Waiting for my first Zorki-4 to arrive...

[Squonk]

I've just acquired my very first FSU rangefinder on eBay, a Zorki-4 with a Jupiter-8 2/50 lens. I'm quite impatient for it to arrive. I guess it will be quite a different experience from my Bessa R...

Any good hints and tips or links to threads that may be priority reading are more than welcome.

Marc.
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[Ash]

I've been using my Zorki-4k for the past couple weeks.

I just developed a film and i'd knocked the pressure plate. Make sure yours lies flat before you load any film. I've got a nasty (well...quite faint) line all along the film strip.

You may want to read up about putting a small square on your rangefinder - http://rick_oleson.tripod.com/index-165.html - I used a fine liner ink pen and it's really helped me be able to focus, as it can be a little difficult to focus.

Remember to look at the rewind knob, when you load a film and advance for the first few times, check it rotates - this way you know the film is definitely winding on and hasnt slipped off the spool.

NEVER try to adjust the shutter speed until you've 'cocked the shutter' (wound onto the next frame).

Ummm I can't think of anything else, other than dont remove the lens unless you desperately need to, or you may knock the rangefinder out of alignment


I cant think of anything else right now, but I love my Zorki-4k, so good luck with your Z4!

 

[Spyderman]

Ummm I can't think of anything else, other than dont remove the lens unless you desperately need to, or you may knock the rangefinder out of alignment

It's a interchangable lens camera. Just exchange lenses whenever you need to, BUT before removing or mountingthe lens, set the lens to its minimum distance! the above mentioned quote applies if you exchange lenses that are set to infinity.

 

[Kim Coxon]

If you want a copy of the instruction manual try here http://www.fortunecity.com/marina/marine/569/rusrngfdrs/zorki4.html#

Sorry about the popups but not my ste,

Kim

 

[Ash]

ah yea sorry. I dont use my zorki with other lenses, so thanks for correcting me.

 

[ZorkiFan]

Ah, the joys of awaiting the postman. Sometimes it seems that Federal employees make their own hours, or at least around here.

He usually comes by 10:00 am unless I am waiting on a package, and then he comes about 4:00 pm. By that time, I am almost unable to walk to the mailbox, and I have to sit down to open the package. I look around, because I know he has to be watching and laughing.

Sometimes it doesn't make it on the day I expect it, and one of these days they will find me under the mailbox, curled up in a fetal position in convulsions, foaming at the mouth. I know that they are convinced that it is heroin that I get in the packages.

I currently expect the door to be kicked in, and there will be flashes and loud bangs as I am thrown against the wall at gunpoint, to search for the illicit substances they think I recieve in the packages!

I am glad the cameras are inexpensive, because I may begin to have large doctor bills in order to cut some of the anxiety.

🙂

 

[vicmortelmans]

I have just developed the second film that I ran through the Zorki 4... One thing that strikes me is that pictures are not horizontal. Of course that's my fault of not holding the camera horizontally.

But the Zorki 4 viewfinder has no framelines and actually has no framed view at all (or is it because I wear glasses and don't have the full view?), which makes it very hard to position the camera horizontally!

I guess this is not so bad if you make your own enlargements and are used to a bit of cropping, but running digital, it's another ennoying post-processing step!

Just an idea, but would there be a way to solve this by creating a horizontal reference line in the viewfinder? Can this be done by modifying the viewfinder setup in a non-destructive way???

Groeten,

Vic

 

[Spyderman]

I guess you could get an external brighline finder... that's about the only thing you can do about it... For similar reason I am considering buying a Bessa R. B&H has them for 300 body, or for 500 with 35mm Skopar. Quite expensive, as I am used to the prices for used FSU gear 😀 so I'll have to work a bit, earn some money and then (maybe by august) order it...

 

[Ash]

Like on the 'what not to do at a wedding' thread I'd started, framing can be quite difficult. I came straight from SLR's to rangefinder, and luckily a bit of previous TLR experience taught me to shift your view or else, yes, your framing and composition will be totally off!

 

[vicmortelmans]

shift your view

What do you mean? Look into the edges of the viewfinder? Actually I tried an never saw something like a frame straight enough to serve as horizontal reference.