Zorki 1

[Ash]

I'm up for the Zorkistein Standard project. Problem is I can't find any on a UK site.

Anyone know of a UK seller other than the bay?

 

[Screwy]

Hmmmmm I have two Ash ,But before I could consider letting you have one I would need to know what you have planned for my baby ?



Paul

 

[Ash]

Paul, just the removal of the top plate/rangefinder, and modifying into a Leica Standard clone, á la http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32552

 

[Screwy]

😱 be a waste of a decent camera in my opinion , I know Zorki 1,s aren't exactly rare but I think mines in to good a condition for that sort of surgery .
Sorry Ash.


Paul

 

[Ash]

lol Paul!

Well honestly I need a nice leica-copy body to use the summicron on until I get the IIIc overhauled. I sold my Zorki-4k/Fed-2 too soon I think!

Either way, the Zorki-1 I'm after outta be a beater 🙂

 

[40oz]

Why not start with a Zarya instead? It never had a rangefinder, and only has a viewfinder. You would only have to replace a few knobs and fasten a fake rewind lever, after finding some way to fabricate a fake top plate minus the finder. Seems a simpler job than trying to remove a rangefinder and linkage.

 

[Ash]

Hmm but isn't the Zarya larger?

 

[40oz]

the top plate looks like it comes down farther, by about half a centimeter, apparently to accomodate the flash socket. Obviously, since you have the original, any fake would have to be incredibly exact to fool you. But if you eleiminated the viewfinder and were able to replace the knobs with something more accurate, I don't think most people would know the difference. Oh yeah, it's got strap lugs as well. You could just call it a fake of a Leica that could have existed, like all the Russian "special edition" fakes 🙂

 

[Gordon Coale]

The idea isn't to make a fake that might fool people. It's to make a small, quick street shooter similar to the Leica Standard. The Zayra was suggested to me but it's quite a bit bigger that a Zorki 1. The beauty of the Zorki 1 is that the only thing that needs to be fabricated is the dome shaped bellhousing for the shutter mechanism. One can get fancy and turn some brass or be rude and crude and use a suitably shaped piece of plastic. That's a lot simpler than making a new top plate. Removing the rangefinder shroud and mechanism is easy. A small screwdriver would so most of it. Maybe a spanner wrench. (Putting the rangefinder mechanism back together is the hard part, but we aren't going to do that.) A little bondo to fill holes and some paint.