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Finally, I bought a rangefinder camera.
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 29, 2015 1:41 pm    Post subject: Finally, I bought a rangefinder camera. Reply with quote

A neat Zorky-3 made in 1954, showing just the right amount of signs of use, in this picture equipped with a jupiter-12 red P from the same era, more or less (1958).


1954 Zorki 3 + 1958 Jupiter 12 by Alessandro Lucchini, su Flickr

Now I just discovered that I don't have any teles with m39 mount, so the hunt for one will begin soon - even if the j12 alone can be much fun.


Last edited by Aanything on Wed Jul 29, 2015 2:54 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Wed Jul 29, 2015 2:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

congrats, it looks very beautiful!

concerning tele for RF an observation, I am not a specialist, maybe somebody will elaborate:
lenses 85mm and longer made for rangefinder cameras rarely are smaller than similar lenses made for SLR. Some of the Russian, also Canon tele lenses come in identical optical construction in M39 and SLR mount, the RF version simply have a longer tube between mount and rear lens. Availability of adapters for SLR lenses to M39 might be an issue though, only remember having seen cheap ones for Nikon F lenses.
There are exceptions, e.g Canon 3.5/100 is really small and very recommendable, however one must be careful, it is difficult to find one that has clear optics, Heliar 2.5/75 is quite small too.


PostPosted: Wed Jul 29, 2015 3:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

kuuan wrote:
congrats, it looks very beautiful!

concerning tele for RF an observation, I am not a specialist, maybe somebody will elaborate:
lenses 85mm and longer made for rangefinder cameras rarely are smaller than similar lenses made for SLR. Some of the Russian, also Canon tele lenses come in identical optical construction in M39 and SLR mount, the RF version simply have a longer tube between mount and rear lens. Availability of adapters for SLR lenses to M39 might be an issue though, only remember having seen cheap ones for Nikon F lenses.
There are exceptions, e.g Canon 3.5/100 is really small and very recommendable, however one must be careful, it is difficult to find one that has clear optics, Heliar 2.5/75 is quite small too.


Thanks Andreas.
For the tele, that's interesting. However, I already have a couple of 85's and 135's for kiev (sonnar and Jupiter), and I'd be happy with one of those in ltm - especially the 135 as they're usually cheaper. So finding a jupiter 11 (or trading an ltm jupiter 11 for my contax kiev one) would give me a classic 35-50-135 kit, that would just be alright in this phase. Canon ltm's are always on my radar, but they're always slightly out of reach.


PostPosted: Thu Jul 30, 2015 5:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

How well do lenses other than the normals work with these Zorkis and Feds? Do you need special viewfinders for each lens? I have a slightly newer Fed and I think its viewfinder is only good for the kit lens because its field of view is roughly like a 50mm and there are no extra framelines. And it's small and dark. And no parallax correction... Neutral


PostPosted: Thu Jul 30, 2015 8:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

You can get special viewfinders for each lens and 'universal' finders that 'zoom' or are selectable between 28, 35, 50, 85/90 & 135. many have a parralax adjuster, a simple lever or ring with distance marked on it which tilts the finder up/down. look on ebay for finders. My Altix one is fine for 35mm - 90mm.

The rangefinder window on my Leica lllf has almost the same viewing angle as my 135. I use this, not tried it woth the Zorki though.

Expensive adaptors are available for Kiev/Contax, but you are better getting the proper LTM lenses, even though they tend to be much more expensive.


PostPosted: Thu Jul 30, 2015 8:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

miran wrote:
How well do lenses other than the normals work with these Zorkis and Feds? Do you need special viewfinders for each lens? I have a slightly newer Fed and I think its viewfinder is only good for the kit lens because its field of view is roughly like a 50mm and there are no extra framelines. And it's small and dark. And no parallax correction... :|


I thought about that, but I think that with some trial/error I Will eventually get used to that: however, most of the time I Will be using it with the jupiter12.

philslizzy wrote:
You can get special viewfinders for each lens and 'universal' finders that 'zoom' or are selectable between 28, 35, 50, 85/90 & 135. many have a parralax adjuster, a simple lever or ring with distance marked on it which tilts the finder up/down. look on ebay for finders. My Altix one is fine for 35mm - 90mm.

The rangefinder window on my Leica lllf has almost the same viewing angle as my 135. I use this, not tried it woth the Zorki though.

Expensive adaptors are available for Kiev/Contax, but you are better getting the proper LTM lenses, even though they tend to be much more expensive.


Thanks Phil, I've already ordered one of those KMZ turret finders with different focal lengths. I considered the kiev to ltm adapter, but it's too expensive: I'm pretty confident I'll find a cheap enough Jupiter-11 in ltm. Or a kiev body.


PostPosted: Thu Jul 30, 2015 10:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Congratulations! Looks like a nice camera.
I have a couple Zorki 6's, but I am only using 50mm lenses with them so far.
For my Kiev rangefinders I have the Jupiter 8M, 12 and 11.
Hope you enjoy using your rangefinder.


PostPosted: Fri Jul 31, 2015 12:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

uddhava wrote:
Congratulations! Looks like a nice camera.
I have a couple Zorki 6's, but I am only using 50mm lenses with them so far.
For my Kiev rangefinders I have the Jupiter 8M, 12 and 11.
Hope you enjoy using your rangefinder.


Thanks.
So far, the sheer shooting experience is really pleasant: the quiet shutter, compact size, that amount of randomness deriving from lack of experience are all exciting factors.
I just have to wait for the first roll to be developed to see if the results are acceptable too :lol:


PostPosted: Fri Jul 31, 2015 9:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice camera, for sure.

I like a lot shooting with them, especially the Zorki-3M.
The Zorki-3 and 3M have a 1/1 viewfinder and diopter adjustment, 1/1000 sec max shutter speed.
Great cams !

Here are some resources about these russian rangefinders :
Fed and Zorki survival site : http://jay.fedka.com/
Butkus's russian cameras instruction manuals : http://www.butkus.org/chinon/russian.htm
Soviet cams : http://www.sovietcams.com/index.php?358713866
Tiger's Lair pages : http://tomtiger.home.xs4all.nl/
Manual for repair : http://www.dvdtechcameras.com/info/2.htm


Last edited by Olivier on Fri Jul 31, 2015 9:45 pm; edited 2 times in total


PostPosted: Fri Jul 31, 2015 9:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great choice, congrats!!


PostPosted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 5:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Olivier wrote:
Nice camera, for sure.

I like a lot shooting with them, especially the Zorki-3M.
The Zorki-3 and 3M have a 1/1 viewfinder and diopter adjustment, 1/1000 sec max shutter speed.
Great cams !

Here are some resources about these russian rangefinders :
Fed and Zorki survival site : http://jay.fedka.com/
Butkus's russian cameras instruction manuals : http://www.butkus.org/chinon/russian.htm
Soviet cams : http://www.sovietcams.com/index.php?358713866
Tiger's Lair pages : http://tomtiger.home.xs4all.nl/
Manual for repair : http://www.dvdtechcameras.com/info/2.htm


Thanks for the links Olivier. I'm having a lot of fun with it too, and the 1/1000th shutter speed comes handy as I loaded it with iso 400 w/b film. At first, I was oriented towards the 3M too, but it seems quite hard to find one cheap. Then this popped out and I managed to trade it for a couple of lenses I wasn't using.
Now my turret multi finder arrived, it looks great on the cam, and it's really useful, imho: I didn't know it also has some parallax compensation, which is great.

Attila wrote:
Great choice, congrats!!

Thanks Attila!


PostPosted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 5:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Congratulations! That 35mm lens is a gem!