Help with Zorki 4k/rangefinders.

toadstool

toadstool

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Toni
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It arrived today, claimed to be in working order from cityphoto on ebay. This is my first rangefinder and, to be honest, I'm feeling a little intimidated!

I understand that I need to wind the film on before changing the shutter. The camera came with an original case which had a square red sticker inside with:
"IMPORTANT
Wind shutter before setting speed.
Do not leave speed dial on [blank] speed.
[blank] must be in [blank] before winding."

[blank] are words that have rubbed off - does anyone know what these should say?

Any other hints and tips? Focusing is going to take a bit of getting used to but I think I like it! Also, composing... the viewfinder is up and to the left of the lens slightly - what's the best way to compose? Is what I'm seeing through the viewfinder what will be in-frame?

Got a roll of portra here to run through it and I'm really looking forward to using it but want to set off on the best foot :oops: going to look at a manual now.
 
You beat me to it Gramps.:)
 
gramps said:
This any help?
Click to expand...

Thank you :)

wickerman said:
Unless someone has the same sticker in a case we are all going to be guessing as to what the blanks are.

I would have thought that so long as you follow the instruction manual you will be ok, a copy can be found here http://www.butkus.org/chinon/russian/zorki_4k/zorki_4k.htm
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That question was aimed at someone who has the same camera, if there was someone here - I googled it and managed to find someone else asking though so that's sorted :thumbs:

Like I said, this is my first rangefinder so I don't know if there are any quirks to them in general, any general hints and tips for usage of them - the kind of thing you don't generally read in a manual. I guess not. Thanks anyway :)
 
Glad you're sorted.

The best bit of advice for using a rangefinder is to not forget to remove the lens cap. It might sound really basic but there are plenty of people who have shot a whole roll of film with the lens cap on.
 
:lol: I'll keep that in mind! Seems easy enough to do :bonk:
 
This:

IMPORTANT:
1- WIND SHUTTER BEFORE SETTING SPEED
2- DO NOT LEAVE SPEED DIAL ON SLOW SPEED
3- THREE DOTS ON RELEASE UNIT MUST BE IN LINE BEFORE WINDING SHUTTER

was on this page : http://www.ibericadigital.es/comercio/product.php?id_product=1604

Don't know what it all means as it's in Spanish. I've got a FED 2 but it's not that similar to the Zorki.

Regarding lens caps: If it's sunny make sure that you carry it with the cap on. At the very least don't leave it focused on infinity, as the image of the sun on the black shutter curtains can burn a hole.
 
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NickT said:
This:

IMPORTANT:
1- WIND SHUTTER BEFORE SETTING SPEED
2- DO NOT LEAVE SPEED DIAL ON SLOW SPEED
3- THREE DOTS ON RELEASE UNIT MUST BE IN LINE BEFORE WINDING SHUTTER

was on this page : http://www.ibericadigital.es/comercio/product.php?id_product=1604

Don't know what it all means as it's in Spanish. I've got a FED 2 but it's not that similar to the Zorki.

Regarding lens caps: If it's sunny make sure that you carry it with the cap on. At the very least don't leave it focused on infinity, as the image of the sun on the black shutter curtains can burn a hole.
Click to expand...

Thank you, that confirms what someone on another forum thread I found says! And I'd read about not pointing it at the sun because of that so I'll be sure to keep the cap on when it's not in use to make sure!
Cg_Girl said:
As an aside Toni it looks lush :love:
Click to expand...

It is quite a looker, isn't it? It's part of my Christmas gift from Colin... but, like the SX-70 from my mum, it requires a test roll through it... right? :lol:
 
I can't get the film counter to turn for the life of me though :bang:
 
Sounds like we almost have a complete wording between us Toni

ubki.jpg


One of these days I'm going to get around to running a film through mine.
 
I'm just back from a quick walkabout... and I can't say I enjoyed it :\

What do you do when your meter (in my case, an iphone app) gives out a shutter speed you don't have and can't place it in between speeds on the dial? Whilst out, I went for the closest speed next to it, overexposing rather then under.. I'm not used to the way this works!
 
Can't help you much with that Toni, as mentioned I haven't even put a film in mine and I've had it for about a year now! However I believe Porta film especially is very forgiving to over exposing.
 
Thanks Colin :) Will hopefully have results to put up later.. or maybe they'll just stay in the depth of my hard drive forever :lol: I'm nervous. I'm like this with any new camera but I've never used a rangefinder so I'm even more so! Focusing can be hard work with this...
 
They have notoriously faint rangefinder patches but any minor drawbacks are irrelevant when compared to the fact that they look really quirky and interesting.
 
Yeah Nick, it's really hard to make it out a lot of the time!
 
TBH they were never particularly good when they were new and most of them have faded badly over the years then if you add wearing glasses into the equation
you can't even tell what's in the frame let alone whether it's in focus, so now I just guess most of the time.
And because they are so interesting to look at they almost always put a smile on people's faces when they see you using them

almost always ;)
 
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:lol: that looks great! And I am a glasses wearer. I found I had to be looking through the finder at a perfect angle to be able to see it but, when I could, it was pretty clear!
 
