Zorki 3 (Зоркий 3)

Zorki 3 (Russian: Зоркий, meaning sharp-sighted) is the name of a series of 35mm rangefinder cameras manufactured in the Soviet Union between 1951 and 1956.

It was a product of the Krasnogorsk Mechanical Factory (KMZ), which also produced the Zenit single lens reflex camera (SLR). The first Zorki cameras were inexpensive Leica II copies just like the FED, but later models were considerably different from the Leica.

When using most Zorki cameras, the shutter speed should only be set after the shutter has been cocked. Setting the shutter speed before the shutter is cocked can permanently damage the camera. This especially affects all Zorki cameras with slow shutter speeds under 1/30 of a second, in particular the Zorki-3 and Zorki-4.

Introduced in 1951, the Zorki 3 was somewhat similar to the Leica III. It offered a number of improvements over the original Zorki, including a large combined viewfinder with the rangefinder builtin, a removable back, and a larger and faster Jupiter-8 (lens) (Zeiss Sonnar copy) lens.

It also added a new mechanism for slow shutter speeds with a separate selector dial on the front of the camera. This is the first Zorki camera which has combined the rangefinder and viewfinder in one eyepiece.

Zorki 3 cameras are among the hardest Russian Leica copies to find. All Zorki-3 models (Zorki-3, Zorki-3M and Zorki-3C) have diopter adjustment for eyeglass wearers. They have a top shutter speed of 1/1000 sec. They have cast bodies and the entire back comes off to simplify loading.