Zorki 4 (Мир) Rewind Knob

[keyofnight]

Hey guys! I've been shooting with my new Zorki Мир (that I bought from Fedka), and I love it so far. The only problem I have is with the rewind knob/collar around the shutter button. If I throw the camera in my bag, it knocks the knob just enough to make the advance knob spin endlessly (and so my frame counter is made irrelevant).

When I do manage to finish a roll, I turn the little rewind collar from "Д" to "П" so that I can rewind the film. The problem is that sometimes that collar seems to get stuck on П, and it's hard to turn back to Д. I've tried tightening and loosening the screw on the collar: too loose, and it's too easy for the camera to end up on П accidentally; too tight, and it gets stuck on П and I end up having to twist way too hard to go back to Д.

Have any of you had this problem? How'd you fix it?

 

[wolves3012]

Is the screw that you're trying to adjust this one:
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=38950&d=1167652812

If so, the shutter release/rewind may not be assembled correctly. You can see in that photo that the shutter button has a cutout that is L-shaped. The screw should be protruding into that cutout.

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

Have you thought bout sending it back and getting it fixed properly?

Regards, David

 

[keyofnight]

Have you thought bout sending it back and getting it fixed properly?

Why do that when I can fix it myself?

Is the screw that you're trying to adjust this one:
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=38950&d=1167652812

If so, the shutter release/rewind may not be assembled correctly. You can see in that photo that the shutter button has a cutout that is L-shaped. The screw should be protruding into that cutout.

So! I took apart the shutter button/rewind knob. You were right: it wasn't assembled correctly—or rather, I must've screwed things up when tried to tighten things up on he camera.

When I took it apart, it didn't look very much like the picture you showed me. The shutter button was fed through a threaded collar, and the rewind-setting knob screws onto this collar (like a cap). I'll call it the "inside collar." The inside collar also has a groove (like the shutter button in the picture you showed me) for the screw on the rewind knob.

For some reason, the rewind collar's screw was digging into the threading on this inside collar. I screwed down the rewind knob until didn't go any further. To my surprise, I could feel the knob "click" into place, and I could rewind film again. Excellent. The only problem is that the cyrillic symbols don't line up right! I said, "To hell with it…at least it works" and I put the screw back in.

The last time I worked on my camera, I tightened everything up so that everything would line up. I'm almost certain I screwed up the rewind knob's function by trying to line the symbols up.

I'll bet money it was defective from the factory. Damn you, KMZ. (;

In any case, thanks for the big help!