Zorki 4 'Mir' | Russian Leica Clone

Zorki (meaning sharp-sighted) is a series of 35mm rangefinder cameras manufactured in the name of a series of manufactured in the Soviet Union, by the KMZ (Krasnogorskiy Mekhanicheskiy Zavod) factory near Moscow between 1948 and 1978. The first Zorki cameras were largely based on the Leica II, a trend which was discontinued later when the factory began producing Zorki cameras which were original to a great degree.

In 1956, KMZ started selling the Zorki 4 and it spawned two variants, the improved lever advance equipped Zorki 4K and the low-cost watered Zorki Mir. Zorki 4 is widely regarded as one of the finest Russian cameras and over two million of theses sold.

Perhaps one of the more notable feature of the Zorki cameras was their shutter speed, which could only be set after the shutter has been cocked, and if the shutter speed was set before the shutter is cocked there were chances that the camera might be permanently damaged.

As the Mir was a simplified version of the Zorki 4, they were manufactured for sale internal to the Soviet union at a lower price than the Zorki 4 and are scarce and are very rare in excellent condition. Interestingly, 'Mir' means peace in Russian and were manufactured from 1959 to 1961.


When they say "simplified" what do they mean? As far as I can tell the only difference between the Zorki 4 and the Mir is that the Mir does not have the 4's slow shutter speeds (between 1/30th and B). As the Zorki 4's slow shutter speeds have something of a reputation for failing this doesn't seem to be much of a sacrifice and when was the last time you set your camera's shutter to 1 second anyway?

The only other thing I found that is stripped down about the Mir is the lens that came as standard; instead of the typical, beautiful Jupiter 8 that comes with most Zorki 4s, my Mir sports a Indistrar so instead of a nice fast f2 you're armed with an OK f3.5.

The Zorki 4 was loosely based on the Leica II/III. Leicas, to recap, are legendary for their build quality, reliability, fantastic glass and astronomical price tags.The Russian Leicas are not legendary for any of those things. Make no mistake, when you pick up a Russian Leica clone you won't be fooled into thinking that you're holding the genuine article even if, like me, you've never held a real Leica.


Like other Russian cameras, the Mir is rough around the edges, solid metal without the reassurance of quality materials or engineering beneath its skin but its price point makes the comparison with a real Leica a little unfair. With its modest sticker price the Zorki 4 was competing more with the Argus C3 than with Leica's products. When viewed in that light the Mir is a nice camera, certainly more refined and advanced in its own way

Sample pics taken by the Mir:



SPECIFICATIONS:

Film Size: 35mm
Image Size: 24X36mm
Dimensions:
height: 6.7cm
width: 13.3cm
depth: 6.6cm
weight: 519gm
Normal lens: Industar-22/Jupiter-8
Lens Mount: m39 LTM
Typical serial no: 6070196

Offer Price: B$225 ***SOLD*** Thanks to the buyer!