Zorki 1 film leader questions and a small find

[Whateverist]

No, not the usual 'how do I cut the leader' ones - I've found the sticky in the Leica forum 😉

I impulse-bought a Zorki 1 on holiday (well, half impulse-bought... I had been looking for a Fed or Zorki) and being the impatient idiot that I am I tried to load it without having read the manual. I got it loaded in the end, but the leader I cut was way too short, and some of the sproket holes got damaged when they snagged on... something in the innards of the camera. It doesn't look like bits of the film actually came off, but if they had, how much of a problem would it have been?

The take-up spool worked, but the metal clasp holding the film is pretty small and it never really feels like it catches securely. Is it just worn out, or are their tricks to make sure the film stays on? My first instinct would be "single-sided sticky tape" but I'm from the "solve everything with single-sided sticky tape" school of thought.

There's also something about the rewind knob - it starts turning backwards when I wind the film, which I gather is normal, but it only started doing so after a few shots. Is it normal that there's a delay? One of these days I should really look up how the innards of a cassette work...

One of the things I like about old stuff are the little surprises you find inside. This camera had two... a yellow filter doing a very good job of pretending it was just a thick lens cap and this, tucked between layers of padding in the camera case:



Thank you, mister Previous Camera Owner 😀

 

[fanshaw]

Pieces of film in the camera can give you two problems. They can get stuck in the shutter gear wheels and stop the shutter working properly. Even worse they can damage the shutter blind fabric. The metal spring on rewind spools often fails to grip the film leader adequately after time.The Soviet camera expert Maizenberg recommended in his book removing the spring by filing off the heads of the rivets, bending it to shape and re-attaching it by means of screws. Of course you can do without the spring by using tape.
Movement of the rewind knob when winding on only occurs after the slack has been taken up in the cassette. Once this happens, usually after 3 to 5 frames, you should see the rewind knob move every time you wind on. It gives you useful assurance that film transport is working properly.

 

[MartinP]

Adding to what Fanshaw said... If you wind back the rewind knob (so that there is no slack in the cassette), after loading the film + putting the base on the camera + winding on once then you will notice the knob turning when you do the second blank shot to get the exposed film out of the way.

That means that you are sure the film is loaded ok before you actually take a shot - very good to know 😉

 

[Whateverist]

Ooh, that's good to know. Must remember to try that...

One more little thing: the wind knob - is it okay to wind it in three or four increments? Does it matter? I usually wind my Kiev with two half-turns but I'd like to use a screw-in shutter release button attachment with the Zorki and it gets in the way a bit, so I can only wind with four quarter-turns.

 

[payasam]

As MartinP says, it makes sense to take up the slack with the rewind knob just after loading the camera and before winding on even once. As for the number of motions in which to wind on, it's up to you.

 

[Whateverist]

I think I got the hang of loading. I must say, I wish I'd gotten a Leica copy sooner - it's a wonderfully compact little camera and it's perfect to just take along anywhere.

 

[Whateverist]

I broke it.

Well, I don't know if I broke it, but something's busted. I was halfway through a roll when the shutter stopped cocking - when I wind on the film, the shutter speed selector doesn't budge until right at the end of the wind, when it moves about ten degrees. Almost as if the connection between the wind lever and the shutter cocking mechanism came loose.

Damnit, I really like this thing! Any idea on what this problem might be and how to (hopefully) fix it?

 

[ZorkiKat]

The small find...

The small find...

looks strange.

Did your camera come from an FSU country, or one at least in Europe? The exposure card is WRITTEN in English! ...however it looks too, that the one who wrote it does not normally English. The mispelled word "beach", the commas in place of periods in "5,6", etc, indicate a European origin.

The hand-script also looks typical of how Russians write (basing on the correspondence I get sometimes).

Could it be that the previous seller/owner- if the camera was from the countries mentioned above- spruced up the old card and wrote a full table in English? All the tablets I found with my Zorki and FED are in cyrillic, but the table is laid close to the style used in yours.

 

[Whateverist]

Did your camera come from an FSU country, or one at least in Europe?

I bought it in a store in Prague. It's the export model, it's got the English "Made in the USSR" text engraved, so I just assumed it was bought by a Brit or American and somehow found its way back east.

Anyone got any idea as to what its problem might be?

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

As long as there's already a Zorki 1 thread here, may I ask where to get a takeup spool? I just got my Zorki from Oleg, there isn't a spool, and he's not answering my emails...

