Zorki 4

Cyrillic-lettered Zorki 4
with Industar lens and auxiliary finder
by Martin Taylor (Image rights)

Produced by the KMZ factory in Krasnogorsk, Russia, the Zorki 4 was possibly the most popular of all Zorki cameras, with 1,715,677 cameras made. The Zorki 4 was also the first of the Zorki cameras to be exported in large numbers to the west.

When the Zorki 4 rangefinder was introduced in 1956, its contemporaries included the Zorki S, Zorki 2S, FED 2b, Leica M3 (introduced two years before), Leica IIIg, Nikon S2, Canon VT, Canon L1. The Zorki 4's production run outlasted all of them. When it morphed into the Zorki 4K by 1973, its contemporaries included the FED 4b, Leica M4 and M5, Nikon F2, and Canon F-1 and Canon Canonet QL 17 GIII.

The Zorki 4 is basically a Zorki 3S with a self-timer. It retained all of the features and strong points of the 3S. The early bodies have vulcanite body covering, engraved shutter speeds - 1s, 1/5, 1/10, 1/25, 1/50, 1/100, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000 +B - and strap lugs. Later bodies (post ~1965) have fabric covering and the more modern base 2 logarithmic shutter speed progression -1s, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000 - and the figures are silk-screened. By the mid-sixties, the strap lugs had disappeared. Lenses were interchangeable, fitting via a 39mm Leica-type thread. The camera was supplied with either a Jupiter-8 50mm f/2, or Industar-50 50mm f/3.5 lens; several other lenses were available.

with Jupiter-8 lens  by driesvandenelzen (Image rights)

Operation

As with other Soviet-era rangefinders, the shutter speed selector rotates when the shutter is released, and should not be changed until after the shutter has been cocked. If you change the shutter speed without cocking the shutter first, the setting pin can be broken when you advance the film and cock the shutter.

Links

General links

with modern Cosina-Voigtlander 25mm f/4 and accessory viewfinder. image by KF 红相机 (Image rights)

• Zorki 4 and Zorki 4K in the Antique Russian Camera website by Valdis
• Russian Camera Collection, a website by Stephen Rothery (includes all Zorkis and the Mir)
• Zorki 4K from Roland Givan's site
• Zorki 3, 4, 4K and Mir at Tigers Lair
• Zorki 4 in Matt Denton's photography site
• Zorki 4 and Zorki 4K in Alfred Klomp's Camera Page
• Zorki 4 in the Living Image Camera Museum
• Zorki cameras in Nathan Dayton's Communist Cameras website
• Zorki 4K at Photoethnography by Karen Nakamura
• Zorki rangefinder cameras, a text only review at Buggrit Online
• Zorki 4, Zorki 4, Zorki 4K, Zorki 4, Zorki 4, Zorki 4 50ans, Zorki 4 Black on www.collection-appareils.fr by Sylvain Halgand
• Zorki 4 in Wayne Cornell's photography site

Repair notes

• FED/Zorki shutter mechanism and repair notes from Rick Oleson's website

Documentation and manuals

There is a manual for the Zorki 4K in the Russian Camera Collection website.

Another source for a manual is Mike Butkus' website.

• Russian Zorki 4a user manual at www.collection-appareils.fr
• French Zorki 4K user manual at www.collection-appareils.fr