My Zorki 1b arrived from Oleg this afternoon. This is for my Leica Standard clone project.

My tiny Leica IIIc towers above it. Oleg had already removed the rangefinder mechanism, which was broken. This made things a lot easier. The only drawback is that I didn't get the rangefinder cover which had the accessory shoe, which I needed.

I had decided, for the time being, to leave the shutter mechanism exposed. It looks stout enough.

It's kind of fun to watch things rotate and move up and down.

I took an accessory shoe of a broken Zorki 6 and, with some 5 minute epoxy, bonded it on the top of the camera. (I may live to regret this sort term solution. The bonding is reversible, but not easily.) I cut up some gaffer's tape to cover the holes. Voila! It's done. That was easy. I have a hand held rangefinder I can use but it's not really needed with the 35mm Jupiter 12.

I colored and marked some labels in feet to make it easier to focus the J12. The J12 is marked in meters, which I'm not used to, and my old eyes can't make out the distance markings on the lens in low light. I have no problem now. I've already shot a roll with the marked J12 on my Zorki 3M just be estimating distances and it worked very well.

My Zorki Standard joins my Pentax H1a (a pre-Spotmatic meterless model), with the M42 Industar-50 (I got this from Oleg, too.), as my coat pocket cameras that I have with me all the time. Both lenses are great.

Then what? The vulcanite is chipped. If I can chip it some more and remove the vulcanite mechanically, instead of chemically with paint remover, I will replace it with leather. The gaffer's tape will be replaced with leather even if I don't replace the vulcanite. I might have a shutter mechanism cover turned in aluminum like on the Leica Standard. Or not. I will see how the exposed mechanism works out. If I should ever get some money I would love to get a modern Voightlander 35mm brightline finder. And a Voightlander 25mm lens. And a 50mm Voightlander brightline finder for my collapsible Industar-50. I think this, and the Leica Standard, is one of the prettiest cameras ever. Not bad for $25. Of course I could leave it just like it is and be quite happy. But what would be the fun in that?