Видео

I'm so happy to hear that :)

@@sonuvasteele2226 I've talked about aligning the rangefinder in various videos but I honestly don't remember in which ones. I'll probably do a video just about that soon. And about shutter speed issues, what kind of issues are you thinking about?

@@AlinCiortea well, I bought a fed 2 and the second curtain lagged behind a lot. I finally did some research and found a quick fix for my camera. I needed to tighten the screw that controls the second curtain but I know sometimes it can be a switch on the top part of the camera or other things.

​@@sonuvasteele2226having worked on a good number of FSU rangefinders I can assure you that the easy fix is not the best idea. The old lubricants have combined with dust and turned solid. The only way forward is to tear it apart, clean everything and relube. You'd be surprised with what little tension these cameras operate when cleaned.

@@atf2940 this wasn't the best example but the only one I had at hand. Sometimes the metalic sound is quite noticeable and annoying even with a lens on. It's very possible that the felt will start to depreciate over time but if that happens it can be removed without very much hassle. And the debris is probably much too soft to create any real issues (unlike film chips). Some people use small pieces of foam placed inside certain springs on the mirror box of slr cameras to get rid of the pinging sounds. I guess nothing lasts forever and any camera should go through a CLA from time to time anyway.

@@AlinCiortea Nothing lasts forever: point taken ;-) I just ran your finger test with seven Zorkis and a Leica. I didn't notice any difference. But then, I suffer from what my wife calls "selective hearing". Anyway, I'll keep your observation in mind next time I CLA a Zorki.

@@atf2940 I think I only had 3 cameras that 'suffered' from this issue (two zorki 1s - quite minor issues and a FED2 - that one had a noticeable sound to it). The Leicas, I'm sure, are all safe from this :D

@@arekguinness2342 thanks a lot! :) I've been fortunate enough to start on 20 dollars cameras so ruining one was never the end of the world. It was a bit frightening at first and I still don't like it but I think I replaced 10 curtain sets this year to date alone. So if you happen to stumble over an old Zenit SLR that should be a perfect candidate for such endeavours (as they're usually cheaper than the rangefinders but pretty similar inside)

@@Snegojui thank you! Mistakes are part of the game and it's usually what people don't show, leaving the impression that either it's easy and straightforward or that they are very good. I often think mistakes are the best teachers.

Measuring the flange distance is a tricky subject and I'm using the focusing screen on the film rails method whenever I can as well. For the Zorki 1 I found that doubling the springs behind the pressure plate gives me enough pressure to counteract the spring tension of the depth caliper. Out of three Zorki 6 cameras I serviced so far, neither one had shims. And the flange distance was actually bigger than the specifications without shims in one or two of the cameras. Manufacturing sloppiness I assume.

Yea, the Zenit E is basically a Zorki with a mirror. And since they're very cheap (depending on where you are, of course) it's the perfect starting point for tinkering. If you have the chance to buy a Zorki for the same price, go for that. Or even better, a Fed2.

You have a good point. I didn't think of that :)

I've always had a tendency to underexpose so for me personally a camera biased towards longer speeds comes in quite handy. On the other hand I know that the A in CLA means getting the speeds as close to correct as possible. But on the other other hand I think that when shooting such an old camera the experience and feel is very important so I'd gladly trade even a full stop of exposure for the smoothest experience possible (for a soviet camera).

I'm happy you're finding these videos inspiring! As for the brake, indeed this particular camera has an issue but the tension used is so low that there's pretty much no vibration when firing the shutter.

Well, that's what I was trying to point out... Since the motion limit is given by the lower roller that's screwed to the shaft, the end position of the shaft can't be shifted. I'll try to show this in the next video.

@@AlinCiortea Perhaps I mixed things up, since I had just replaced the ribbons on a model 1 before I watched the video. With that model you can change the resting position of the drum shaft by adjusting the relativ position in the restricting gear -- but, of course, there is no brake to be affected by this. Now I recall that the 3M with its square cut out is slightly different. -- I may have good (?) news for you, though. I just opened the 3M I have kept and found the very same situation: in the resting position, there is paper-thin gap between the nose and the braking blade. Fault or design? Perhaps the blade only takes up a minute overshoot at the moment the curtain actually closes. (A slow motion recording may show this.) In any case, I can see no sign of shutter bounce on my negatives. [Correction: Fault, but it may not matter much -- see Alin's next video.]

