Sega
Established
Just used this, thank you for the how to.
farlymac
PF McFarland
It never ceases to amaze me how little one needs to turn the adjustment screws on the shutter curtains. And how many times you have to do it until you can get the locking collar in the right position to insert the locking screw. But I persevered yesterday and got my Zorki-4 running smoothly again.
PF
PF
NorpA
Established
Thank you so much for the detailed instructions! Even after all these years, they are still incredibly relevant and helpful. I followed the steps diligently, and now my once completely stuck shutter plane is back to its fully functional state. I'm beyond grateful!
Now, I do have a question for the experts out there. While I understand the ultimate goal is to have parallel curtains despite any angulation, I'm curious about the necessary steps to achieve perfectly parallel and straight curtains. Any guidance on this would be greatly appreciated!
Here my restored Pentax S1a - 1/1000
I calibrated the curtains to have a travel speed of 16.5 ms over 36mm
The expected exposed area should have 2.18 mm width, in the picture below I measured ~2.5 mm
PS. Here's a useful tip to share! Instead of capturing the image below using a CRT, I simply utilized the handy feature "slow motion" available on smartphones nowadays. It worked like a charm!
Now, I do have a question for the experts out there. While I understand the ultimate goal is to have parallel curtains despite any angulation, I'm curious about the necessary steps to achieve perfectly parallel and straight curtains. Any guidance on this would be greatly appreciated!
Here my restored Pentax S1a - 1/1000
I calibrated the curtains to have a travel speed of 16.5 ms over 36mm
The expected exposed area should have 2.18 mm width, in the picture below I measured ~2.5 mm
PS. Here's a useful tip to share! Instead of capturing the image below using a CRT, I simply utilized the handy feature "slow motion" available on smartphones nowadays. It worked like a charm!
NorpA
Established
I have just realized this question is not correct, most probably the diagonal depends on how the image is acquired by the registering camera
fabiolanotte
Newbie
I just used this instruction and now the frame exposure on my FED-2 is perfect. Thank you for having provided it! 🔝
KoNickon
Nick Merritt
THIS is the real pain in the neck with this adjustment -- not really discussed in this string before this note. The locking screw holds the locknut in place to keep it from backing off. But the locknut has only 2 or 4 (depending on the camera) positions -- cutouts -- that enable you to reinstall the locking screw. The locknut, as I understand it, is threaded and itself needs to be tightened down once you get the adjustment screw into the correct position. But how do you keep the adjustment screw in the correct position while you get the locknut tightened down, and the locknut properly aligned do you can reinstall the locking screw?
It seems like the locknut is somehow threaded with the adjustment screw, thus effectively interfering with the correct setting of the adjustment screw. And then you may still have the locknut incorrectly aligned with the hole for the locking screw.
I've tried doing this once -- probably jumped in too rashly -- and managed to mess up a Zorki 6. Hopefully not irreparably! But I simply was unable to successfully coordinate all these with the two hands I was born with.
But I'm right now studying a Zorki-2 that seems to suffer from the condition described way back in post #2 of this thread: "If it starts (from the right) through a much darker area, or both curtains travel without a gap between them, then you may have a problem in the release mechanism." OK, I'm all ears -- any guidance on this? It's intermittent with mine, and seems to only affect certain shutter speeds -- 1/250 mainly.
farlymac
PF McFarland
The way I approach adjusting the Zorki/FED shutter curtains is the first adjustment is always going to be wrong no matter what. But it gives you an idea of which direction you need to go towards achieving the proper balance of getting the spool locking collar tightened and the locking screw installed. Sometimes you need to go beyond where you think the adjustment point should be because by the time you button everything up it will then settle at the proper speed. It mostly has to do with the torque of the locking collar on the spool. As for a proper tool to do the job I've thought of taking a mini-open-end wrench and bending the tips to fit the locking collar slots. But since I don't work on cameras as much as I used to, I just use a pair of skinny long-nose pliers.
As for the release problem you have, I'm thinking a weak catch lever spring could be the culprit. But since you say it mostly happens at one speed, maybe the speed dial mechanism has been damaged from improper usage procedure.
PF
KoNickon
Nick Merritt
Thanks, Phil, you more or less confirmed what I thought, that it is a PITA!
I did the cathode ray tube test described farther up in the thread and the spacing (i.e. the width of the slits) looks consistent, so no problems with capping/tapering that I can see. So I don't think I need to mess with the shutter curtains. Whether the speeds vary properly, I'd need to study more closely, but they look and sound right.
"Weak catch lever spring" -- I guess to look into that more closely. I wouldn't say it's just one speed -- but 1/250 seems most prone to it.
I did the cathode ray tube test described farther up in the thread and the spacing (i.e. the width of the slits) looks consistent, so no problems with capping/tapering that I can see. So I don't think I need to mess with the shutter curtains. Whether the speeds vary properly, I'd need to study more closely, but they look and sound right.
"Weak catch lever spring" -- I guess to look into that more closely. I wouldn't say it's just one speed -- but 1/250 seems most prone to it.
farlymac
PF McFarland
It's just a guess on the spring as I've never taken the speed control apart before.
PF