Gremlins in my Zorki-4

[tho60]

I have problems with my Zorki-4. A random, but serious banding jeopardizes my photos. Sometimes, but not always. Exactly the most beautiful pictures are ruined. Murphy’s law? I have relaxed the shutter tension just enough to enable the roller to pull the curtain through, but it was no remedy. The most interesting: not only the fast speeds, but slow speeds (e.g. 1/30 sec) are affected. As if a gremlin pulled my leg. See the picture= 1/30 sec.

 

[Joao]

Is this banding always in the same place of the frame or does it change its position from frame to frame ?

Joao

 

[tho60]

Is this banding always in the same place of the frame or does it change its position from frame to frame ?

Joao

In most cases the banding is in the same place of the frame, but sometimes not.😱

Have you ever experienced such a problem when a camera sometimes worked well, but sometimes not and you could not get the hang of the causes?:bang:

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Have you ever experienced such a problem when a camera sometimes worked well, but sometimes not and you could not get the hang of the causes?

With mechanical camera, absolutely.

Two believes on this.
One. Keep using camera it will go away.
Two. Camera is for CLA by repair person, who knows why and how.

Often it is one and then two. And almost never just one.

 

[bobby_novatron]

Sorry to hear you're having problems with your Zorki-4. I have a completely different problem with mine: many of the photos I take with the Zorki-4 are blurry. I believe there is a mis-alignment with the rangefinder, resulting in out-of-focus images.

Anyway, I think you have to decide whether or not it's really worth it to send the camera body off for repair. I think it's almost more cost-effective to just purchase another Zorki-4 off eBay, or from Fedka, etc.

Hourly repair rates from any competent technician would probably be considerably more than purchasing a new Z-4 camera.

There's a silver lining to following this approach: you can keep the old Zorki-4 around as a shelf-queen / conversation piece / paper weight. 🙂

 

[xayraa33]

Since the banding is not straight, it could be un-even film development or un-even inversions of the development tank.

If you can prove that this not the cause of the problem then:


Check to see if the shutter curtain tracks are clean of debris and film chips, then if they are clean try tensioning the 2nd curtain by half a turn.

 

[ForestCap]

It looks the the closing curtain traveled at different speeds when at 1/30s.

It traveled at speed A, then starting from the banding boundary, it traveled at speed B, which is faster than speed A.

What can make it so? Maybe the sizes of the teeth on a cog are not the same? Maybe there are dirty between some teeth, while the other teeth are clean?

I'd suggest clean all the cogs that are involved in exposure/curtain movements.

 

[tho60]

Since the banding is not straight, it could be un-even film development or un-even inversions of the development tank.

I cannot agree. I have more cameras and only pictures with this particular Zorki-4 are affected. Cosmetically, this is a wonderful exemplar of its species, and sometimes it takes marvellous pictures- but, depending its mood or the gremlins- some pictures are botched.

 

[xayraa33]

I cannot agree. I have more cameras and only pictures with this particular Zorki-4 are affected. Cosmetically, this is a wonderful exemplar of its species, and sometimes it takes marvellous pictures- but, depending its mood or the gremlins- some pictures are botched.

Then check to see if the 2nd shutter curtain is hesitating or even hanging up or it is too slow.

View it with the back of and shutter dial on B and on 1/30 and on 1/60.


The 2nd shutter curtain aka, the closing curtain does not have the take-up roller spring tension of the first shutter curtain, but it should not be anaemic either.

Like I said before, try tensioning the 2nd curtain a bit as a stop-gap measure and see how you go.

That Zorki probably needs a full CLA.

 

[farlymac]

Looks more like capping to me. Usually it will show up more on the higher speeds, making one side almost completely dark (second curtain, so the right side of the image).

Canon P

Lafayette Bridge Replacement by P F McFarland, on Flickr

Usually, a bit of adjustment to the shutter curtains is all that's needed. But in your case, since there is a definite line of stoppage that is not completely vertical, I'd think there is something in the curtain channels hanging it up also, or improper ribbon wrapping on the drum.

A complete CLA is called for here, since who knows what else will show up. It's not uncommon for these Zorki and FED cameras to have been "repaired" by some hack just to get them to operate enough to take a photo or two. And it's not cheaper to get a "new" Z-4 as was suggested earlier, as there is no such thing. Even if you could find a NewInBox model, it would still need work as the lubricants would surely be dried up by now.

I've got a Zorki 1D that has a rangefinder off of a 1B. I've got a FED 2D that someone put back together with some of the film transport parts 180 degrees out of spec. A busted shutter in another that looks like someone tried to replace a curtain the cheap way by cutting out the old one with a razor blade, and they cut right into the take-up drum.

It is well worth sending the camera to a competent repair person, particularly one who specializes in FED/Zorki cameras. You will then have a good working camera that should last at least a few years, depending on how badly the internals are worn. Better than to just keep buying others junk. I know. I've got a half dozen of them sitting around waiting for me to repair them.

PF

 

[Fotohuis]

I am almost sure it will be the shutter: C.L.A. 🙂

 

[wolves3012]

I tend to agree with Fotohuis: it needs CLA. Uneven exposure like that can be caused by dirt in the shutter mechanics anywhere in the various pivots and gears, although the sudden change in exposure makes me think in particular of dirt in the restrictor gears. We have a "How To" in the stickies if you feel you can do the job yourself, otherwise you could look at the services of someone like Oleg (OK cameras, I think). Unless the shutter is clean and lubricated it cannot run evenly and this is typical of the problem. Altering the curtain tensions may help but is likely to be a stop-gap measure and unless the shutter works smoothly you cannot be sure you'll achieve consistency.