Zorki 1d Shutter Problem

[Mark Wood]

I've just picked up a Zorki 1d body which is in very nice condition but it has a problem with the shutter. When you wind on the film advance and then let go of the winding knob, you see the knob and shutter speed dial turn backwards slightly, the first shutter curtain also moving around 1 mm. It's as if something isn't holding the shutter/advance mechanism in place properly at its end stop and maybe the first curtain (or both) is losing some tension. When this happens, the slower speeds such as 1/20th and 1/30th second are to be much faster than they should be and "Z" (B) gives an instantaneous speed. If you hold the winding knob at its end point though and then press the shutter release, everything is fine.

I e-mailed Oleg a couple of weeks ago but haven't had a reply yet but in the meantime, I was just wondering if anyone might have an idea of what the problem may be and if it's likely to be straightforward to fix? (I've also got a Zorki 4 body with exactly the same problem.)

Any advice very gratefully received.

Mark

 

[wolves3012]

The winder-knob shaft has a coil-spring wound tightly around it, fixed at the top end. When you wind on in the usual direction, it tends to unwind the coils and allows the shaft to turn. In the opposite direction, however, the coils tighten up and grip the shaft ever-tighter, preventing rotation. If the spring is slack or the end-fixing is loose, this could cause the symptoms you have.

It's not a huge job to dismantle the mechanism, you don't have to strip the camera to get access. However, you need to know what you're doing so you might want to entrust it to a professional. The early Zorki 4 uses the same mechanism, late ones and the 4K use a ratchet and have an additional latch to prevent the backwards movement.

By the way, you'd probably have got a quicker reply in the FSU section.

 

[Mark Wood]

Many thanks, that's very helpful. Presumably the method for dismantling (and reassembling) this part of the mechanism is the same as that shown in a previous repair thread about a Leica III, with a link to these pictures?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/rwrede/sets/72157632429003282/


I did spot the ratchet in a Zorki 4k body and wondered why it was different from the earlier 4, so that explains it.

 

[wolves3012]

I can't view those pictures, Flickr kindly crashes my browser. I haven't pulled one apart for some time so from memory: loosen the grubscrew and undo the winder knob, remove the frame counter components making careful note of what goes where. Take off the spool and dismantle the slipper-clutch to remove the star-section spool drive, again take careful note of washers/springs etc. Take the guts out of the bodyshell to access the non-return spring fixing points, still fiddly though. Now IIRC there's just a screwed-on collar (or nothing) holding the winder shaft in place and it can be dropped out.

 

[Mark Wood]

Many thanks again. I managed to get the winder shaft and mechanism out of the Zorki 4 where things are a bit easier to access there didn't seem to be any obvious problems with the spring mechanism. I'm wondering if there might be a shutter tension problem but I think I'll try to contact Oleg again to save my doing any damage.