Thursday, 04 September 2008
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Epic Edit's $50 Film Camera Project
Zorki 10 : Metallic Chunk or Cool Russian Hunk ?
I’ve recently become intrigued by the larger universe of Soviet cameras when an old companion, my LC-A, came out from hiding. It rekindled images of a world I sought to explore further. It was time, to get a new camera.
There were hundreds of Soviet cameras waiting to find new owners on Ebay. I finally settled on the Zorki 10 because as its English translated manual list it - has “fully automatic exposure settings”.
I’d be lying if I said looks didn’t matter. Amongst all the Soviet cameras that were available on Ebay, the Zorki’s sleek silver body and minimalism stood out distinctly. That it won a gold medal at the 1965 Leipzig World Fair gave that added gleam to its cool steel looks and I was sold - for US$35.
When I first held the Zorki 10, encased in its boxy, original leather casing, I was surprised by how large and heavy it was for a 35mm autofocus. (The manual list it as 750g without casing, it weighs like 2kg to me!) It was probably the heaviest autofocus camera I’ve ever handled - it sure was generations ahead of “compacts”.
Unlike “compacts” which allow you to use the “single hand hold”, the Zorki 10 isn’t a camera that can be held with one hand for quick snapshots. In fact, half the time when I was trying to get to know this camera, I realised that my hands were all fumbly and unsteady. While its size is part of the reason, this awkwardness was mainly because of how it’s built. Its shutter release wasn’t a press button like most, but a lever. So I needed my right hand to pull the shutter release lever on the right, and then I need my left hand to crank the film advance – it was all hands onboard with this one!
The Zorki 10 was “designed for versatile amateur photography, for photographing architectural ensembles, landscapes, portraits etc.” So that’s how I decided to let it prove itself, and took it out to Vivocity – one of Singapore’s latest mega malls. Well, for a camera in its 40s, it doesn’t seem to have slowed down much. In fact, it gave some pretty good results that left me gasping for more.
I guess as they say, practice makes perfect and we just need to get more comfortable with each other for some amazing times.
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images from the test shoot can be accessed here :
http://photo.xanga.com/toycamper/albums/f164d612371c3c
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