Zorki 4k Stuck Shutter Redux

sooner

sooner

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Hi folks,

I know this is tired territory, but I got my first ever Russian rangefinder, and it's beautiful. Unfortunately, even after taking the precaution of not changing shutter speeds without cocking the shutter, the shutter is stuck and won't fire. I take off the back and notice that it tries to depress something at the bottom of the camera, but it barely budges. I moved the ring around the shutter counterclockwise as far as it would go, but still nothing. I have a nice looking Jupiter 8 lens, and am hoping some of you sage folks can tell me how to free up the shutter or where to send it. Thanks much. --John
 
I'm not generally too handy, but I did manage to repair my Konica S2, and having paid $40 for the camera I'm tempted to try my hand at a repair. Any ideas of what is required?
 
On the Zorki-4 you usually have to remove the top to get at the shutter speed timing mechanism in order to clear this type of jam. In addition to a set of fine screwdrivers, you should get a set of dental picks. Harbor Freight has them.

Once you get the top off, you can usually separate the the spring loaded parts apart so that the jammed setting pin will move. Unless of course it has been broken off or bent.

Once moveable, it can be set into one of the holes. This actually sets the shuter speed. After that you only have to figure out what speed it actually is and set the dial to that speed when you assemble it. I usually fish around until I get the pin on "B".

-Paul
 
Rick Oleson (who is a regular poster here) has some pages on how to disassemble a Zorki 4,
http://rick_oleson.tripod.com/index-58.html
as well as a good description of how the shutter in these cameras work:
http://members.tripod.com/rick_oleson/index-131.html

Start there and see if you can figure out what seems to be wrong even before you start disassemble the thing.
A bit more information about the problem would also be good:
E.g. is the shutter cocked or not?

If not and if the wind knob just turns without cocking it then the camera might have gotten stuck in "rewind mode" - that has happend to my Zorki 4 a couple of times. (In my case that cleared itself after fiddeling with the rewind collar and the wind knob a bit.

/Anders
 
Thanks for the tips and links. Anders, the wind lever travels freely and lets me wind as often as I want, so you may be right about the rewind mode. I don't know if the shutter is cocked or not. As for the shutter speed dial, it rotates between the 1 second and 1/8th settings or so, but it gets stuck going clockwise to the faster settings. Does that help narrow it down?
 
Uhu, don't change the shutter speed unless you know the shutter is cocked- that will get you into trouble!

However, if the shutter is uncocked it should be possible to turn (gently) the shutter speed dial counterclockwise (don't lift it!) and that should affect the shutter in the same way as turning the wind knob, i.e. the curtains should move from the left to the right. If the shutter moves and then when you release the shutter speed dial it returns to its original position, then I think your camera has the rewind problem I mentioned before.

/Anders
 
sooner said:
Hi folks,

I know this is tired territory, but I got my first ever Russian rangefinder, and it's beautiful. Unfortunately, even after taking the precaution of not changing shutter speeds without cocking the shutter, the shutter is stuck and won't fire. I take off the back and notice that it tries to depress something at the bottom of the camera, but it barely budges. I moved the ring around the shutter counterclockwise as far as it would go, but still nothing. I have a nice looking Jupiter 8 lens, and am hoping some of you sage folks can tell me how to free up the shutter or where to send it. Thanks much. --John
Click to expand...


You turned the ring around the shutter release the correct way. Did the shutter release button and the ring rise when you turned the ring. They should rise when you turn it counter clockwise the sink when you turn it clockwise. If they didn't come up, try pulling up on the ring.

Also take the back of the camera off so you can see just what is happening when you move the film advance lever. You should be able to see the shutter blades move from the left to the right as you move the lever.

If the left blade is not moving, you might try nudging it with your finger. I certainly wouldn't advise doing that if the shutter was working, but if it is not working, it shouldn't make it worse, and might correct the problem.

You mention about something at the bottom of the camera being depressed when you move the shutter release. On mine, a gear and a metal strip move down about 1/4 or 1/2 of an inch when the shutter release is pushed, that same amount that the shutter release button moves when it is pushed.

I like the Zorki 4K and I hope you get yours to work.

Dick
 
One more thing about setting the shutter speed. The 1/30 of a second setting can only be reached by moving the speed dial clockwise and it has to be moved counter clockwise to get off the 1/30 of a second. The dial can be moved in either direction to get to other speeds except it you want to go from 1 second to 1/30 of second you have to turn it clockwise even though the two settings are right next to each other. You may get a whirring noise when you set it to speeds lower than 1/60. As far as I know this is normal.

Dick
 
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