Iskra frame counter—WHY is it impossible to repair?

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okto

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I see this all over the Net. The Iskra frame counter will always break. The Iskra frame counter is impossible to repair. When everyone says the exact same thing without being able to explain, it usually means it isn't true.

It can't be unrepairable. It's just gears, springs, and escapements. Anything mechanical can be repaired. It might be difficult, but it can't be impossible.

So I have two closely-related questions:
1. What, exactly, breaks in the Iskra frame counter mechanism?
2. What is it that makes the mechanism "impossible" to repair?
 
A guess on my part. Worn or strip parts. Cheaper to go the red window approach then to fabricate the new part from scratch given u can buy another one for cheaper..

I would suggest u send email to fedKa.com. He is a US dealer of Russian cameras and if i remember correctly, does repair work as well..

Gary
 
One of the main reasons is quite simple : Missing Parts.
A lot of the Iskra's have had surgery before whereby obviously parts were removed and never replaced.
 
The frame counter on mine works perfectly. It is the most automatic roll film counter I have ever used. Put in film wind it until it stops. Take your 12 photos. Wind it until it stops. Take the film out. No tricky film threading, no indexing to marks or numbers. Entirely transparent.

However the focusing is stiff on mine. I keep intending to look into that but never seem to get around to it. If I was shooting more, I would have to, but I have not been taking a lot of photos lately.
 
Mine had a perfectly-functioning advance and counter when I got it, but after about five rolls it got stiff, and now it won't work reliably after frame 1.

For the stuff focus problem, get some RemOil or other brand Teflon gun oil and spray a few drops into the focus helical and between the focus ring and the lens standard from outside the bellows. Mine's nice and slick after that treatment.
 
On mine the stiff focus is not in the lens helical. If you hold the RF link the focus turns freely, so I assume the problem is something gummed up in the RF. The seller, one of the usually Ukranian suspects, claimed the camera had a CLA before listing it on eBay. It is entirely possible something happened to it in shipping. He offered to take it back, but who wants to toss all that shipping money in the trash.

I assume it is fixable, but between a-fib and apnea I seldom seem to have the energy to get started on another project.

I does take superb photos.
 
i just bought one. I loaded the first film, wound, wound, wound...got to the end of the film. is there something i've done wrong or is mine irreparably broken?
 
graywolf said:
The frame counter on mine works perfectly. It is the most automatic roll film counter I have ever used. Put in film wind it until it stops. Take your 12 photos. Wind it until it stops. Take the film out. No tricky film threading, no indexing to marks or numbers. Entirely transparent. ..
Click to expand...

Sounds like the Rolleiflex Automat setup. All the Rolleiflex TLR models used it from the late 1940s until 1981.
 
thejameskendall said:
i just bought one. I loaded the first film, wound, wound, wound...got to the end of the film. is there something i've done wrong or is mine irreparably broken?
Click to expand...

If it is working, all you need to do is move the empty spool to the take up end, insert the roll of film, put the end of the backing paper into the take up spools slot, close the back, and wind on.

The film should stop at the first frame. Then it should stop at each frame until the last one, after that it should wind on until you have the backing paper all wound on to the take up spool.

At that point the knob should suddenly have a lot less tension on it. Open the back, take out the film and move the empty spool to the take up position.

This is all metered by a wheel with spikes sticking out of it at the upper right hand side of the guide rails. It meters the film by pricking into the film just a tiny bit, so it does not matter if the film is thick or thin like most cameras do.

Those spikes seem to be the critical point, if they are worn down so they do not prick into the film the counter is not going to work. They claim replacements for it are not available. The rest of it is, I think (I have not torn into mine, as it works fine), just the usual gear train that any decent camera repair person should be able to fix.

Actually, I can not imagine why someone with basic machine shop skills can not fabricate a replacement. Probably just that the sellers of these cameras are not willing to spend a hundred bucks to fix them before they sell them. Cheaper to remove the wheel and put a red window in the back.

Irreparably broken? Maybe, but the first thing I would check is to see if you can move that spiked wheel, the gear train may just be gummed up with old lubricant. Then check that the spikes are sharp. Finally check that roll of film you wound through the camera has the tiny holes the wheel normally puts into the film, or was a gouge run the length of the film.

Holes mean the wheel was turning, so maybe something is loose in the gear train. A gouge means it was locked up. No, or very shallow marks means the spikes are worn down.

In the end the problem may just come down to finding someone that knows what they are doing who is willing to work on the camera. So many have been misrepaired that many camera techs will not touch them.

I hope this helps a bit.
 
I had once a Super Isolette (the model that KMZ looked at when making their Iskra) which had some stressed gear teeths: the frame counter did not work if the user put the slightlest upwards pressure on the advance wheel when winding. It the photog applied a bit of pressure on the wheel while advancing, 9 out of 10 the mechanism engaged. Not the most comfortable situation, but at least a cheap workaround.

Of course, it is also possible that a previous repairman simply disabled the mechanism by removing a couple of linking gears, won't be the first one and probably won't be the last...
 
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