| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Vlad |
Posted - May 29 2025 : 3:45:06 PM
Hey all, found this really strange Zorki (or at least based on Zorki) that I've never seen before. No rangefinder housing, the top and back is all custom but looks factory, mechanism is different from any Zorki I have, couldn't find the same one.. any ideas would be welcome! Has a weird synthetic-velvet-like covering that's losing it's synthetic layer so it's all fuzzy in places, definitely old. Doesn't look handmade, everything detail is very small and definitely looks factory. Whether it's KMZ or another plant's remake that's unclear. Thought I'd share.
http://www.ussrphoto.com/UserContent2/2952025_PXL_20250529_195517966.jpg
http://www.ussrphoto.com/UserContent2/2952025_PXL_20250529_195522385.MP.jpg
http://www.ussrphoto.com/UserContent2/2952025_PXL_20250529_195527431.jpg
http://www.ussrphoto.com/UserContent2/2952025_PXL_20250529_195531879.jpg
http://www.ussrphoto.com/UserContent2/2952025_PXL_20250529_195558923-EDIT.jpg
http://www.ussrphoto.com/UserContent2/2952025_PXL_20250529_195622286.jpg
http://www.ussrphoto.com/UserContent2/2952025_PXL_20250529_195629501.jpg
best regards,
Vlad
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| 12 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| cedricfan |
Posted - Jun 01 2025 : 01:26:43 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Vlad
quote:
Originally posted by cedricfan
The rail in the back looks like it was supposed to be mounted somewhere: reprodution, asrtronomical, or what?
Best regards,
Juhani
Juhani, or it's a film speed memo pocket
Looks like it has open top & bottom for that, and it is so thick it could be a sturdy mount?
Best regards,
Juhani |
| fedka |
Posted - May 31 2025 : 4:34:02 PM
Vlad, if you look at the pressure plate, with the shutter opened at B, is there an opening for some adjustments? The film memo holder - what is that round plug in the center? Can it be taken out (without much force)? I am thinking maybe this was more than just a memo holder.
The covering seems to hold a clue - if the camera was actually modified to have a special purpose, or it was modified because someone wanted to have a cool, one-of-a-kind camera.
As for the age of this mod - I would think this is long before 1980's, probably in the 1960's. |
| Vlad |
Posted - May 31 2025 : 2:56:48 PM
quote:
Originally posted by cedricfan
The rail in the back looks like it was supposed to be mounted somewhere: reprodution, asrtronomical, or what?
Best regards,
Juhani
Juhani, or it's a film speed memo pocket |
| Vlad |
Posted - May 31 2025 : 2:55:21 PM
Very cool FED Jacques, I have not seen this camera before! 
Yura, the covering is velvet-like with some kind of synthetic layer and it is heavily deteriorating so I think it's been covered before 1980s as it seems pretty old and worn.
Always like to have mystery cameras in my collection . Thanks for your feedback!
Best regards,
Vlad |
| cedricfan |
Posted - May 31 2025 : 2:53:25 PM
The rail in the back looks like it was supposed to be mounted somewhere: reprodution, asrtronomical, or what?
Best regards,
Juhani |
| fedka |
Posted - May 31 2025 : 1:41:33 PM
Serial number is from a late Zorki-1, but the shutter speed mechanism looks like from a Zorki-2 (or -S, 2S). And the strap lugs too.
I wonder if the cast body is from a Zorki-2)
It is indeed hard to guess what practical purposes were addressed by this mod. Looks like the point was to remove the RF mechanism and re-cover the body with a fancy material. And modernize the shutter speed setting mechanism.
Was it done to entertain camera collectors several decades later?
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| Jacques M. |
Posted - May 31 2025 : 02:05:46 AM
No doubt that the collar, the upper plate and the rear one were specially and professionaly made. All that is very neat...
That remembers a Fed I had shown years ago here:
http://www.ussrphoto.com/UserContent2/3152025_Photos PYC 0 019.jpg
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| Vlad |
Posted - May 30 2025 : 4:58:21 PM
Jacques, the button is from FED or early Zorkis but the collar around it never seen before. |
| Vlad |
Posted - May 30 2025 : 4:56:49 PM
Sorry for late reply,
Yuri: no, it's a regular full frame, as Ulrich said it's a normal frame border mask
Jacques: it does work but as with most of these cameras stored for a while, the slow speeds are slugging, it's a very strange mix of things and mechanism doesn't look normal to me at all..
Best,
Vlad
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| Jacques M. |
Posted - May 30 2025 : 4:11:51 PM
Hi Vlad,
On your last photo, the release spring seems curious.
- Its head, with the hole, looks like a Zorki 2's for the coupling of the selftimer. No need here.
- The curved cut out spring, with its relative disc, is used to engage/disengage the slow speed spring, on the Leica III, for example. No need here, once more.
A detail more, the release button visibly belongs to a late prewar Fed, or an early Fed-Zorki/Zorki 1a. Whereas the mechanism (and the serial number) are much younger.
A question: does it work, as it is?
Amitiés. Jacques. |
| uwittehh |
Posted - May 30 2025 : 10:52:21 AM
Vlad, a really weird camera! Never seen something before and I have bo idea what it could be used for.
Yuri, for me the mask looks like the normal frame border mask that is inside.
Ulrich
http://fotos.cconin.de |
| fedka |
Posted - May 29 2025 : 4:46:27 PM
Vlad, the picture inside the mount - does it look like a half of the frame is masked? Horizontally? |
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