santino
FSU gear head
Hello comrades!
Here's the problem, my 4am doesn't synchronize properly. A 6th of the frame (upper part of the frame) isn't exposed at all.
How can I fix that (as the Kiev doesn't have any flash sync. settings like Zorkis etc.) ?
thanks
Here's the problem, my 4am doesn't synchronize properly. A 6th of the frame (upper part of the frame) isn't exposed at all.
How can I fix that (as the Kiev doesn't have any flash sync. settings like Zorkis etc.) ?
thanks
santino
FSU gear head
1/30 off course.
santino
FSU gear head
well, I meant 1/25, therr is no 1/30 in the Kiev dial so thats not the problem.
santino
FSU gear head
it can't be that the shutter is too fast, flash is 1/25.00 or so, it has to be a synch. problem but how to fix it?
ZorkiKat
ЗоркийК&
This can happen- the contact point of the flash may be closing too soon.
Kiev RF use a single pin which acts as a simple switch to acomplish flash synchronisation. It's capable of X synch only, so there's no adjustable 'delays'. So for flash bulbs, only 1/25 can be used.
This simple pin contact is also reason why Kiev flash contacts remain closed until the shutter is rewound. When left in its fired state, the flash can fire spontaneously. The pin remains in a constant position, keeping the circuit alive, once actuated. Also, this is reason why a charged flash will also fire when the Kiev shutter is rewound when the flash is connected.
The pin closes the circuit by striking on the metal parts of the roller blind (or the shutter crate?) as the shutter travels. One of this pin's ends is actuated by the moving shutter itself. If this part is deformed, the synch circuit can close, and fire the flash, before the shutter blinds can fully open at 1/25 sec. Since you're seeing the upper part of the frame unexposed (this part would be at the bottom of the camera's film gate), the synch circuit is actually firing prematurely. Part of the first blind is still covering the gate when the flash fires.
The only way to remedy this is to disassemble the shutter and reshape the contact pin (it's actually a very tiny triangular piece of metal) so that it makes contact just at the right moment. According to Maizenberg, the pin can be accessed by simply removing the shutter cover- I don't really know how this can be done this way since I found it hard to reach the contact pin with the cover removed.
I would say that adjusting the contact pin is really tricky to do. Finding how much to bend or twist it so that it times correctly with the shutter is largely a matter of trial and error.
It seems that correctly synched flash are part of the QC problems of the Kiev cameras. My 1980 4a did this too.
Jay
Kiev RF use a single pin which acts as a simple switch to acomplish flash synchronisation. It's capable of X synch only, so there's no adjustable 'delays'. So for flash bulbs, only 1/25 can be used.
This simple pin contact is also reason why Kiev flash contacts remain closed until the shutter is rewound. When left in its fired state, the flash can fire spontaneously. The pin remains in a constant position, keeping the circuit alive, once actuated. Also, this is reason why a charged flash will also fire when the Kiev shutter is rewound when the flash is connected.
The pin closes the circuit by striking on the metal parts of the roller blind (or the shutter crate?) as the shutter travels. One of this pin's ends is actuated by the moving shutter itself. If this part is deformed, the synch circuit can close, and fire the flash, before the shutter blinds can fully open at 1/25 sec. Since you're seeing the upper part of the frame unexposed (this part would be at the bottom of the camera's film gate), the synch circuit is actually firing prematurely. Part of the first blind is still covering the gate when the flash fires.
The only way to remedy this is to disassemble the shutter and reshape the contact pin (it's actually a very tiny triangular piece of metal) so that it makes contact just at the right moment. According to Maizenberg, the pin can be accessed by simply removing the shutter cover- I don't really know how this can be done this way since I found it hard to reach the contact pin with the cover removed.
I would say that adjusting the contact pin is really tricky to do. Finding how much to bend or twist it so that it times correctly with the shutter is largely a matter of trial and error.
It seems that correctly synched flash are part of the QC problems of the Kiev cameras. My 1980 4a did this too.
Jay
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physiognomy
Confirmed RF addict...
santino said:
Hey Santino, as mentioned the only thing you can really do is carefully bend the flash sync. pin & see what happens. I haven't worked on any of the latter Kiev's, but I'm guessing they can't be much different to a 4... The earlier Kievs have a brass pin, but the latter ones I have seen basically have a piece of wire that is actuated by the shutter. Be careful when bending it that you don't cause it to hang up the shutter curtains during winding... That would be bad news! I'm sorry I don't have a better pic for you, but if you take a look just above the left side of the bottom roller in this pic you can barely make out the brass pin on this 2a.
Good luck!
Peter
ps in terms of access, I think you should be fine with just removing the film plane casting... The instructions on the Kiev survival site are great! You might want to send Russ a pm asking his advice as well... I'm sure he's had more of these things apart than most of us combined!
santino
FSU gear head
thanks all!
I think I'll let it go, I don't use flash anyways that much and still got 2 Kievs with light leaks, so light leaks first and then maybe flash sync
I think I'll let it go, I don't use flash anyways that much and still got 2 Kievs with light leaks, so light leaks first and then maybe flash sync