Another Zorki 4 (4K) question

[GeneW]

Just finished developing my first test roll through my Zorki 4K. I metered every scene with my VC clipon and used a variety of shutter speeds. All look very nicely exposed. So far so good.

I stopped shooting when I fired off the 36th frame, according to the counter. But there are only 30 exposed frames on the film, and #30 was definitely the last one I took. I zeroed the counter at the beginning and I didn't misread the count at the end. So, is the counter somewhat unreliable or did the Soviets use base 9 in their counting 🙂

What I could do to compensate is fire off an extra frame at the beginning and simply advance the film until it doesn't advance any further -- then I'd know I was at the end. This, however, would leave the shutter partly cocked.

Is there any danger of damaging the camera if I push in the rewind knob and rewind with the shutter partly cocked?

The online manual says

"When you are ready to rewind the film you must FIRST RELEASE THE SHUTTER. Failure to do so may cause the shutter to behave erratically the first few times when you next load film."

Obviously I can't release the shutter if it's half cocked.

Out of curiosity, what would make the film counter jump some numbers??

Gene

 

[Pherdinand]

"Obviously I can't release the shutter if it's half cocked." Gene, i'm not so sure about that. A friend of mine, in school, had borrowed a fed from his photographer father once in a while. It was a bottom-loading one with a collapsible chrome lens, don't remember the version. However, at a certain moment we had great fun noticing that the shutter can be partially cocked and released from there. 🙂

PS: i have no idea if the camera survived these "experiments" 😀

 

[vladhed]

Re: Another Zorki 4 (4K) question

The frame counter probably just got knocked. Mine was a bit loose when I got it but just giving the screw a little twist to tighten it up.

As for rewinding with a partly cocked shutter, the shutter has no inter-lock to prevent you from tripping the shutter when it is only partly wound. If you do, the shutter can be stuck open, so you'll ruin the film rewinding it.

I just keep shooting until I can't wind on fully anymore, turn the collar and rewind the film, even if the shutter is half-wound.

 

[GeneW]

Thanks Pherdinand, Vlad.

Sounds like I can proceed as planned!

Gene