Where to Repair Zorki 4K Diopter Adjustment

[akptc]

The diopter adjustment lever (#9 i n the image below) on my Zorki 4K has gone out whack. When moved to any position other then "parked", it produces a blurry image in the VF. There is no way I would ever try to fix anything this small myself.

What would be a good place to send the camera to have it fixed? Or would I be better off cost-wise just getting a "new" one one? Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

[Sid836]

Try first restoring it by yourself reading this
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33914

I would not recommend sending a 4K out for repair as the cost my go twice the price of a good body.

 

[rfaspen]

Completely agree with Nikos72.
This is your opportunity to realize you really can repair a camera. There are even more resources (than the one given by Nikos72) on the net that walk you through disassembly/reassembly, and repair. And, if you botch it up, you will still be money ahead when you simply buy a new (to you) Zorki. Save your broken one for parts or another go at repair in the future.

I would not hesitate to open up the Zorki and repair the diopter lever link, although I realize I have had a few years' experience doing such things. Still, I had to start somewhere (probably with a Zorki, no actually it was a Fed3).

Go slowly, work at a location where you can stop and leave everything to sit undisturbed while you seek help for a given problem. RFF now hosts the old Classic Camera Repair forum, complete with archive, which is an amazing resource. I would have been hopelessly lost years ago (in term of camera repair, my wife still thinks I'm "lost") without the CCR forum. If I remember correctly, a chap named Rick Oleson was particularly helpful. My guess is he's still around and still helpful.
Dive in!

 

[akptc]

..I would not recommend sending a 4K out for repair as the cost my go twice the price of a good body.

Good point. I think I will just get a new body, the CLA thing looks way too complicated 😱

 

[akptc]

...Dive in!

You guys are fearless!🙂

Thanks a bunch for the advice, I will definitely check out the repair forum archives. I guess it won't hurt to give this a try, since the darn thing is already broken 🙂

 

[wolves3012]

If all that's wrong with it is the dioptre lever, it's unlikely to be a complicated fix. Getting the top cover off is straightforward and covered in the first part of the How-To thread. Once that's off, the dioptre mechanics are easy to get at and simple enough that the problem should be obvious.

 

[Ron (Netherlands)]

hm....I've lubed quite some diopters and in order to get it right you should take off the rangefinder completely - however that is not easy if you've never serviced a Zorki by yourself.

 

[akptc]

hm....I've lubed quite some diopters and in order to get it right you should take off the rangefinder completely - however that is not easy if you've never serviced a Zorki by yourself.

That's kind of my fear here.. small, moving parts with glass.. that have to align just so..

I found a local Zorki collector this weekend, who I think might - if properly bribed 🙂 - attempt to fix the diopter for me. I will report on the end result.