AUTO AWNING

An original Soviet Leica-type copy, serial no. 5770570; a cold war classic. Bought this one in A1 condition (for a 52year-old) from a guy called Viktar in Minsk, Belarus - came complete with original cardboard box, yellow filter and cap. I love it. The Zorki-4 features the renowned Jupiter-8 50mm / f2 coated lens (serial no. 5751570) in M39 x 26tpi Leica Screw-Mount (LSM) ; optics are a direct copy of the pre-war Carl Zeiss 50mm / f2 Sonnar lens.
The Zorki-4 is entirely mechanical, having a focal plane curtain shutter (professional 1/1000s to 1s + B) and a natty clockwork self-timer. 1m - 20m - INF focus range with DOF indicator.
It features a very accurate (when correctly calibrated) 'double-image' coupled rangefinder combined into the large viewfinder via a rotating prism. This was an improvement upon the contemporary Leica which had separate and smaller VF and RF. The original-fit Jupiter-8 takes 40.5 x 0.5mm threaded filters / hood with a 42mm push-fit option.
Several versions of the Zorki-4 were made by Krasnogorskiy Mechanicheskiy Zavod (KMZ) in Moscow from 1956 - 1973.
Earliest versions reputedly have highest build quality; identified by engraved dials, body and lens housing.
Much western propaganda about poor Soviet optics was evident during the cold war, but in reality they were often every bit as good as the German-made originals. Read on....

The Jupiter-3 lens (another Zeiss Sonnar copy) is the f1.5 variant of the Jupiter-8 and a good one is becoming rare and relatively very expensive. The design was different from the J-8 having 7 rather than 6 elements. It has a very wide front element and a 13-blade diaphragm giving it a stunning classic appearance. Like the J-8, the J-3 is capable of excellent shots.
Unfortunately there was quite a variation in the quality of this lens, which was at the cutting edge of optics manufacture in its time, so a good sharp one is worth hanging onto.

The 35mm / f2.8 wide-angle Jupiter-12 lens can be substituted along with an accompanying 35mm viewfinder which fits into the accessory shoe. The J-12 is a great Soviet copy of the super-sharp post-war f2.8 Zeiss Jena Biogon lens which was first patented in 1946. Field of view is 63 degrees. First lenses were apparently made from left-over Zeiss parts.
Its non-retrofocal design gives very good sharpness and contrst at the expense of being subject to a degree of vignetting. It was made in aluminium finish from about 1950 to 1960 in the KMZ factory. Then production moved to its sister company LZOS (Lutkarino optical glass factory).
It was later made in black enamel finish from 1973 until Zorki-4K production stopped in 1980.

The 50mm / f3.5 Industar-22 collapsible lens (1948-1953), which is coated, can also be fitted, this being a direct copy of the pre-war (and hugely more expensive!) Leitz equivalent; the f3.5 ' Elmar' which was standard fit on many pre-war Leica cameras. It is of telescopic construction and collapses down into the camera body when not in use.
Its optics design was inspired by the very successful Zeiss Tessar lens, designed by Dr. P. Rudolph, C1902 and is apparently very sharp.

Other LSM Soviet lenses which can be used are the collapsible (or fixed version) Industar I-50 (1953-1971) , the fixed I-26 (1955-1963), the I-61 and the I-61L/D. All of these are Tessar design variants.
The latest one, the I-61L/D (1961 to present day) is the culmination of 61 years of Soviet Tessar-type lens development. It was designed by G.G. Sliusarev and W. Sokolov. The I-61L/D is a high contrast lens, being excellent for architectural photography and is unusual in that it uses exotic STK-6 rare-earth lanthanum crown glass. There is a story (unconfirmed) that this glass is very slightly radioactive(!) but is considered safe as the output is no more than typical background radiation.

I went to visit my older brother this past weekend as he is going overseas again for a year and is leaving March 4th. Anyway, right after he graduated high school in the 77, he went into the Air Force and was sent overseas to Okinawa, Japan. He picked up this Canon AE-1 with various lenses direct from the factory and after some use, it's been sitting in the camera bag in his closet ever since. I had hinted around that I would be interested in it and his wife finally convinced him to give it to me.

As far as I know, it's still in working order. The shutter advanced but I haven't ran any film in it as of yet. I have plenty of 35mm in the crisper drawer in the fridge so hopefully I will be able to test it out soon. That zoom is a MONSTER, It really seems like a nice system. No telling how much he paid for everything when he bought it originally. I think he said he paid $700 for the zoom lens alone. He had one of those bulb shutter release dohickies that was like 25 feet long but the bulb was toast from heat damage, a flattened glob of plastic, so I tossed it.

Canon AE-1,
Sigma 288-80mm zoom lens,
Canon speedlite 199A flash,
Canon 50mm FD lens,
Formula 5 500mm Zoom lens,
Viivtar Series 1 70-210mm auto zoom, Cokin filter system