And I also just opened my 3C from 1956: same thing. (To be more precise, although -- other than with the 3M -- the nose slips well under the blade, it doesn't touch it in the resting position.) So, most likely this is by design. There may be a reason: If the nose touched the blade when the second curtain is about to close the window, how would you guarantee that the curtain really does complete its travel? There is a thin line between preventing bounce and allowing the curtain to close completely. Some very minute adjustment would be required. (In the Leica III the adjustment is made with an eccentric screw.) Practical solution for the Zorkis: keep the tension on the closing curtain as low as feasible. (IMHO that's good practice anyway.)

@@atf2940 I'll try to touch up these things in my next video because they're things that bugged me many times, even if they probably have little relevance in real world use of the camera.

I haven't studied the RF assembly closely yet but thanks for pointing it out. Regarding the curtain material, you used the silk/rubber type, right? Because Aki Asahi also has the silk/rubber/silk type.

@@AlinCiortea Yes, silk-rubber, with the silk facing the lens. And I don't stitch anymore. Just glue (the kind shoemakers use) on the rubber sides is good enough.

Very nice! Be prepared to get a camera that shows it's age though. After all, it's 70 years old.

I have covered it briefly in this episode, explaining how the mechanism works. I honestly don't remember if I went back to it further down the road, although I did take it apart enough to clean and lubricate it. Check that the string that transmits the movement is it's place over the pulley (assuming the design is similar to this one). Also check if the entire assembly is connected properly to the viewfinder indicator. If anything is out of place it can jam.

I just got to that part at around 15:00. thank you for the quick reply. I hope they work similarly I can fix it with this help

Sure, if you think it's worth the trouble. Where are you located?

@@AlinCiortea haha acum vad ca ești Român. Sunt din Canada, cât te costă sa trimiți asa ceva într-un plic am o camera care merge da nu are capac la baterie.

@@dan78kit :D lumea e mica! Pe site-ul postei imi da un cost de aprox 4 USD dar trebuie sa verific live la ghiseu. In orice caz nu poate fi foarte mult. Daca imi lasi o adresa si o suma maxima pe care esti dispus sa o dai pe transport ma pot duce si daca e pana in suma aia il si trimit.

@@AlinCiortea interesant am încercat să las aici emailul codificat si văd ca nu apare ce am scris. Mă gandeam să discutăm prin email.

@@dan78kit let me know if it worked :)

Thank you! The Kiev is on the list :)

thank you! :)

Does this happen every time? It sounds like the disengaging collar around the shutter button got accidentally moved and locked the sprocket shaft. Because there's no logical explanation why it rotated freely for the rest of the roll and stopped suddenly when there were a couple frames left. The best thing would be to try and replicate it with a used film and the back door removed.

@@AlinCiortea I got the camera recently and just shot my first with it. Unfortunately I don't know if this happens every time. I sure will have look the next film. But thanks for your tips

@@AlinCiortea I looked at it again with out a film and it seems to be that the shutter locking mechanism doesn't lock the shutter properly. After locking there is still a metal pin which stops the first roller on the right side from spinning properly. I can turn the roller once bur after the first rotation it gets hold off by the metal pin from the shutter

Sure. Leave an e-mail address and I'll send you the file.

@@AlinCiortea i would prefer if you'd put it on thingaverse or printables, so it can be used by everyone, it's the little things that makes these cameras still viable for use, if you dont intend to do so i will try my best to make one myself! (On a side note, this walkthrough has come at the right time, i have recently been flooded and my zorki 6 needed a cla more than ever, im trying to clean the curtains rn!)

@@nomecognome6359 that's true. I'll set up an account and upload it there. I'm glad the series helps :)

@@AlinCiortea thank you!!!

