There’s A New Camera In Town!

Why do they do it? Why, when they know we're almost certain to take the bait do they lay these irresistible traps for us? And why are they always in the most likely of places!

I can only assume they knew I was coming. At my lowest ebb, missing the old FED-1 which is still away for repair, and with nothing quirkily Soviet in the house to play with. They must have known! In fact it's entirely possible that ‘they’ actually broke the FED in the first place, knowing fine well I'd be unable to resist a replacement of similar (or indeed much lesser) value.

'They' in this case was a dealer of rare and expensive books and other ephemera, hidden away in an Antiques Centre that I've never been to before. So in all honesty they probably didn't know I was coming. Antique centres have become something of a hot-spot for Vintage Camera spotting, albeit that they're often in poor condition, casually propped on a shelf alongside the expensive Wedgewood Furniture and Chippendale Porcelain that dealers have a much better understanding of. I think this may have been the case here given that there was a similar, slightly older version of this camera on another stall, rather tatty, almost certainly broken, and at well over twice the price. This one stung me just £12, which seemed little enough. I couldn't resist a closer look, with no obligation to buy of course...

The Zorki 4K is the slightly later version of the Soviet made Zorki 4 camera, this one built in the mid-70’s which seems so much younger than the FED, and yet it's still half way to being an antique! So this is one of the many Barnack style Leica-ish clones of the time, a fully manual Rangefinder with a well regarded Jupiter 8 50mm Lens. At the outset I'd have to say I don't like the look of this camera quite as much as the FED, and I was certainly not in the market for a less attractive version of a camera I already have. I’m not sure whether this Zorki is actually bigger than the FED, but it just looks bigger to me. The top plate is certainly a few centimetres taller, mainly to accommodate a bigger viewfinder than the FED which is of course a good thing. It's just not as neat up-top as the earlier Barnack’s, certainly not pocketable with the non-collapsible lens, and when snuggled in its attractive black leather case... well, it looks bloody enormous compared to the FED.

So not necessarily my dream vintage camera, but what’s good about it. Quite a lot actually, enough to force my hand on the £12 price. I didn’t even haggle over the price.

• 
  A top Film Speed of 1000 and f2 Aperture makes this a fair bit faster than the FED, which I now regard as a ‘Sunny Summer Weight’ camera.

• The Viewfinder is not only bigger, but has a nice smooth 'glasses-friendly' eyepiece.

• What’s more, it comes with a Dioptre adjustment so in theory I can now shoot sans-spectacles, although given my terribly strong prescription, only just!

• The whole back of the camera comes off which makes film loading and troubleshooting infinitely easier than the FED.

• It has a Film Advance/Cocking Lever, not the stiff knurled knob of earlier Barnacks.

There are of course other differences, such as the Timer Mechanism and Flash Sync that my FED lacks, but these are facilities I'm not likely to use. There are also one or two inevitable problems (more of which later)...