Zorki 4

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 were, among others, the Zorki S, Zorki 2S, FED 2b, the two-year-old Leica M3, Leica IIIg, Nikon S2, Canon VT, Canon L1. The Zorki 4's production life outlasted all of them. When it morphed into the Zorki 4K by 1973, its contemporaries were, among others, the FED 4b, Leica's M4 and M5, Nikon F2, and Canon F1 and Canon Canonet QL 17 GIII.

The Zorki 4 is basically a 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, and strap lugs. Later bodies have fabric covering and the shutter speeds (1/60 and 1/30 instead of 1/50 and 1/25) are silk-screened. By mid-sixties, the strap lugs had disappeared.

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 before you cock the shutter first, the setting pin can be broken when you advance the film and cock the shutter.

Links

• A Zorki 4 manual
• Another Zorki 4 manual
• Russian Camera Collection (includes all Zorkis and the MIR)
• Zorki 4K
• Zorki 3 & 4
• Matt's Zorki 4
• Yet another Zorki 4
• Living image on the Zorki 4
• Zorki rangefinder cameras
• Rangefinder Cameras of the Soviet Era (includes beautifully restored and modifies examples)
• Photoethnography's page about the Zorki 4
• Alfred's Camera Page about the Zorki 4
• How the FED/Zorki shutter works