Moscow in 1987 these things were being phased out so I considered myself lucky to see one.

I do recall looking in the Beryozka (foreign currency) shops for cameras but they only had FED 4s and you could buy them in the UK just as easily.

Have been out with the Z5 again this morning - just wonderful. I think I would like to handle a 6 before I buy one. I have had a good trawl around Ebay and they all seem to have chipped black paint which makes me worry about the general condition. I have bought too many attic finds that just fell to bits in my hands when I tried to use them.