my brand old Zorki 4

[rolleistef]

Hi all,
I just received from my gran, the Zorki 4 that belonged to my grand-grand father, and was manufactured in 1963, as well as its matching j8 and take-up spool.
It is cosmettically mintish, and works well on speeds between 1000th and 60th of a second.
BUT : from 1/30, the second curtain brakes a few millimeter before closing. Could it be due to some old soviet grease sticking the mecanism?
Other thing : there's no yak hair for light tightning, is it a feature or a defect?

Last : there is a soviet dust in my soviet lens. Well, I assume it's soviet dust as it has not been openend since it was manufactured, 43 years ago... long live Krasnogorsk!!

I'll try to post a photo as soon as I have found one.
See ya,
thanks a lot
stéphane

 

[vicmortelmans]

Hi,

I had the same shutter problem on my Zorki 4. It was the first time I opened this kind of camera and first tried to tune the curtain tension (two screws at the bottom, howto's allover the web). This didn't really help. By close examinig the curtain movement, I actually found out that the second curtain was not stuck *before* it completely closed, but it kind of jumped back. Then I noticed that the second curtain movement is also controlled by a brake and after adjusting that, things got better (read: I took it out and didn't remember how it sat, so put it back in the most reasonable position as fas as I could imagine it's purpose).

But in the end, I'm wondering if the magic repair was not just due the extensive exercising of the shutters during my repair attempts, which on itself tends to release much of the dirt that makes mechanisms behave badly after years of not being used...


Groeten,

Vic

 

[Screwy]

You could try putting it on a sunny window sill , A nice warming will liquify the old grease somewhat , I have seen leaving the camera on top of a radiator for the same effect but be carefull trying that one .

 

[fidget]

Also check for debris in the film channel and around the bottom of the big curtain spool, small pieces of film are oftern found here. Blow it with one of those compressed air cans. Good luck.....

 

[rolleistef]

Ok mates thanks for your help... It seems indeed that it works a bit better. I'll try the sun trick, and let your know.
And what about the absence of light seal? Is it normal or not?
oh, btw, my camera has a flash delay, and it was said on a site that it was quite rare on the Z4s. Have you heard anything about it?
ty
stéphane

 

[pshinkaw]

Be sure to cap the lens before putting it in a window! It only takes as second or two to burn a hole in the shutter curtain. I now, I have done it.

-Paul

 

[rolleistef]

ohh yes thanks a lot. I have never had any cloth curtain rf before...

 

[reagan]

And what about the absence of light seal? Is it normal or not?

Though others have, I have no string seals in any of my Zorkis. I may be wrong, but I believe it wasn't original equipment but an often needed patch added later by photogs... and from what I've heard, when applied correctly, works well.

Cheers ~ enjoy the Zorki.4!!

 

[santino]

if the sunny trick won't work go to
http://members.tripod.com/rick_oleson/index-58.html
and follow the instructions. Clean the slow speeds mechanism (open top) and clean the gears of the main drum (remove bonnet). Did it a few times and it always worked fine.
PS: "soviet dust" sounds cool, that really made my day 🙂 😀

 

[garythegit]

No Zorki 4s didn't have/need light seals 🙂 enjoy the toy!

 

[rolleistef]

Haia,
I had a few shots with my Zorki today. The VF is no comparaison with the Kiev's! Switching from one to another is just like... switching from 35mm to Medium format 😀
And as I'm quite near sighted, dioptric adjustement just like having a pair of glasses... with weird colours though!
I removed the top yesterday, it was full of soviet dust as well 😛. I had never realised how close to a Leica this camera is!
About the bonnet removing, there's not trouble re-assembling it, is there?

I checked the speeds : after some time exercising the shutter, it appears that they all were right, including the very slow ones such as 1/4, 1/2 and even 1 second, and fast ones (250-1000th). Or, anyway, they look the same as on my pentax sp1000 on which I know the speeds are accurate.

Ok the shutter is much noisier and snappier than the Kiev's (that enables you to take photos of people 4 ft away without having them noticing it), but not quite as on most SLRs (including the SP1000... shlac!). But it's definitely a good "street" camera.

I'll have the results tonight as the film was already half finished, and let you know about it soon!!

see ya
stéphane

 

[GeneW]

Enjoy the Zorki 4 Stephane! It's a good solid FSU cam. Which lens do you use on it? Be careful with the VF. It's nice and big but inaccurate. If you push your eye close enough to see the edges, it's closer to a 35mm view. Leave a little space around your compositions or you may accidentally cut things off. Other than that, it's a fun cam to use. I have a pair of them.

Gene

 

[manfromh]

Ok the shutter is much noisier and snappier than the Kiev's (that enables you to take photos of people 4 ft away without having them noticing it),

Everyone says that the Kiev shutter is quiet. Yeah it quieter than my Fed-3, but its not that quiet. Though im not realy sure what is considered quiet.

 

[rolleistef]

I have a j8 on it, made in 63 as well.
It's true the vf is huge, but when using the camera with its case, it seems all right.
I found a photo I had taken of the camera a couple of years ago twill be on line as well as the 'test" shots.

 

[rolleistef]

I got the first negs out of the tank. The RF is OK (contrarely to my Kiev IIIa which completely out) and so is exposure.
I uploaded a photo of the camera in my gallry if you're interested.