Zorki 4 Viewfinder

David Jones · Jul 19, 2015

Had a first go with my Zorki 4 today and enjoyed using it but I am not used to the viewfinder. I am used to a sharp edges to the view on my Nikon FM. The Zorki's is a sort of fuzzy edged affair. How much of what you see comes out on the film?

Thanks
Dave

darkosaric · Jul 19, 2015

Hi Dave,

Don't expect precise framing, even with clear and big Leica finder - you will get much more on the film than you see in the finder. I had Zorki 4 and it was very imprecise, especially on focus on infinity. Test the camera together with FM finder with 50mm lens in parallel, and write down your tests results.

gone · Jul 19, 2015

Did you adjust the diopter adjustment? It's the little arm around the rewind knob on top of the camera (#13 on the manual below). Nothing that you see on rangefinder camera viewfinders comes out on the film, as you're not looking through the lens like your SLR Nikon. You are using the viewfinder for composing and focusing.

Make sure you you advance the film advance lever first,THEN set your shutter speeds. Setting the speeds is not intuitive. After you've cocked the shutter by advancing the film advance lever, pull up on the little button in the middle of the speed adjustment and rotate it to where you want it.

http://www.russianplaza.com/zorki4manual.htm

bernard_L · Jul 19, 2015

If you place your eye close enough that you can see the whole (fuzzy) frame, but not closer, and don't try to "peek into corners" your framing should be quite close. That is my experience. Remember that a prosumer reflex, with its nice sharp frame, had a FOV 85-90% of the actual photo. On a few frames, take notes of what you intended to frame, and compare with what turns out to be on film.

David Jones · Jul 19, 2015

Thanks for the replies.

Darko- "much more on the film than you see in the finder" is the answer I was hoping for because I was thinking that the field of view, considering it was matched to the 50mm lens, didn't seem that large.

Momus- I did use the diopter adjustment. I got used to all the operations before I went out. I think "Nothing that you see on rangefinder camera viewfinder comes out on the film" is a bit over the top! I understand about parallax error and it isn't that extreme! I don't think even a Zorki is that bad! I do understand what you are getting at, though.

Bernard- thanks for that. I did try and peak into the corners at some points but I thought that couldn't be the right thing to do. I think I just about got into the swing of your technique.

I had better just wait and see what the film looks like when I finish it.

One thing I notice is that the aperture markings for f2 and f22 don't line up. If you fully open the aperture the dot is before f2 and before f22 when fully turned that way. I had to make sure that I placed the dot in a similar position for each aperture. I was using XP2 film which has good latitude, anyway. I have a feeling the front part of the lens (Jupiter 8) has been screwed on too tightly, possibly. I was using a Gossen Lunalite meter with it which is accurate but a bit massive!

dave

Lamar · Jul 19, 2015

I've had my Zorki's for about a year and a half now. Still get a lot of off-center shots when i just use the camera viewfinder. I bought one of the turret finders and find that I'm much more accurate with that. I thought about getting a dedicated 50mm finder since it would be smaller and hopefully work better with glasses but have not done so yet. I have a Canon 7 with parallax corrected frame lines and I'm much more accurate with that. I try to translate that experience to the Zorki but I still get more framing errors than I'd like.

ic-racer · Jul 19, 2015

With glasses my Zorki 4 viewfinder gives about a 90mm lens view equivalent. To use the Zorki 4 for useful photography I unscrewed the 50mm Jupiter, discarded the body and screwed the lens into an adapter on my Bessa.

Seriously, though, I saved the body in a drawer.

David Jones · Aug 6, 2015

Got the film back and here is a pic. They all came out in a similar way apart from one where I left the lens cap on. Enjoyed using it for the first time and have never tried a range finder before. I scanned this on a flat bed and haven't bothered to sharpen it or to change anything else but you get the idea.

Dali · Aug 6, 2015

David Jones said:
Got the film back and here is a pic. They all came out in a similar way apart from one where I left the lens cap on. Enjoyed using it for the first time and have never tried a range finder before. I scanned this on a flat bed and haven't bothered to sharpen it or to change anything else but you get the idea.

Nice pigture!

David Jones · Aug 6, 2015

Thanks, Dali! The pigtures and pictures came out well. I visited a rare breeds show and risked the untried Zorki there.

Dave

cuthbert · Aug 6, 2015

I'm surprised to see that a lot of people experience problem with zorki viewfinder, while it is not parallax compensated I never got a pic completely off centre, sometimes a close distance I might get unexpected results but this the worst that happened to me:

As you can see the upper part of the frame got cut.

darkosaric · Aug 7, 2015

cuthbert said:
I'm surprised to see that a lot of people experience problem with zorki viewfinder, while it is not parallax compensated I never got a pic completely off centre, sometimes a close distance I might get unexpected results but this the worst that happened to me:

With rangefinders it is very individual: some guys are having big problems, and I know some that are more precise in framing with Leica than with SLR. My theory is that if you are an SLR user - then you will have problems with framing on rangefinder, but if you are rangefinder user exclusively (= you do not have slr at all) - then it become your second nature and you just know what comes on film in every situation.

David Jones · Aug 7, 2015

I actually kept forgetting about parallax error when framing shots because I was concentrating on the subjects. I did make sure I looked straight through the finder (as mentioned earlier in the thread) and not round the corners, as it were, as I think that would have made it worse.

Dave

flavio81 · Aug 7, 2015

Lamar said:
I've had my Zorki's for about a year and a half now. Still get a lot of off-center shots when i just use the camera viewfinder. I bought one of the turret finders and find that I'm much more accurate with that.

The diopter adjustment on the Zorki 4K usually also throws the frame off-center, at least in my cheapily made Zorki-4K.

It would be better to have a technician verify the centering of the elements and then fix them with wax, so no more diopter fiddling anymore.

Zorki 4 Viewfinder

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