New Zorki S

[moretto]

The surprise came from my next door neighbor! 1957 Zorki S with I22 lens. Mint condition, never, EVER been used. Never had a film inside! 😱 It still has the original plastic film case for loading bulk film.
No fungus on the glass (needless to say, no scratch marks).
And, as I suspected, it does not work properly. All the shutter speeds work, but slower than they should. 1/25 is more like ...a full second more or less..and accordingly 1/500 could be...about 1/50 😀.
Now the dilemma: DIY (DIM) or Mr.Oleg..or Mr.Fedka...🙄.
I'm hoping just for a CL without A 😛, so how hard can it be? Service +shipping is about 100$, but about 6 WEEKS :bang:.

 

[ZorkiKat]

Anything with mechanical parts which has not been used for years will tend to do what your Zorki is doing now. The parts get stuck and sluggish. This happens not because it is a Zorki. It happens to anything or anyone. Imagine if you too were kept sitting in a closet for 53 years...

Some oiling, a bit of flush cleaning, and some exercise should get that camera back to action. You can spend for it. But if you can work with small precision machines, you can easily do the fix yourself.

Mouse over and click: Zorki Bugs

 

[moretto]

Thanks for reply, ZorkiKat.
I know it is not because it's a Zorki. I have a 1954. Lambreta I brought back from the death, virtually every mechanical part was stuck. And those are a bit bigger parts. Did succesful jobs on a Yashica electro 35 and a few Minolta MF lenses...so..I'm not all thumbs 😉...but nevertheless ..have to prepare my nerves for Zorki. Don't care too much about mechanics, as long as the curtains are OK..those are tricky,and of course I don't have spare ones.
Otherwise, I like this little gadget! Much smaller than Z4, not to mention Fed 4. Z6 is near in dimensions. I already screwed the Industar on Z6, just to try it. Can't wait for the results, never had a collapsible one.

 

[moretto]

Okay, so yesterday afternoon I spent CL-ing the Zorki. Did some A only on the rangefinder. 😀
And while looking at the poor thing spread all over my kitchen table, I was about 99% sure it will never work again. I used the "anti-silicone cleaner" (the stuff car painters use for cleaning), and some oil and grease I robbed from an innocent watch repairman.
Somehow managed to put it back together, and the shutter came back to life after a bit of exercising. Tested the high speeds on TV screen, lower compared to my ugly but reliable Fed4..more or less sounded OK.
Today morning, loaded a Superia 200 and snapped it downtown for about a hour, and immediately went to a photo store for developing. Wasn't hoping much.
Imagine my surprise when I saw 37 perfectly exposed frames, with perfectly even spacing between them, no ghosts, no light leaks!
Not much of an artistic impression, but here goes:

 

[julio1fer]

Great results! Congratulations! That is a nice area, you'll have plenty of good subjects to test your Zorki.

 

[pakeha]

Moretto, someone who has what it takes - unlike the many FSU bashers around here😀
Nice place you live in also.
regards
CW

 

[moretto]

Thanks, guys! 😀

Didn't do so much really..
Just what ZorkiKat said: "Some oiling, a bit of flush cleaning, and some exercise should get that camera back to action."

Some air blowing from the can (I was a bit afraid to use compressor, no matter I can reduce the pressure, but the air could have some water and oil drops).

An as I already mentioned. Nice little gadget! 😉

 

[Mauro]

Congratulations, Moretto: that's a great camera! I am sure you will enjoy it.
I like your pictures.

 

[eia41]

Well done, very brave of you!! Obviously you must be mechanically or technically minded, lucky you. The photos are lovely as is the town. Where is it? Name? Seaside, or river / lakeside? I have driven along the adriatic / dalmatian coast of Yugoslavia in the early 1980s, and loved Croatia. Ahhh, those were the days (...of youth and joy!)

 

[gb hill]

Fantastic!! now aren't you glad you saved all that money & did it yourself?

 

[moretto]

Thanks for moral support, people. Mauro, long time no hear 😀

@eia41: Rijeka, Croatia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rijeka

@gb hill: It wasn't so much for the money, but the time to wait..about 3 weeks to Russia, than the repair, than about 3 weeks from Russia (with love 😛).
Yesterday discovered that there's a service in Zagreb, Croatia that works on most cameras, including Zorki. (And I do have one that has a hole in the shutter curtains, which I do not dare to do myself)

 

[moretto]

You know how sometimes is easier to load a bottom-loader than a CF card 😀😀
Finally, some pics.