Zorki's Barnack-style rangefinder — 35mm, Leica Thread Mount, combined finder, self-timer, 1955.
The Zorki 2S, also seen as Zorki 2C in Cyrillic transliteration, is a Soviet 35mm rangefinder made by the KMZ plant at Krasnogorsk near Moscow. It is a development of the Barnack-style Zorki 2 based on the Leica II and appeared around 1955. It keeps the Leica screw mount and the compact body while combining the rangefinder and viewfinder into a single window with a self-timer.
This is a 35mm coupled-rangefinder camera in the Barnack pattern, using the Leica Thread Mount (39mm screw). It has a horizontal-travel cloth focal-plane shutter. Unlike the earlier Zorki bodies it uses a combined rangefinder and viewfinder window rather than separate ones. Focusing is by the coupled rangefinder and exposure is set manually; there is no built-in meter. Film is bottom-loaded and a self-timer is fitted.
The Zorki 2S suits users who want a compact screw-mount rangefinder with the convenience of a single combined finder window and a self-timer, working with Leica Thread Mount lenses including Soviet Industar and Jupiter optics. It handles more easily than the separate-window Zorki bodies. Being fully mechanical, it fires without a battery.
On the used market the Zorki 2S is affordable and offers strong value, though the sample-to-sample quality-control variance typical of former-Soviet-Union bodies means each one should be checked. Inspect the rangefinder patch for contrast and horizontal alignment, examine the cloth focal-plane shutter curtains for pinholes and capping, and confirm the slow speeds run. Curtain ribbons can perish with age, so a serviced example is preferable.