Kiev 4 problem!

[Rhodes]

Have a kiev 4 for a while. The first films were fine, just with some "ghost" in a few frames. I thought that was some light leak and since it wasn't constant, never bother me.
Now I have a real problem. The last films that I used in the camera come with this problem: the frame film comes with more than one image. In this last 36 pictures film, only 6 could be "saved" and printed to paper.
It's like (or it is) the film doesn't advance when I wind.
I suspect of bad loading, but since first time I loaded the camera, all went well, so I think that it's not from there!
Any thoughts? Advices?

 

[Ed S.]

It sounds like you should send your camera out for repair and a good CLA. I’ve had good luck with Fedka, and Eddie Smolov is highly recommended by others. Both are in the US.

As a sanity check, open your camera, then wind. Does the toothed spindle also rotate, and does it rotate enough to advance one frame (8 teeth)? The toothed spindle rotates as long as the wind knob turns. Note that when the wind knob starts turning, it is winding film only (about 3 teeth), then there’s a click and the shutter will start winding. If you wind with no film, it feels like nothing is connected to the winding knob.

Does your camera’s back ensure that the film holes are kept in constant contact with the toothed spindle? The pressure plate spring should be springy, and there’s a roller on the back next to the plate.

Failing to get the film holes indexed with the sprockets when loading might be the problem. How many exposures (good or bad) do you see on your film?

 

[Rhodes]

Ed.s, yes to the questions in the first paragraph! I was suspicious about the back plate. The roller next to plate is rolling. The one on the body, before the shutter, it's a bit stiff. The pressure plate appears to be with no strength! But since I haven't any other to compare.
I can see many exposure on the film, 30 bad, 5 good and one semi (the picture is compose by two half’s of 2 pictures!

 

[Ed S.]

Rhodes:
I see that you are located in Portugal. Oleg, in the FSU, is probably much closer to you. There are / were a couple of repairers in England, but one of them no longer repairs Kievs. Check the other threads in this forum for names / links. If you have a local camera repairer that will work on Contax cameras, perhaps he will try your Kiev.

I checked the pressure plate on my K4. It is about 1.5mm from the back, and seems to support about 150g before deflecting. The pressure plate may not be the problem, but a check seems a good idea.

From your description of the exposure on your film: 30 bad, 5 good and one overlapped (only one, correct?); what do the 30 bad exposures look like? This may be a shutter problem, with the last exposure being a good one, then one more good one but the film was only 1/2 frame from maximum extension before winding for the last exposure.

You might want to open you camera and do many tests. Watch the shutter while winding, then press the shutter release. So many more, but change the shutter speed before pressing the release. Does the shutter ever open after winding when the speed is changed from slow to fast? Does the shutter ever fail to open?

 

[Rhodes]

In portugal, possibly, there are only a few repairs shop then can work with this cameras. In my home town, there's no one.
About the shutter, it appears to be fine, since I always do what you described. The bad exposures are like having a double exposure in one frame, but with 3 or 4 exposures, instead of only 2 or 1!

Here's one example of the negatives. The scan invert automatically. The scan with out doing this is to dark to see "n" exposures in one frame!

 

[Ed S.]

It sounds like your shutter is ok. The red on the right of the picture you posted might have happened during film handling. Things seem to point back to a film advance problem.

In rereading your first post, you mention that this is the first roll of film on which you’ve seen this problem. One option, and very inexpensive, is to shoot another roll of film. Load carefully, make sure the film is on the sprocket, etc.

Another option you might consider trying is to use a 24-exposure roll of film. I expect no difference, but there will be slightly less load on the film advance mechanism.

Finally, scan this forum for repair links. I sort of recall someone in the Netherlands, but I have no link at the moment.

 

[john341]

I would try some cheap b/w film. Make sure that the film is advancing ok by taking up the slack on the rewind knob..to me it looks like faulty film advance.Best of luck..don;t despair, they are great cameras!

 

[Rhodes]

No, I will no despair. I like the camera, is the only square rangefinder window camera that I have!
Could be the back plate that isn't doing it job right, or when putting the back plate in place, the film jump from the sprockets! It's ironic since, when I first tried the camera I load in a moving car and the first film com out perfect (+/- since I didn't know gost valor’s...)