New Zorki 6, slight problem with rewind button/shutter.

[Martytoof]

Hey everyone;

New Zorki 6 in my hands; Seems to be in great condition with one exception:

My old Zorki 6 let me fire the shutter with either the dedicated shutter release OR the "rewind" button.

The new Zorki will fire the shutter with either, but if I use the "rewind" button to fire the shutter release the film advance lever doesn't seem to catch next time I wind the film forward. It only starts winding film and cocking the shutter about halfway through the advance motion which means I have to double-pump the advance lever to get a full shutter cock. This isn't a big deal, except it throws off my frame counter completely.

If I use the dedicated shutter button on top of the film advance lever to fire the shutter then it cocks properly every time.

Obviously not a big deal since I can just use the dedicated shutter button, but sometimes I find myself pushing the "rewind" button to trigger the shutter by accident and I can just about guarantee you that'll happen in the field every now and then.

Just wondering if anyone who's got more experience with the Z6's internals could guesstimate what the problem could be? I'm not going to make Fedka replace the camera again since this one is working flawlessly with this exception -- this is more for my own knowledge than anything.

Thanks!

 

[Dez]

Many cameras will fire the shutter when you operate the rewind lever- Leica screwmount cameras for example. It may releases both curtains together though, so producing no reliable exposure. The rewind lever disengages the wind train, and it generally takes 1 1/2 or 2 winds to reengage it and wind the film. I don't have a Z6 to play with at the moment, but this is typical behavior, so I suspect you have no problem there.

I guess the question that comes to mind is why on earth would you WANT to fire the shutter using the rewind button? I can't shift gears in my car using the steering wheel, but I can live with it.

Cheers,
Dez

 

[Martytoof]

Well to be fair I didn't know that was the case. It's right there and feels like a naturally placed shutter release (maybe moreso than the Zorki's actual shutter release) so I figured I'd use it if I could. If it produces unreliable results then that's good to know.

However more to the point it would still be nice to know why one camera advances film properly after being released by the rewind button and why the other doesn't.

 

[wolves3012]

Well to be fair I didn't know that was the case. It's right there and feels like a naturally placed shutter release (maybe moreso than the Zorki's actual shutter release) so I figured I'd use it if I could. If it produces unreliable results then that's good to know.

However more to the point it would still be nice to know why one camera advances film properly after being released by the rewind button and why the other doesn't.

Dez was exactly right, the rewind button isn't the shutter release. It disengages the drive to the sprocket and film spool. Re-engaging isn't guaranteed to be in any particular position, hence messing with frame spacing and wind action. The shutter button merely releases the shutter mechanism to a known position, nothing else is disengaged.

Simple answer, use the shutter button, that's its purpose! I do have to agree that the rewind button does look like a shutter button though, it's a common mistake to use it - as is the similar one on a Zorki 5.

 

[Martytoof]

Well, like I said, good to know 🙂

However now I have to face the realization that I will probably hit that button at least once by accident. I wish there was a way to block it 🙁

 

[Martytoof]

I kept hitting the dumb rewind button because it's instinctively in the spot I'd reach for a shutter button, so I hopped down into the university machine shop for five minutes and came up with this bad boy:

Going to throw it in the sandblaster tomorrow and you won't be able to tell it from the Zorki matte silver finish 🙂