Zorki 4-green and gold

[wamjam]

is there such a thing as a zorki 4 that's colored green and the knobs gold plated? i mean straight from the factory and not something that's been modified.

 

[lushd]

As far as I know the answer is no. If you have seen one or been offered one, it has almost certainly been modified after it left the factory.

 

[Bill58]

Maybe they're from a secret factory in South Bend, IN staffed by little nuns.

 

[ZorkiKat]

Hi Wam

Absolutely none. 🙂 At least not with the 'gold' skin straight out of the factory. What glitters isn't gold, but rather the brass/bronze body of the metal after the chromium skin had been stripped off. Any Zorki presented in this state is certainly pimped 🙂.

The gold will tarnish to a dark earth grey. Even faster in the tropics.

Jay

 

[Didier]

I believe all colored versions of russian cameras were customized later and only chrome and black bodies left the factories originally. Five years ago there was almost no colored russian rangefinder gear on ebay, and now you can find almost any color and leatherette version. Some time ago I had asked an ukrainian seller if he has a black LTM Industar-22 for me - he said no but his craftsman could paint one. Ten days later I had it in the mail.
Didier

 

[ZorkiKat]

I believe all colored versions of russian cameras were customized later and only chrome and black bodies left the factories originally. Five years ago there was almost no colored russian rangefinder gear on ebay, and now you can find almost any color and leatherette version. Some time ago I had asked an ukrainian seller if he has a black LTM Industar-22 for me - he said no but his craftsman could paint one. Ten days later I had it in the mail.
Didier

Some cameras like the FED-2 did come in coloured versions. Their factory-installed vulcanite (or nylon) were not always black- some were blue (really dark blue), or green, or a shade of reddish-brown.

I believe that there were also some original factory black FED-5.
Jay

 

[Kim Coxon]

The factory painted ones are relatively easy to tell even in listings. Certainly "in the flesh" it is easy to tell them and the coloured finish goes beyond just the skin. The whole body casting shows the colour not just the skin and visible edges. The colour tends to be more muted as well.

Kim

 

[wamjam]

thanks

thanks

thanks everyone. almost bought this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=017&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=270051830717&rd=1&rd=1

 

[w3rk5]

There's nothing wrong with it if you like it. In fact, it looks like a good deal if everything works. You can always repaint it and change parts later on.

 

[mjflory]

Some of the "case mods" of the FSU cameras really are works of art in themselves -- see Stephen Gandy's comments and illustrations, for example, and of course the beauty illustrated in this post: http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21648

But I bet the one you found for sale would be a little uncomfortable to use with all that glossy paint covering the vulcanite.

-- Michael