RaglanSurf said:
TBH they were never particularly good when they were new and most of them have faded badly over the years then if you add wearing glasses into the equation
you can't even tell what's in the frame let alone whether it's in focus, so now I just guess most of the time.
And because they are so interesting to look at they almost always put a smile on people's faces when they see you using them

almost always ;)
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I've still not put a roll through mine but I blame you Nick, it was when you showed me your Zorki in Greenwich that my lust for one began!
 
toadstool said:
:lol: that looks great! And I am a glasses wearer. I found I had to be looking through the finder at a perfect angle to be able to see it but, when I could, it was pretty clear!
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I wear glasses too, but have never had that problem with my Zorki.
Love that 'smile' BTW :)
 
I'm not used to cameras that allow intermediate shutter speeds; I set the one I can and then use the half stop increments on the aperture - that way it's never more than half a stop out. Overexpose with negative film and underexpose with slide film; the latitude will cover more than that anyway with negative film.

The difference between the viewfinder position and the lens position is negligle unless you're working very close up (try it by putting the camera on a tripod and seeing what's in the viewfinder than moving the camera by the separation amount and spot the difference. Or, with no film in, open the back, stick a piece of greaseproof paper where the film would be, open the shutter (easier if you have a T setting) and compare the image on the paper with that in the viewfinder.
 
Thanks for that Stephen, that's a big help! Focusing close isn't something the Zorki allows anyway - I have to be further away from the subject with the zorki than I do with, say, my OM1 or FTb which I wasn't expecting and will take some getting used to!
 
The tip posted by David does work - I made my Vito's rangefinger usable with a tiny bit of black tape.
 
Definitely going to give that a go then :D My husband's on his way back with the results.. hopefully they're not too bad o_O
 
I have a Zorki paperweight/doorstop - guessing that someone (probably father in law) didn't read the illegible warning label and fnurkled it! If anyone wants it for SoR, let me know and I'll stick it in the freebies for collection. Got another (more forgiving!) Russian vf which I bought for star trails. Must dig it out for a play! IIRC it's a Kiev.
 
Just got my roll back - oddly, the very first frame is the best out of quite a dodgy lot! Focusing issues, framing issues.. bahh!
 
First shot out the roll.. not done any processing etc yet, just straight upload. Portra 400. I'm quite happy with it, wondering if it needs any PP? I'll see when I get home - heading out now :) First time using both this camera and portra :)
11013591565_03e41084f2_z.jpg
 
toadstool said:
First shot out the roll.. not done any processing etc yet, just straight upload. Portra 400. I'm quite happy with it, wondering if it needs any PP? I'll see when I get home - heading out now :) First time using both this camera and portra :)
11013591565_03e41084f2_z.jpg
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That's cracking. (And so is Portra)
 
Thats a cracker Toni, lovely colours, nicely exposed and sharp. Good stuff. I've had a couple of rangefinders/viewfinder cameras and apart from the Voigtlander R3A (sadly missed...:'() the rangefinder patches were all a bit faint but the black tape trick works really well.

Andy
 
Awk thanks guys! :D Now to look at the rest of the roll and see if any are salvageable... o_O
 
Looks great. Where do you get your film developed/scanned?

Quick focusing tip, I always find it best to start each time from infinity and bring the image in from the left each time, otherwise you can spend a few seconds trying to work out weather the superimposed image is to the left or the right of the subject.

I've been using rangefinders as my main cameras for a few years and I love them but you might need to a bit looser with framing.

Cheers
 
That's really lovely Toni.. I bet you don't want to pack it away now do you
 
Thanks ped. This is an asda special :lol:

That's what made the majority of this roll not quite so enjoyable.. I'd spend a few seconds faffing with my meter trying to get a reading matching as close to what I could get to on the camera then another good while messing with the focusing, trying to make it visible and figuring out what belongs where and then lining it up :lol:

What do you mean by looser with framing? Including more in the scene than I want in the "printed" frame?

Thank you, I appreciate it :)

As you can see from these next 3 shots, I really peaked with my first shot of the roll! The rest of the shots had complete lack of focus or really dodgy framing!

This one is a bit confusing in general. The framing is obviously off... not sure whether to crop it in tight on the right to match the left.. or if I like it! Can't decide :rolleyes: I was directly above him, a foot on each side of his chest and camera pointing straight down - he was directly center in the viewfinder.. So I think that could have been better if I'd framed it tighter on my right. Knocking him off center in the viewfinder = centered in the frame in this instance? I used my digital camera to meter it and took a (digital) photo at the same time.. so the exposure of this one surprised me.
11015483923_a237b8acd8_z.jpg


Again with the framing!
11015486173_e2222ec0ee_z.jpg


And not quite there with the focus.
11015443874_290457d643_z.jpg



T, I kind of do haha. It was a bit of a headache... but that first photo of Colin makes me want to stick at it and get used to it :lol:
 
It's parallax error due to the viewfinder and the lens being in different places - and it gets bigger the closer you are to your subject. I have no idea what correction the Zorki has for it, but you might just have to get used to framing less tight until you get the hang of it.
 
Yeah, you can buy viewfinder thingies... I might be on the lookout for one of them maybe. The one of him on the ground isn't too much out so I'll use ~5ft as a guideline :lol:
 
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