My new K3 stopped working

Galen Carter-Jeffrey · May 2, 2006

Just bought this camera from an american photographer with a perfect ebay rating.

I am having a little problem with my K3 camera. Yesterday I was shooting a test roll and in the middle of the day the camera stopped working. I tried winding it, but was careful not to wind it too much. Nothing helped. I wend home and took the side panel off and put it back on and that seemed to help. Today I was finishing up the rest of the roll and towards the end my camera was having a hell of a time trying to work. It just didn't want to work. Same problem pushing the button didn't do anything. Now I cant get it to work. I have tried taking the side panel off but it doesn't do anything. Do yall have any recommendations?

Chris Keth · May 2, 2006

Just bought this camera from an american photographer with a perfect ebay rating.

I am having a little problem with my K3 camera. Yesterday I was shooting a test roll and in the middle of the day the camera stopped working. I tried winding it, but was careful not to wind it too much. Nothing helped. I wend home and took the side panel off and put it back on and that seemed to help. Today I was finishing up the rest of the roll and towards the end my camera was having a hell of a time trying to work. It just didn't want to work. Same problem pushing the button didn't do anything. Now I cant get it to work. I have tried taking the side panel off but it doesn't do anything. Do yall have any recommendations?

Fiddle with the run button. Sometimes, the button on mine will jam so it will be depressed but not run. That, or you overwound the spring and it locked up somehow inside.

Galen Carter-Jeffrey · May 2, 2006

Fiddle with the run button. Sometimes, the button on mine will jam so it will be depressed but not run. That, or you overwound the spring and it locked up somehow inside.

I think I might have found the problem. I opened up the front end of the camera and carefully took a look. I was able to get the camera to come back to life but only for a little bit. It seems there is something wrong with either the start button or the shutter. I did some research on the internet and apparently K3s are supposed to always stop so you can see out of the viewfinder, the shutter should always be closed. Mine only sometimes does it.

Now I have to baby it whenever I want it to start, sometime evening opening the front and pushing the shutter mechanism a little.

It seems to only be a problem when I shoot in 8 or 16 FPS. The only time I ever use these is when I am loading the film. Does anyone have any ideas?

Edited May 2, 2006 by galeninjapan

Olex Kalynychenko · May 2, 2006

Hi

=I am having a little problem with my K3 camera.

At first, need unload film from camera, move off clamping plate of film gate, take aside rollers near cog- wheel.

You need check all parts of film track detailed.

The scrap of film can jam.

Not worry load sprint on full power, spring mechanism have big spare power.

Load spring and run camera.

You need check position of cogs on cog-wheel. The rollers have groove and cogs must go inside groove.

If the rollers or cog-wheel have not correct position, the cog can jam by body of roller.

If the camera work good with open rollers, set rollers on work position.

Need check gap between cog-wheel and rolles, the film must go easy, but, the gap must be not too big.

If the gap will too big, the film loops will lost size.

Need check position of cogs and groove on closed position of rollers.

The cog-wheel must rotate easy and cogs must not jam.

If all OK, need check with film. Take short end of film ( 0.5-1m ), load on film track and run.

Need set correct size of film loops.

My recommendations - take away plastic guiges of film track, but, this can do camera mechanic only.

Galen Carter-Jeffrey · May 2, 2006

Hi
=I am having a little problem with my K3 camera.

At first, need unload film from camera, move off clamping plate of film gate, take aside rollers near cog- wheel.

You need check all parts of film track detailed.

The scrap of film can jam.

Not worry load sprint on full power, spring mechanism have big spare power.

Load spring and run camera.

You need check position of cogs on cog-wheel. The rollers have groove and cogs must go inside groove.

If the rollers or cog-wheel have not correct position, the cog can jam by body of roller.

If the camera work good with open rollers, set rollers on work position.

Need check gap between cog-wheel and rolles, the film must go easy, but, the gap must be not too big.

If the gap will too big, the film loops will lost size.

Need check position of cogs and groove on closed position of rollers.

The cog-wheel must rotate easy and cogs must not jam.

If all OK, need check with film. Take short end of film ( 0.5-1m ), load on film track and run.

Need set correct size of film loops.

My recommendations - take away plastic guiges of film track, but, this can do camera mechanic only.

Im pretty sure it is not a Film loop problem. There is no film in the camera right now and Pressing the button does not do anything. Yes it is wound.

Clive Tobin · May 3, 2006

Im pretty sure it is not a Film loop problem. There is no film in the camera right now and Pressing the button does not do anything. Yes it is wound.

