First Impressions of Zorki 3M

Recently acquired a Zorki 3M after reading some nice things about them here and other

places on the web. It arrived a little grubby but certainly no grubbier than most other

1955 vintage cameras I've handled. It feels very, very solid - not at all like the 1976

vintage Kiev III AM I suckered myself into from evilbay. I think if I smacked the Zorki and

my Nikon F together the Zorki would come out on top. The viewfinder is big and bright

and the rangefinder patch very contrasty. I love the built in diopter! I botched the

processing on the first roll but could tell that the exposures and frame spacing were

consistant. The second test roll is close to done but I'm already in love with this camera.

I've just acquired a Zorki 4 (first version, still has the flash synchro dial, seems to have

been made a year before my Moskva 5, in 1957). I had a wind problem on the first roll (I

think the film was spooling unevenly and eventually lifted off the sprockets at the top), but

the second roll seems to have gone through well. I'm waiting for prints from the second,

but I got some off the first roll.

Mine does slightly skew the position of the frames, but this might in part be the loading

problem - I'll have to see. The camera is also from the auction site, and is in incredibly

good condition. I am astonished at the sharpness of the Jupiter 8, and quite pleased to

find that my first attempt at rangefinder adjustment seems to have gone well.<div></div>

Yes, the images are touching the sprocket holes at the top and there is a bit more space at

the bottom.