Zorki-C lens mounting problem

[Gurdy56]

Hi all,

This is my first posting. I found this great site only recently.

I own a Zorki-C which I bought from a garage sale over ten years ago, it cost almost nothing. At home, I noticed, that it missed the take-up spool. I didn´t touch it for years, but a few days ago, I finally ordered some spools from Alex-photo shop in eBay. I hope that I will get them soon.

The camera looks OK and the shutter is working, but I have a problem with it´s Industar-22 collapsible lens. I dismounted the lens once after buying the camera, and mounted it again, but I´m not sure that it is mounted correctly. I have tried to mount the lens starting the threads setting the focus index notch at 1m and also at 1,7 – 2 m , I can start the threads but after one turn the focusing lever hits the longer stop screw and I can´t thread the lens further. When I start the threads opposite 1,7m mark, I can screw the lens back in. It doesn´t bottom firmly, however, and when focusing the lens towards the minimum distance, the focusing lever does goes over the longer stop screw and you can continue turning the lever counterclockwise until the lens dismounts.
Also the rangefinder seems not to work. The mounting seems so simple, and I feel stupid. What do I do wrong?

Regards

Mark

[wolves3012]

Hi Mark and welcome to RFF for a start.

When you say you unmounted the lens, which part did you unmount? There are 2 parts to the focus and the whole thing comes off, not just the inner part. I think you may have removed the inner part previously and left the outer part on the camera. Did you remove the longer stop-screw to unmount the lens? You should not have done, if you did. I'll post some photos to explain better. If you have done what I think, it's easily fixed so don't worry.

[Gurdy56]

Hi Wolves,
I did unmount the lens part with threads, not the flange with distance markings. I did not remove the longer stop-screw. Maybe the previous owner did it, I don´t know. I can also send photos, if needed. (And I figure out how to attach them. :-).

Mark

[Nickfed]

I understand you have unscrewed the focussing thread. This is a four-start thread, therefore you have only a 25% chance of getting it right first time. You will be left in no doubt whern you have it right, as the mark will be at infinity when it bottoms and the lock will be in place. Once that is done, you may find the rangefinder is OK.

[wolves3012]

You'll need to take out the longer stop-screw to get the lens back in. As Nickfed says, it's obvious when you have the lens back in properly. Once it's back in, replace the screw.

When you unmount the lens you should turn it to the 1m setting first, then keep turning. The outer ring, with the distance scale, is supposed to come out too. When replacing it, it's best to set it to the 1m mark again, to start the threads more easily.

[Gurdy56]

Thanks a lot. I removed the stop-screw and started the threads approximately at infinity mark and was able to thread the lens back in. Now I also understand how to remove the lens properly from the body.