Film advance modification

[NL2377]

I have a couple of leica clones coming in this week and the next, and while I absolutely love the barnack style, one thing that I will miss greatly when shooting these, are the lever wind film advance.

I know that the film advance opperation on these barnacks (I think they are modified zorki 2s) is rotational, so a lever action advance wouldnt work properly unless it were a clutched gear mechanism, but do any of you think that it may be possible to salvage the mechanism from another camera, or parts to create my own, as an experiment with these?

If so, what kind?

Greyhoundman, I know you have a lot of experience with FSU cameras, so what is your take on it?

 

[santino]

I think that such a modifications could be possible but it's def. hard. For me it wouldn't pay off but maybe I'm just not the mechanics guy 😀
good luck

 

[JonP]

A while ago an Italian seller listed a geared wind lever for a Leica II, it replaced the wind knob. From what I remember, and can find, it was not made by Leitz. It did however go for a lot of £££'s

 

[Screwy]

Hmmmm interesting thought , I wonder if one of those ratchet spanners could be cannibalized to make a lever ? I better go tidy up in the workshop , I feel a project coming on 😉

 

[NL2377]

Hmmmm interesting thought , I wonder if one of those ratchet spanners could be cannibalized to make a lever ? I better go tidy up in the workshop , I feel a project coming on 😉

As in a socket wrench? that was pretty much what I was thinking. I just got the cameras in today, so I may be diving in!

 

[NL2377]

Alright, after a brief examination:
-Such a modification IS possible.
-It would require work, and some machining.

The film advance that is on the camera as of right now, rotates approximately 350 degrees per film frame. given that, in order to create a lever system similar to an SLR, the gear/pully reduction would have to be 3:1 in order to achieve an approx 120 degree turn per frame.

there is plenty of room for the mechanics of such a design to fit, once the wind knob is removed... but in order to stabilize the mechanism, it appears as though the only way of properly mounting it, would require removing the upper portion of the camera. not an easy task.

while a pully setup may be easer to create, the amount of force required to advance the film would require a lot of tension on the pully, and therefore create more resistance. a geared mechanism would probably work best.

A ratchet would work well on a system such as this. the main concern is finding a set of gears that could be applied to the system and allow for the proper ratio.

Any Ideas?

 

[Nickfed]

I have wondered about cannibalising a Zorki-6. It may be possible but the stroke is pretty long anyway, usually requiring two motions. There is also the problem of parking the lever. I think you should just resign from this and buy a Nicca. This is the camera that Barnack should have designed in the first place, and the one we should all be lusting after.

 

[NL2377]

I have wondered about cannibalising a Zorki-6. It may be possible but the stroke is pretty long anyway, usually requiring two motions. There is also the problem of parking the lever. I think you should just resign from this and buy a Nicca. This is the camera that Barnack should have designed in the first place, and the one we should all be lusting after.

Yes, they made a beautiful lever wind barnack style camera... but it's also very hard to find in good condition and especially at a decent price... I paid less for my leica then the Niccas/towers are going for.

I guess the modification is something more or less about customizing the camera to my likings instead of spending out the wazzoo for something that I could do myself. Its like putting 20k into a honda civic or buying an 80k viper... they are two different kind of prides that accomplish the same goal.

 

[Stanton]

I have the lever wind Nicca 5L in the form of a Tower 45/46 (the model depended upon which Nikkor, a 50mm f2 or f1.4, came with it). They are hard to find, but great to use. The back has a door like a Leica M6 TTL which simplifies the loading. It is the camera which Leica should have built. Dave

 

[Michael I.]

I think making a rewind lever - swing back door - no diopter zorki 4 is the ultimate project🙂 I remember seeing an old soviet diagram of making a ttl meter for a zorki 4.

good luck on your projects!

 

[NL2377]

I think making a rewind lever - swing back door - no diopter zorki 4 is the ultimate project🙂 I remember seeing an old soviet diagram of making a ttl meter for a zorki 4.

good luck on your projects!

Haha, I was actually thinking about making a swing back door... I don't have the take-up spools for the leica clones, so last night I was trying to modify it as a perminent setup by replacing the friction shaft with a pressured perminent spool that I scrapped from an old parts SLR. I think it would have worked well, if I were able to have access from the back as opposed to the bottom. Now a light meter... that would be cool! If I had a second bessaL I might've tried to extract the parts from that, though It would probably be better to leave the ISO setting on a set number as to not have to figure out how to change it every time.