Zorki 4 faded dial

[kittyjuls]

Hi there, this is my first post and I have just fallen in love with RF cameras. The simplicity, no menus no auto focus, no USM, no shooting while looking like some evil Dalek, just love it. I had been facing a waining interest in photography as I look at my 5D and just thought of any excuse not to take it. Bought my first Zorki 4k and I'm hooked. Anyway, I digress, one of the things that these camera's need is a good CLA and I can confidently tell you that the instructions on here posted by Anthony Nichols were easy enough that even a complete idiot like me who has never taken anything apart and gotten it to work again, well not after putting it back together, has been able to do this job - thank you Anthony.

After all that work it just still peeved me that the speed dial was becoming unreadable, a common problem I'm told. Obviously this has been a well used camera, the unmistakable sign of a goodun. Well anyway, not to allow this small detail to ruin my proud achievement, I set about fashioning a new set of markings by scanning a sharper (not so smooth operating) Zorki dial and Photoshop the markings. Bought a sheet of clear water slide decal paper off of ebay for £2 and printed off the dial, left it to dry for a couple of hours, applied a couple of coats of lacquer and Wallah!!..

The red is still a bit blurry as my inkjet doesn't seem to be able to produce a sharp red but it's 100 times better than what it was. If anyone's interested I can post up a link to the photoshop file. Maybe if you have access to a colour laser printer you could get the dials sharper.

 

[xayraa33]

Swell idea !

 

[kittyjuls]

No problem, Photoshop file is here http://www.box.net/shared/5cgv8adma7 (sorry it's a bit big) just disable the background layer which just shows how the markings line up on the real dial and print on clear decal paper. I did a few just to fill up the first part of the sheet and they're handy in case you need some spares. Instructions for the decal paper are to print and leave it an hour but I found I needed 2, maybe I had it set on too much ink.

Cut out the section of paper you've printed your dials on and tape it to a board or something so you can spray a couple of layers of lacquer. Leave for about 4 hours and then cut out on the black outer circle, it doesn't matter if you're not 100% precise as it's a clear decal anyway.

Remove the top casing from the camera as the next step involves water, just pop your circular decal in water for 30 seconds and then gently slide it into place using what's left over of your dial markings as a guide. Dab it off with some kitchen towel and leave it to dry for a couple of hours. Last thing after it dries is to cut out the centre with a sharp exacto knife and you're done. Pop the casing back on and marvel at your workmanship 😀

 

[stevebrot]

Nicely done! I have been considering something similar for the day when the paint wears off my 4K.

You are not the first one though. There was a post a few days ago with a link to a similar template made by wolves. I will see if I can find it.

Edit: Here it is:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1033278&postcount=9


Steve