Batteries Not Included

But not needed for the pressie Santa brought me this year which I took out to try with a film today (using my previously bought Weston Euro-Master light meter). It's a Zorki 1D (Serial Number 486755) with an Industar 50mm f3.5 lens (Serial Number 5436840) manufactured by KMZ plant in Krasnogorsk, Moscow, USSR sometime between 1953 and 1954. It's a copy of a Leica II (Santa couldn't afford a real Leica) and is completely manual (hence the lightmeter) with seperate viewfinders for the focusing (rangefinder) and composing. Not exactly a fast camera to use:

1) Take light meter reading
2) Dial up the EV value on the Weston
3) Read off the necessary aperture and shutter speed
4) Pull out and twist the collapsible lens to lock it into position
5) Set the aperture on the knurled ring on the front of the lens (paying attention to the scale as their are no click stops at defined aperure values)
6) Wind the film on and cock the shutter
7) Lift and turn the shutter speed dial to the correct shutter speed (remembering that the shutter MUST be cocked first otherwise you can sheer the pin off of the shutter speed control and wreck the camera)
8) Look through the left hand viewfinder window and use the knob on the lens to focus using the rangfinder
9) Look through the righ hand viewfinder window and compose the shot
10) Depress the shutter release to take the shot

This is best described as slowwww photography but there is something incredibly satisfying about using a camera that is sixty years old and still functioning....looking forward to completing the film to see the results.