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I swore I'd never touch another Zenit, then a guy at the Columbus camera show showed me his bench setup
Spent years telling anyone who'd listen that Zenits were junk, not worth the $15 they sell for at swap meets. Had one come in 3 years ago with a busted shutter and I handed it right back to the customer.
Then I'm at the Columbus camera show in April and this older guy named Ray has a whole table of them, maybe 40 bodies, all working. I asked him why bother. He laughed and pulled out a homemade jig he made from a piece of oak and two feeler gauges, said he can set the shutter tension on one in about 12 minutes once he stops fighting it.
Turns out I was doing it backwards, trying to adjust tension with the body still mostly together. Ray's trick is to pull the whole shutter crate out first even though every manual tells you not to.
Did my first one last Tuesday. Took me 3 hours but it fires clean at every speed now.
Anyone else got a shortcut for these things or am I still doing it the hard way?
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stella2791mo ago
Pulling the whole crate out first is the move, way easier to set tension off the body.
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