Zorki 5 tearing film?

skipwilliams

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I have a Zorki 5 that I've had for several years but never put a roll of film through.

Got it out yesterday, loaded it up, and tried to get film through the beast. It loaded OK. The shutter sounds good. The winding lever works well.

BUT......the film doesn't advance.

When I pulled out the film, the sprocket holes on the upper left, nearest the film canister, were broken where the advance gears would have engaged. It was like the gears were just spinning and not drawing the film out of the canister.

Any ideas?

Skip
www.skipwilliams.com
 
Open camera bottom plate. Advance film five or more times, observe what happens. With bottom loading FSU cameras it is often due to wrong loading of the film. Or it could be take in spool spindle brake adjustment.
 
It sounds like the film is stuck inside the canister if everything spins well on the camera (and you loaded the film properly). It has happened to me with a couple of Fomapan 100 films. They just stuck in the canister and I needed to unload the film in the middle of a roll...
 
Hi,

Interesting; the film in the cassette is not coming out but I've suggested it is stuck; perhaps the film got damp and glued to the light seal on the cassette, or else torn and jammed behind it or else folded and jammed. Pulling it out ought to cure it.

The connection with the rewind knob ought to move freely but, even if jammed, slack caused by unwinding in the cassette, would hide it as a cause.

The sprockets are tearing the film which shows they are moving round but the film gets no further, so at this point I give up as I've not got a Zorki 5 to look at and worry about.

You've a torn film to play with, have you tried reloading it and then winding and watching what happens?

Regards, David
 
OK. I've done a little more experimentation.

And it's not actually tearing the sproket holes. It' getting torn up on the other side.

When you slide the film down into the camera, it looks like the film isn't going all the way down on the film canister side. So when I push the film down, it's not actually being pulled because it's not all the way down.

The holes are getting torn from top-pressure right where the film starts to go into the pressure plate/film-gate area from the canister.

I think there may be something lodged in the camera, maybe bits of old film?

Can I extract the chassis? Any repair/disassembly guides out there?

Skip
 
You might grab the take up sprocket near the bottom and check for excessive play or watch the chrome shaft underneath that rides in the chassis as you wind the camera. A little is ok but if you feel a lot, that could be the problem. Too much play will cause the bottom sprocket to jump out of sync with the film holes, at least that was the case with my Zorki-6.
 
More info......(This is a real journey!)

I trimmed the leader extra long and it now seems to go down OK.

I left the bottom off and tried to wind it. THEN, I really see what's going on. The sprocket isn't engaging the film holes. The take up spool seems to be seating too far into the camera by about 2mm.

Could I have the wrong spool that the crappy seller just stuck in the camera?

(BTW, I've had LTM and M Leicas and know how to load them. This is a whole 'nother beast. I wanted to use a couple of nice modern Voigtlander lenses I have (50/1.5, 28/1.7), so I got this thing. I've actually given up on this as a useful camera. I have a modern Bessa R LTM camera on the way here from Japan for $300.)

Skip
 
Sometimes the way you cut the leader is the problem. I had a Zorki 1 tering the film whenever a curly roll just before the end of the long leader was coming out of the cassette. Is it bulk film you are using?
 
Thanks. The pictures might help

if I only read Russian.

Skip


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I took off Zorki-6 top plate. (It is necessary to remove top plate on Z-5.6 to remove camera shell.) It is kind of straight forward. Unscrew everything, place everything in order it was. Take picture of everything before unscrewing.

In comparison, taking top plate on Leica M4-P was much more easy for me.

I think Google translate might help with document I provided.
Here is video of one guy who took it off from Z-5, but never has it back, it seems... https://youtu.be/strHkzKJnRw
 
Thanks. The pictures might help

if I only read Russian.

Skip

I took off Zorki-6 top plate. (It is necessary to remove top plate on Z-5.6 to remove camera shell.) It is kind of straight forward. Unscrew everything, place everything in order it was. Take picture of everything before unscrewing.

In comparison, taking top plate on Leica M4-P was much more easy for me.

I think Google translate might help with document I provided.
Here is video of one guy who took it off from Z-5, but never has it back, it seems... https://youtu.be/strHkzKJnRw

Hi guys. Here is a copy of it in English:
Maisenberg's Camera Repair Notes
 
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