New to Rangefinders

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Granite

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Mar 26, 2007
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Hello all,

I'm new here, just taken delivery of a Korki 4, which looks in good condition - haven't ran film through it yet, but I've been trying out the mechanisms and I can't find any obvious problems. I was wondering if you had any links etc to manuals and anything else that may help my leanring of this new format. My knowledge of photography is based around digital p&s and SLRs, so I am expecting something of a learning curve!

Thanks all.
 
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Congratulations on your Z4 and welcome to RFF, Granite.

Not everyone likes the Z4 but it's a highly capable camera with a nice bright life-size finder image. Just make sure you ALWAYS set shutter speed AFTER you have wound on and NEVER before (you'll risk breaking it if you don't stick to that). The Z4 usually comes with a Jupiter 8 lens which is a fine lens.

Yes, there will undoubtedly be a steep learning curve. You can expect off-centre subjects till you learn to account for parallax errors on closer shots and probably some blank frames from forgetting the lens-cap! All part of the fun. If you have a filter on the lens I'd suggest leaving the cap off while you're out shooting - that way the lens is still protected but you won't get blank shots. Resist snapping away, pause before each shot since there are no auto modes to save you! Try saying "FAST" to yourself before a shot - Focus-Aperture-Shutter-Take and you'll hopefully not forget! We've all done it though; you look through the finder, take a nice shot then realise you just took it at 1/15 sec on a bright sunny day or you didn't focus etc. etc!

An internet search will turn up plenty of tips, manuals and information. Just remember the golden rule of setting shutter speed after winding, get into the habit from the start!
 
And don't forget to change shutter speed only after you wind the film 😉

Even before using it, I'd recommend at least checking the calibration of the rangefinder, so that you don't have out-of focus shots...
(focus on something close - like 1m or so - and check with tape measure whether the distance on scale of lens agrees with the real distance of the subject to film plane)

Then either get a handheld meter or an exposure table and go out try the camera 🙂

And don't forget to post some photos!
 
Hi,and welcome.Heed the above bits of information,buy some inexpensive film for your ZORKI and learn the " sunny sixteen " and you're on your way.WIND FIRST........Robin
 
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