Zorki C and Zorki 5 repair questions

[Spider67]

Hi I finally got a Zorki c and a 5 I won at an auction 1,5 month ago.
Well first comes joy then of course reality. So I find myself wanting to fix tehm up.

Both are missing the take ups spools
Can I use a Zorki 1 take up spool on both of them?
I ask myself because it s secured in the Zorki 1, wehereas it simply falls of from the C#s and 5's spool -accepting whatever

The Zorki C RF shows proper horizontal alignment but is not aligned vertically.
How can I fix that?

The Zorki 5 would be a great user...but it seems that it has got the universal speed of 1/500 at every setting.
Is there a remedy? As don't know hoe to correct curtain tension on that one.

Nice speeds with the C except that the speed dial works very hard every time I change the speed (always after winding up and in the proper direction of course)

Thanks in advance as I am very keen on using both of them soon !

 

[Valkir1987]

The Zorki C uses the same take up spool as the Zorki 4, the spool of an early Zorki will not fit. To adjust the vertical alignment you have to take off the top plate. Although not my favorite site there is a clear guide here to do this:

http://cameras.alfredklomp.com/zorkis/repair2/index.htm

After the top plate removal, you can reach the vertical rangefinder adjustment, this is an oculair with a ring located next to the viewfinder. The ring is fixed with shellac most of the times and the shellac needs to be solved with alcohol or acetone to turn the ring with pliers, be sure to use the right one otherwise the glass and brass of the ring will be damaged. Look trough the rangefinder untill you have found the right adjustment on infinity. You may have to adjust the horizontal alignment with the screw on the front as well. Good luck ! 🙂

 

[ZorkiKat]

"Loose" spools shouldn't really be a problem. The later spools made were designed to fit earlier cameras which had different spindles. There are also plastic ones (perhaps made as replacements) which, as far as my experience goes, would not grip on any spindle and fall off the moment the baseplate is removed. The film would thread and reel properly with these spools. Having a tight grip on the spindle is not really the key to the spool's ability to reel film.

See this site http://jay.fedka.com for details on calibrating the RF and general fixes for the shutter mechanism.

Jay

 

[wolves3012]

The Zorki C uses the same take up spool as the Zorki 4, the spool of an early Zorki will not fit. To adjust the vertical alignment you have to take off the top plate. Although not my favorite site there is a clear guide here to do this:

http://cameras.alfredklomp.com/zorkis/repair2/index.htm

After the top plate removal, you can reach the vertical rangefinder adjustment, this is an oculair with a ring located next to the viewfinder. The ring is fixed with shellac most of the times and the shellac needs to be solved with alcohol or acetone to turn the ring with pliers, be sure to use the right one otherwise the glass and brass of the ring will be damaged. Look trough the rangefinder untill you have found the right adjustment on infinity. You may have to adjust the horizontal alignment with the screw on the front as well. Good luck ! 🙂

You don't need to remove the top plate to adjust the RF vertical on a Zorki C (or a 1, 2, 2C, 5 or 6, for that matter). It's only neccessary to remove the outer bezel ring to access the adjuster.

 

[Valkir1987]

You 're right, I was thinking in terms of the Z-4. Somehow I lost my mind for these things a few days ago. 😕 I forgot to take of the filter for direct light reading of my light meter and got my negatives back quite overexposed.

 

[wolves3012]

You 're right, I was thinking in terms of the Z-4. Somehow I lost my mind for these things a few days ago. 😕 I forgot to take of the filter for direct light reading of my light meter and got my negatives back quite overexposed.

Yes, for the Z-4 you do indeed need to remove the top cover!

As for the lighmeter filter, I've never done that but I do have my share of lens-cap pictures! We've all done such things. I took an intended 10 sec exposure on 1/25 not long ago, didn't realise till I released the cable-release, when things didn't quite sound right! Easy to make mistakes when you're complacent. My commonest one on an RF is to forget to focus, being a previous heavy user of SLRs. I just got into the habit that if it's not blurred in the VF, it must be focussed...true for an SLR, far from true for an RF!

 

[Spider67]

Thanks Jay for leading me to that site...I simply forgot that it was mentioned there. When I unscrewed the bezel it suddenly had vertical alignment. To leave it like that was not an option. When I screwed it back on and tightened it a littel Vertcal alignement came back and I had to readjust horizontal aligment a littel. now after a day in may bag voila there it is again. Interestingly all I saw when I unscrewed the bezel was a glassy square and no notches to turn. I #ll try to have it aligned again....