@@AlinCiortea hey, i dont want to bother you but i've fully reassembled the camera and its seems to have a little problem, only at 1/30th the camera acts as if it is on bulb, but only if its in "landscape", if shoot vertically or upsidedown the shutter fires correctly, i may have lost a shim but i dont know where it should go or how thick it should be, can you help me find it's place? After removing the top plate i can see that the second curtain arm gets caught just like it does on B. Still, the walkthrough it's been fantastic and i hope to see more from you! Cheers from Italy

That's a good saying. The romanian government should make it a slogan :))

I'm glad it worked out. It's interesting though that it was cross-threaded... I can't figure how someone could cross-thread something like this. I'd imagine it would have gotten stuck much sooner on the threads (if that makes sense)

@@AlinCiortea On a second though I think it may be my prying that caused cross-threading, but also unstuck those parts :)

I use a dental probe placed inside one of the holes to 'feel' the holes. Practically the tip of the probe falls in the hole when everything is aligned. But be aware that sometimes there are two normal holes (depressions for the tips of the screws) and a third one that's just a very very shallow mark and that one is likely to be missed by the probe.

their main goal was to simplify production as much as possible for faster and cheaper made cameras, regardless of quality or reliability.

True. I got an Argus C3 from a flea market for $1.00 and all I did to it was wipe off the viewfinder/rangefinder windows. Shutter works flawlessly

They're 3d printed resin rings. Nothing fancy but they work.

Acetone will certainly strip all the paint. As for repainting, I've just started custom painting so I'm still exploring things. So far I have a definitive NO (scale model paints) and a possibly good YES (automotive paint). Some swear by Cerakote but I'm not yet willing to invest that kind of money into an experiment. I'll make a short series on repainting soon (to be taken with a grain of salt, from someone who's just learning the ropes).

Looking forward to that. Restoring it to full glory would be amazing. Do you know what type of metal / alloy those pieces are?

@@rafalkonieczny most parts seem to be some kind of brass alloy. The body shell is aliminium. Top and bottom covers are probably aluminium too.

That's true and it was the first thought (as probably was for most) but I decided to go this way since I'll probably touch again the subject of flash sync and how to make sure it works without a flash.

Yeah, on one hand I'm glad I found the correct position and I can replace it keeping the original parameters. On the other hand it would have been good fun to reverse engineer the process, although quite tedious. I will try to go through the theoretical steps before glueing the new curtains.

I'll do my best to get this Zorki to the heights of the soviet photo industry and beyond :D

After dealing with a couple of them you start to see patterns and at least expect one to be lurking around.

I'm about to start a new series on Zorki 6 and I'll explain these bits in more detail. The camera is a bit different but the principle is identical. In essence it's a matter of feel but the first couple of times it's more like a nightmare than anything else. In this series I'm talking about I'll try to explain things more methodically and spend extra time on the tricky bits so stay tuned (I'll probably start later this week)

I know how you feel. It happened to me multiple of times too. But it's also caused by the flexibility of the body shell and the softness of the pressure plate springs. Many times I really doubt my measurements. Very very frustrating indeed.

@@AlinCiortea Maybe putting shims behind the pressure plate to prevent it from compressing when you take your measurements could help, but all this is way over my head.

@@UncleDon226 yeah, that's what I did for the bottom loaders (I added an extra set of springs for the measurement). The problem is that I have to take the body shell off for this, so it's not practical if you just need/want to check the working distance without any disassembly.

What do you need?

@@AlinCiortea I don't know how to explain, the film scrolling cylinder is the one on the right. Sorry but I don't know what it's called, I hope I understand.

@@shadowrogue5578 the take-up spool? (the one that the film rolls onto?)

@@AlinCiortea Yes, I would need other pieces that I don't know what they are called. At least I can send you some photos and ask you if it's there or not?

@@shadowrogue5578 sure. You can look me up on FB (Alin Ciortea)

Yeah, that's about right. Someday when I have enough time I'll make un update video because I have a better understanding of the shutter now.

Sure. Where are you located?

Thank you! I'm really happy I can bring something new (as in "not really found on yt") and useful to the table :)