Zorki 6 and Jupiter 8

The Zorki 6 has just about every imaginable improvement over its Barnack-style predecessors: 

• Easy loading hinged back
• Fixed film take-up spool
• Lever advance
• Large combined viewfinder/rangefinder window
• Viewfinder diopter adjustment

My only complaint with the camera's design is the forward placement of the strap lugs.  When you hang the camera strap over your neck the camera is left pointing upward at about 45 degrees.  That results in the lens pointing upward in the direction of the sun and a possible danger of burning holes in the shutter curtain.

I took the Zorki 6 on a walk through Old Town Albuquerque loaded with Kentmere 400 which I processed at home with HC-110b.  What showed up in the results was a remaining intermittent light leak and a bit of shutter capping.  So, still a bit of work to be done on this camera.

I was pleased with the performance of the Jupiter 8 lens which I used on this occasion. 

The last time I used the lens it was mounted on my Leica IIIa.  I had intended to make some shots from the top of the Chaco Hotel, but when I got out of the car there the camera fell out of my pocket and onto the pavement.  The camera was unhurt as the lens landed nose first, but there was a substantial dent in the lens's filter ring.  The Jupiter 8 is probably my best Soviet-era lens, so I decided to get a proper tool to make the needed repair.

The tool straightened out the dent perfectly, and I used it on a couple other damaged lenses as well.  Given my history of dropping things, it seems like a good investment.

Cool Day

 I went to Old Town on Saturday with the collapsible Industar 22 on my Zorki 6.  A little rain and cloudy skies gave me some nice light for the Gekko 100 film.

In spite of the rain there were a lot of cars and people in the Plaza Vieja by noon.  Part of the reason for the crowd was that a Quinceañera was just getting started in front of San Felipe de Neri.

Some of the shops that closed during Covid have changed owners and some are being renovated and reopened.

I have gotten used to handling the Zorki 6 for the most part, though I still need a little practice with parallax adjustment in close-ups.  I'm thinking that the flip-open back will let me use a ground glass to compare the difference between what the lens and the viewfinder see.     I may try making some little close-up marks in the viewfinder.   The film was not tilted this time using the thin plastic washer, but it was slightly too high at the film plane, so i may try centering it with some thin foam rubber on both ends of the cartridge.

The Neighborhood

 A slightly overcast sky provided some nice light for an early morning walk through the neighborhood with the 35mm Jupiter 12 lens on the Zorki 6.  

 

The negatives showed a slight tilt again, so I'll go back to putting a thin plastic washer over the protruding end of the film cartridge.  Otherwise, the camera is working faultlessly.

Damn the Variables – Full Speed Ahead!

I've just about got the Zorki 6 sorted out.  I put a plastic washer on top of the film cartridge and the images showed no tilt in the film gate.  I'm not entirely sure that was the right solution, however.  I noticed that I really also needed to push the film leader firmly downward on the take-up spool.  So, I may just try that next time without the washer.

The film for this quick test shoot was some Gekko MW100 from about a dozen rolls that were given to me some time ago.  I was somewhat skeptical about its capabilities given the 2007 expiration date, but it seemed worth a try given the current cost of film.  I shot it at box speed and gave it an extra minute in Ilfotec DD-X on the theory that it is rebadged Efke.  I was pleased with the outcome in terms of grain and tonal qualities, and I'm looking forward now to using the whole batch.

The Ilfotec DD-X was also a gift from a friend from about a year ago.  I finally got around to trying it out because I noticed that it is one of the developers Ilford recommends for Kentmere, one of my favorites.  So that is on the schedule too.

I used my Jupiter 8 lens on the Zorki 6 on this occasion.  It is a Sonnar copy and maybe the best of the bunch of my Soviet lenses.  I wish it had click stops for the aperture like the Industar 61-LD, but I can't complain otherwise.  My plan is to move next to trying the Zorki 6 with the Jupiter 12 and either the collapsable FED 50 or the Industar-21. Those are both Elmar copies and seem just as sharp to my eyes.

I think the Zorki 6 is handsomely designed.  It is probably not functionally superior to a lot a lot of similar rangefinder cameras, but I think that it incorporates a lot of the best features of the long Soviet Barnack line and it was the last model before the slr takeover. And, last but not least, thirty bucks!

Sorting out the Zorki 6

One-inch strips of black yarn at either end of the top back channel seems to have gotten rid of the light leak that appeared in previous pictures made with the Zorki 6.

Getting some experience with the camera has helped me to avoid pressing the rewind release button instead of the shutter release.

A small vertical misalignment of the rangefinder image was corrected by just slightly tightening the front ring of the rf window.

One issue remains to be corrected.  The film is slightly tilted as it goes over the film gate.  I think the cause of that is the slight height difference between modern 35mm film cartridges and those made in the Soviet Union.  My FED 1g had the same problem, and the fix was to put a narrow plastic washer on top of the film cartridge.

The roll of Kentmere 400 was shot in Albuquerque's Old Town.  I processed the roll in HC110b for six minutes at 22F and got good negative density.

The lens for the Old Town shoot was my Industar 61-L/D; it seems to me to perform about the same as the Industar 26M that came with the camera.  Next, I'll try the Jupiter 8 2/50.

I'm getting a little more comfortable with using VueScan and GIMP-2.10 on my old IMAC, but neither offers the fine-tuned image adjustments formerly available on my XP desktop running Silverfast and Photoshop CS2.

I'm happy so far with the camera.  The controls are nicely placed, the flip-open back is convenient, and the diopter viewfinder adjustment is very welcome to my old right eye.  I don't miss slow speeds and 1/500 is plenty fast for me; plus the thus-simplified shutter is bound to be more reliable.

Retooling

 I have had my eye on the Zorki 6 for a long time.  The flip-open back makes film loading easier than in the previous Barnack-style models, as well as facilitating lens collimation.  Another feature that is particularly attractive to me is the diopter adjustment for the viewfinder.  When an ebay posting came up with a $30 pricetag, there was no hesitation on my part.

I decided to test the camera at the Albuquerque Rail Yards which becomes a farmers and crafts market on the weekends.  Thanks to the generosity of Jim Grey I was able to use a roll of Agent Shadow 400 to get the job done.  The camera seemed to perform faultlessly.  The Industar 26M was smooth in operation and its click-stop aperture is a nice feature.

There was a small light leak apparent in the bottom corners of the images, but I think that will be easily remedied with a small foam strip.  I'm looking forward now to trying some of my other FED, Jupiter and Industar lenses with the camera.

I sat down at my computer to scan the roll of film when we got home from the Rail Yards and discovered that my old Dell Windows XP machine which I have used for years for scanning and image editing would not boot.  A visit to the computer repair shop produced a diagnosis of a dead motherboard.  That came as quite a shock, and I spent the better part of the next day sorting out hardware and software choices.  As it turned out, I was able to connect my Epson 2450 Photo scanner to my old 2010 IMAC.  I tried a MAC-compatible version of Silverfast scanning software, but it seemed impossibly slow and awkward to use.

I finally settled on Viewscan for scanning and it seems pretty close to my old Windows version of Silverfast in terms of features and speed.  For image editing I currently only have GIMP-2.10.  That program seems to have all the needed operational features, but in use they are totally unintuitive.  I'll eventually learn enough  about GIMP to get most of what I want from an editor, but I'm going to start looking hard for a version of Photoshop CS2 that will run on the IMAC.  So, while I briefly had some doubts that film photography was going to continue being an option for me, it seems I am still in the game.