I fixed my ebay Zorki 2C, now it's broken

mynameislee2 · 01-13-2009

Hi,

Following my previous post and the very good advice from you all including to not do a full CLA but instead to lubricate and sort out the curtain tensions. I applied the lighter fluid, let it dry overnight, strategically and carefully applied the watch oil using a syringe.

The second film started bad. I guess thats what happens when there's a light leak from the hole left by the missing front screw which magically came out of it's thread and fell on the floor never to be found. The first frame was exposed to the leak quite badly, I had loaded the film the night before I used it.

All the photos were taken within about fifteen minutes. The next few frames were better and then it happened. The film advance felt like the film was off it's sprocket in some way. The advance got easier with the next few photos so I thought everything was ok.

The rest of the film turned out awful, something has gone seriously wrong. This evening I looked through the lens hole to examine the curtains and they look fine but I have now found that the film advance has jammed. So it seems that it wasn't the film having problems advancing, but the advance mechanism, maybe the cogs jumping?

I won't have time to open my beloved Zorki until the weekend but I would like to hear any suggestions about my current predicament before I try again.

Many thanks,
Lee

oftheherd · 01-14-2009

I don't have a clue how to advise you. I am not good at working on cameras and know nothing of Zorkis. But I hope you can clear up the problem as I look forward to seeing some of your photos with this camera. Abscent the light leaks, those would be great photos.

dll927 · 01-16-2009

This whole question of DIY repairs to FSU cameras has me a little baffled. Frankly, I wouldn't do it. The internet is full of sites explaining how to do it, but I wonder if that would be true if the cameras weren't pretty easily replaceable. Would you do it to your M6?? Saving a little cash is one thing, but when it coms back to bite you, I'd say no dice.

mynameislee2 · 01-19-2009

I bought the Zorki as I hadn't previously used a rangefinder and wanted to try one without breaking the bank. I have a Nikon D70 as my main camera and it produces wonderful results, And I'd be the first to admit that there's no way I would pull that apart to try and fix a problem. By shear coincidence I took the D70 to a repair centre this morning.

The Zorki is in my possession because I like the idea of it being an old camera with all the clunky parts that go with it. As a child I used to play with my Lego sets for hours, maybe this is what I see as my current Lego set.

I'm quite happy to pull it apart and tinker around inside, it allows me to learn how these cameras work. In the worst case I'd end up with a broken camera which would leave me about £12 out of pocket plus time spent trying to fix it. I'd then probably give it to someone who could either use the parts or could fix it.

At best I'd have the satisfaction that the camera is working due to my care and attention (and lots of help from community members on this forum).

julio1fer · 01-19-2009

The one thing to thoroughly test before opening is moving the rewind/advance control to make sure it is in the right position. If that does not work, you'll have to open the camera and take a look. Probably your camera has never been serviced before, so a full CLA would be a good idea.

If you don't already have one, you may want to get a book on camera repair, such as Ed Romney's or Tomosy's. You can do a surprising number of things with a set of pliers and a set of small screwdrivers.

Thank God, there are many Internet sites on how to CLA Soviet RF cameras. The sticky posts in this forum are excellent resources.

As to the cost-benefit aspect of DIY FSU repair, it depends on each one's tastes and inclinations. There is always the possibility of buying another one!

mynameislee2 · 02-01-2009

I left the camera in the draw while I tried to find out the best course of action. While reading the forums last weekend I took the camera out for another look to find that the film wind mechanism has started working again.

I only tried it a couple of time before peering inside to find a piece of debri in the cogs. I fetched it out with some tweezers and a couple of cotton buds and there hasn't been a problem since.

I tested a twenty four exposure and this time I actually got twenty four images back, much better than the six I got from my first test role.

Many thanks for everyone who without your suggestions I wouldn't have got this far. I'm off to scour the forum posts to solve my next problem

Regards,
Lee

wolves3012 · 02-01-2009

I'm just a little curious where those first shots were taken...