Like a Leica, a Zorki wannabe, well.... it's got the cap.

[Stephen]

Another Soviet I am after is a Zarya, the rangefinder less Fed 2.

It has the better detachable back, and saves on height, with only a central view finder. They were made for the Soviet home market to sell at a lower price.

Lots made, but relatively unpopular, by the mid 1950's customers expected a rangefinder built in. Almost unknown in the UK, I did see some at TOE (UK) Ltd, the importer to the UK. They had been sent from Russia see if anybody was still interested, and that was the 1970's. TOE declined to sell them, as they would have cost nearly the price of the Zorki 4, which I cannot remember now.(May have been £59.95 by end of the 70's.)

I'll keep an eye on eBay and see what they go for, might have to be a purchase from Russia.

Stephen.

[Stephen]

Good job the FED Industar had the Leica lens cap, looked up the prices asked for them, as much as the camera! Also looked for some 36 push one filters, again some real Leica are astronomic in price, and even other makers sell for a premium price as they fit Leica.

Have to make a push on to 37 screw in adaptor myself in my lathe, 37 mm are normal price ranges. I don't like using black and white without at least a yellow filter, or red, etc., they always improve older lens performance.

Stephen.

[Deleted]

The only Zorki 1 bodies where the first two digit of the SN reflects the the year of manufacture the first two years (1948 and 49) when the number was on top of the body and 1955 and 56 -- the Zorki1 E. Any other cameras with what appear to be year of manufacture in the SN are strictly coincidence. You can identify the 1Es because one of the shutter speeds is 1/250th sec. all the earlier models had a 1/200th sec shutter speed.

You might get a better idea of the different Zorki1 models here: www.swcornell.com/camera/zorki1.html although some may disagree with some of my findings. I don't remember how the lens SN work but I believe they reflect date of manufacture longer than the bodies did.

W

[truls]

I got a Fed Zarya two years ago, they cost more than regular Fed 2. My experience with the camera is good. As long as one can adjust distance by the eye and use depth of field as a security, it works good. It might be a good idea to use a Mir lens which is 37mm, as to get a better depht of field and for easier framing.

I believe there are two variants of Zarya, I have 1A, with the big viewfinder (15x11), later came with a smaller viewfinder.







Image taken with Fed Zarya:




I am not much of a street photographer, but Zarya is easy to shoot from the hip.

Edit: Lens used I 26M, not my best.

[Stephen]

The Zarya always reminds me of the Ucafex, the odd part reflex, part viewfinder 35mm post war German camera, which are very rare these days. Maybe the Russians styled it to resemble the Ucaflex.......
Stephen

[Stephen]

I noticed the leather case has a plush lined compartment hidden in the back, that takes a credit card sized piece of white celluloid, that takes pencil writing on it, erasable, presumably to keep notes on the film used and settings etc. I have not seen this on other Russian cases, was it done on Leica?
I wonder what size the Communist Party card was!!...... Modern credit cards fit nicely as well.

Stephen.

[Stephen]

Couple of extras for the Zorki, to go with the real cap................A 36 Red Leica Filter Fedoo



And an A 36 Vario Hood Fikus......needs a re-spray on the outer front, but nickel plate O.K.


Stephen

[Stephen]

Couple of quick tests on offcut of film, FP4 with red filter, 100th at F8, scanned, but reduced a bit for display.
Shows the better Industar works fine.

Stephen

[Stephen]

Thrird shot, with Corfield close up tube, and Leica close up and copy device, difficult to find focus. Tiny Snails come out after the rain.
Same film and filter.

Stephen.

[truls]

Very good shots, I would say the lens is excellent.

[Deleted]

Here are a couple of my most interesting Zorkis. I got these probably 12 years ago when there were a lot of Soviet cameras being offered and the prices were reasonable



This Zorki 2 is rather rare. Only 10,000 were made. The big difference between it and the Zorki 1 is it has strap lugs and a self timer. It was manufactured in 1955.



This is a "Red Zorki 5" from 1958. It a rather rare early version in that the rangefinder window on the left is square instead of round and it is covered with Vulcanite rather than nylon. There was also a red version with a round window and a version with the round window and black lettering. Very few Z5s had Vulcanite coverings.

[Stephen]

Set of three coloured filters that will fit via adaptor ring, Walz Japanese made set from the 60's. New filters are getting very expensive these days, as people still use then widely on Digital cameras. I would bet the Walz are better made and better glass than many current ones, although the coating may be better on modern ones... £4.99 from Ebay

Stephen.

[Stephen]

The self timer on the Zorki 2 came straight from the Kiev, it has been said they were used as Kiev had so many genuine German Zeiss mechanism in storage.

There are an awful lot of minor modifications made during the runs of the camera models, the changes came mid production runs, often to use up existing parts, before a more major change, the factories did not waste anything usable.

It seems a lot of specials were made during slack periods, a feature of the system when targets were set by central committees, that the factories easily achieved, leaving them with only maintenance to do. In these periods they did official specials, engraving etc., or coloured finishes, rarely sent for export. It seems a lot were "under the counter", for staff, managers, and KGB monitors!! etc.

There seems to have been far less mass production than appears from the overall numbers, they just used lots of staff, many untrained, to do the assembly. It was more like Leica in those days, each camera was made by one or two people, working through the whole camera. But they failed to really check each stage, resulting in the inconsistency.

TOE said the "signed Certificates" which came with everything were put in by part time female staff, who were retired, but continued on such light duties as the certificates and packing. The TOE rep admitted the paperwork was just for show, all the cameras they dealt with in the UK were tested and re-built in the main UK workshop, before going to the shops.

All the factory ladies had to do was fill in the correct serial number, and sign the thing as if it had been tested.

The one thing the Soviets took a pride in was the glass, it was excellent grade stuff, and well ground and finished. The filter glass they made was really top notch, flat and parallel to the tightest tolerances. It was not just copying Zeiss, they made lenses in the 20/30s period, but improved from the expertise the German forced labour provided, working after the war in the USSR.

Then they let it down by poor assembly and lack of baffling etc in the lens assemblies. It depended on the particular factory, the Ex Zeiss 35mm wide angle was an exception to the rules, there are few bad samples around. To some extent the Zeiss based 135 was another good lens, but due to heavier demand and higher numbers the standards fell off over the years.

In the Soviet factories short production runs actually resulted in better goods, the longer runs just got slack due to familiarity breeding a lax attitude to standards.

Stephen.

[Deleted]

Aug 6, 2014 13:53:08 GMT -5 Stephen said:

The self timer on the Zorki 2 came straight from the Kiev, it has been said they were used as Kiev had so many genuine German Zeiss mechanism in storage.

There are an awful lot of minor modifications made during the runs of the camera models, the changes came mid production runs, often to use up existing parts, before a more major change, the factories did not waste anything usable.


Stephen.

That's why there is almost a infinite number of variations--especially in the Zorki 1 models. The Zorki 4s also "evolved" as they worked to cut costs, going from engraved shutter spped dial numbers to painted numbers that eventually wore off. Thee also dropped strap lugs and vulcanite coverings. FED did a lot of changes within models, too. There are some FED 3s and 4s with knob wind and some with lever wind. Some have flat tops and some are uneven. There is even a FED 2 with a flat top, FED 3 rangefinder and lever film wind.