 

[Whateverist]

where to get a takeup spool?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Take-up-spools-...QrdZ1QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1713.m153.l1262

 

[Whateverist]

I detached the lens to try and see what happens inside when I try to cock the shutter, and from what I can see the shutter curtains do start to move - but only when the advance knob has nearly made its full rotation, ie, way too late. Sorry if this sounds wishy-washy, I'm not at all familiar with the terminology 🙁

I checked it's not in rewind mode, but that's about as far as Googling the problem got me. And I'm not even going to consider disassembling anything until I have at least a vague idea of what might be going on.

 

[Whateverist]

Terribly, terribly sorry to triple-post, but I've got another question. Figuring that a CLA would cost me about as much as a CLA'd body, I took the Zorki apart myself; the fault was a piece of film that got stuck in the shutter mechanism, and the shutter works fine now.

Unfortunately I'm not good at disassembly, so... a missing piece (one hole's worth) of paper under the lens mount. How bad is that?

 

[ZorkiKat]

Zorki Repair Site

 

[ZorkiKat]

Terribly, terribly


Unfortunately I'm not good at disassembly, so... a missing piece (one hole's worth) of paper under the lens mount. How bad is that?

That bit of paper is actually a spacer- a shim- to ensure that the part which it was found under would be at the right place. That part of course is the lens mount flange and its surface should be 28,8mm from the focal plane.

If it's a thin piece, and you can't put it back right (because you can't know now where it should exactly be at), missing it would probably not matter IFyou're shooting with an f/3,5 lens. You won't notice it missing if your shots are of subjects are at average distances and lens stopped at f/8. Wide open, or shooting close, maybe you'd see a very slight softening somewhere on the frame.

 

[Whateverist]

And I suppose I can always try to fix it later...

New problem, and one the disassembly guide didn't cover, so I guess it's something simple I just overlooked: when reattaching the top of the camera to the body, are you supposed to put the metal, crescent-shaped pieces (the ones right above and below the lens mount on the inside of the camera) in before you reattach the body, or afterwards? I can't seem to get the body to reattach with them installed, but neither do I see how I could possible put them in when everything's closed up.

 

[Murray Kelly]

It's a while since I had mine appart but memory says you can't get it together until the end. The body won't slip down into the outer case.
A trick with the half moon bits is to put a dab of hobby glue (or some double sided sticky tape now I think of it) when you first get the screws to start into the holes. When you pull it up tight they will stay in place in future if you have to adjust for 28.8 +- .02mm for the lens register.

This keeps them in place unless you have to strip it down again and the hobby glue isn't so firm you won't be able to get them off if you need to.
Needle tweezers are a boon for this job.

Good luck.
Murray

And I suppose I can always try to fix it later...
are you supposed to put the metal, crescent-shaped pieces (the ones right above and below the lens mount on the inside of the camera) in before you reattach the body, or afterwards? I can't seem to get the body to reattach with them installed, but neither do I see how I could possible put them in when everything's closed up.

 

[wolves3012]

And I suppose I can always try to fix it later...

New problem, and one the disassembly guide didn't cover, so I guess it's something simple I just overlooked: when reattaching the top of the camera to the body, are you supposed to put the metal, crescent-shaped pieces (the ones right above and below the lens mount on the inside of the camera) in before you reattach the body, or afterwards? I can't seem to get the body to reattach with them installed, but neither do I see how I could possible put them in when everything's closed up.

The lens mount is the last part to be refitted and the crescent-shaped retainer pieces go in last. You can't put the crate back in the body with these fitted. Refitting them is a little fiddly but here's how I do it:

Lay the camera on its back and drop the mount into position, with any shims and line up all the holes. Drop one screw into the top, right-hand hole. Now, place the retainer at about 45 degrees, inside the shell (fingers or long-nose pliers to manoeuvre it in!). In other words, the retainer is diagonally across the middle of the mount, inside the shell. Line up the screw into the retainer and tighten it till it pulls up flat to the inside of the shell, but don't tighten it fully yet. Now, swing the retainer into its proper position, use a tiny screwdriver or something to line up the screw hole. Holding it like that, tighten the first screw a bit more but still not fully tight. Insert the second screw and partially tighten it.

Repeat this for the lower retainer. It sounds more complicated than it is, a little practice and it's quite easy. Once you have all 4 screws in, tighten them progressively in an "X" pattern. If you don't do this I can almost guarantee you'll warp the mount (it's soft aluminium!) and the Industar, in particular, won't focus smoothly.

 

[Whateverist]

Everything's assembled again. Tweezers and a lot of cussing did the trick.

I'm sure it'll look like a botch job to anyone who actually knows what he is doing - I left out a piece of paper and broke a screw head - but at least it works again. Now to see if it'll still take decent pictures...