excited Zorki 4 newbie

G

grifon

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Oct 25, 2005
Messages
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Hello everyone, i've been following this forum for a quite a while now, and it has helped me considerably in choosing the model for myself.
I am now a proud owner of '68 Zorki 4, which i got a couple of days ago, and had enough time to tear it apart and put it back together. Everything seems to work, and the test roll should be back tomorrow.

One little problem that im having with it is skipped frames. From time to time, especially at slower exposure (30 and less) it sometimes skips a frame (the "tooth" on the bottom of the sproket ends up on top of the "tooth" of the gear below it, as oppesed to being behind it, so I have to go around full circle in order to engage the shutter mech) is anybody else having a similar problem, and is there anything I can tighten/loosen in order to remedy this?
 
My new Fed-2 does exactly that. I figure it'd work to polish the facing sides of those pins with a dremel tool and polishing bit. Hopefully a helpful beam of light will shine in here pretty soon and lead us both out of the dark :)
 
I just stopped in to say I have absolutely no help for you guys. :confused: It always kind of amazes me that no matter what malady is posted here amongst FSUers, somebody else has the same thing or has had it in the past. Anyway, I'm sure some "helpful beam" will come along soon. Bump the thread if necessary.

I actually just wanted to bid grifon a welcome to RFF and tell derevaun I enjoyed asiftosay.com. Good work.

Have fun with the gear lads! Skipped frames and all, when in doubt, go for a walk and shoot the heck out of it!! :cool:
 
Ok, so the test roll is back. Not looking bad overall. and to my surprise I found that the tension the film provides for the sproket is enough to actually make those "teeth" mesh properly, so only one skipped frame in two rolls! Another issue that arose is what looks like a sticky curtain. But its slowly getting there definately.
 
Thanks and likewise, C! I'm putting a second roll through it now; it looks like I can prevent the skipped frames by gently rotating the wind knob back a tiny bit. Maybe it takes tension off the pins? I'm gonna try to clean the pins after this roll. Unless, of course, a better idea comes along :)
 
I had a sticky curtain on my Fed-2, and found careful application of lighter fluid to the gears (and a tiny bit to the metal trough the curtain guides ride in) made all the difference in the world. I worked the heck out of the mechanisms while doing this, and made sure to get no fluid near any of lens/viewer glass or on the curtains themselves.

Whereas before it was just sort of...gummy? or slow? now that curtain slaps home with a satisfying "snick!" and it seems much more of a precision instrument.

Fifty years of grime and dust can take a toll. I plan the same treatment on the '57 Zorki 4 I just received yesterday!
 
grifon said:
One little problem that im having with it is skipped frames. From time to time, especially at slower exposure (30 and less) it sometimes skips a frame (the "tooth" on the bottom of the sproket ends up on top of the "tooth" of the gear below it, as oppesed to being behind it, so I have to go around full circle in order to engage the shutter mech) is anybody else having a similar problem, and is there anything I can tighten/loosen in order to remedy this?
Click to expand...

I think your problem is that the rewind collar around the shutter release is not fully down. It is possible to gunk to get under the collar on top, or down below under the sprocket shalf to stop it from moving down all the way (when you turn it from "rewind" to "wind") and causing this less than perfect alignment of the pegs.

See the attachment of this post on Zorki 4 winding problems
 
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