No offense but the K3 cameras are plagued by poor quality control. Back in the day when I used to install prototype crystal motors in them once in a while, I would find units with spare screws rolling around loose among the gears and whatnot. Others have rough gears that run together for a while but eventually jam. I had a couple in a row that had a totally bad light meter. It is possible you have a loose screw throwing a proverbial spanner in the works getting caught in the governor, or some other mechanical defect.

I have a theory that all of the K-3's being sold now are rejects that were returned to the factory as defective back in the 1960s. Just a theory, mind you. But has anyone ever bought one that ran smoothly and quietly, had a light meter that worked, had auto threading that worked, had a lid that didn't have light leaks, had a mirror shutter that was flat and didn't make the view in the finder quiver, and also had all the proper accessories?

Edited May 3, 2006 by clivetobin

Galen Carter-Jeffrey · May 3, 2006

After a little bit of playing around, I found that the camera works fine until I use 8FPS then it goes really slow and then stops. After that it doesnt want to start up again.

Stephen Whitehead · May 3, 2006

But has anyone ever bought one that ran smoothly and quietly, had a light meter that worked, had auto threading that worked, had a lid that didn't have light leaks, had a mirror shutter that was flat and didn't make the view in the finder quiver, and also had all the proper accessories?

I have one that works perfectly... Now having said that, I must mention that I used to live in Russia. When I was there, Many cinematographers gave me for free their old K-3s. I must have gone through literally 8 before I found one that worked perfectly... The others ended up in the trash. The one I have is a great little camera.

Edited May 3, 2006 by Stephen Whitehead

May 3, 2006

After a little bit of playing around, I found that the camera works fine until I use 8FPS then it goes really slow and then stops. After that it doesnt want to start up again.

Charles MacDonald · May 3, 2006

No offense but the K3 cameras are plagued by poor quality control.
I have a theory that all of the K-3's being sold now are rejects that were returned to the factory as defective back in the 1960s. Just a theory, mind you. But has anyone ever bought one that ran smoothly and quietly, had a light meter that worked, had auto threading that worked, had a lid that didn't have light leaks, had a mirror shutter that was flat and didn't make the view in the finder quiver, and also had all the proper accessories?

I have been led to beleive that it was considered normal in the old Soviet union fo rthe seller of a product to complete the assembly and testing. Factories had incentives to get product out the door, and probaly did not get the warentee returns back.

This is what sacres me off even getting an ex-soviet Camara, unless it is from a seller with a good reputation who also does repairs. The probalem is the shipping back to east europe from eastern Canada would almost equal the cost of the unit in the first place. Now I have bought some stuff from one dealer over there, and was pleasantly surprised (delighted in fact) when the offer was made to ship a replecement for a broken part via Airmail for free, whth only the requirment taht I provide photos of the damage. IF I were to ever buy a K-3 I would seek out the same vendor. He appers here selling Kinor stuff for time to time if I have the name right.

As afr as the camera that does not work right, it probaly just needs a clean lube tweek and adjust. (tweek being teh replacement of those parts taht wee out fo spec at the factory or that have become worn out when the unit was used in its native home.

Joe Gioielli · May 3, 2006

Well, mine so far, does everything right down to the auto load. I have not used the built in lightmeter but w/ a battery it seems to react to light the way it aught too. I don't know if it runs "quiet". It's louder than my bolex P1, but not like a jet engine or anything.

Clive, you've seen more k3s than I ever will. You have forgotten more then I'll ever learn. All I can tell you is that there are at least some people who have had no problems with their k3s. Before I bought mine, I contacted about 60 of the people this guy had sold cameras to. Naturally, most folks didn't respond, but 7 did and said they were happy with the camera, no problems. So there are at least 8 of us who are happy.

Frankly, I don't recall reading a lot of posts about people who have had problems with k3s, but no one can deny what you saw with the k3s that passed through your hands. If that kind of performance were normal, though, you'd think the complaints would be all over the internet. I wonder if there might have been some bad production runs? Or maybe there were just enough "good runs" to fool us all. And the people with bad k3s just trashed them without comment. Who knows?

As the camera in question was bought from "an American photographer"I will presume he was not an exporter. I might be wrong, but I think it is more likely that the last owner broke it and off-loaded it on ebay. Because there are many websites that give such good instructions about how to take the K3 apart to remove the loop formers and what not, I bet the last owner tried to tinker with the thing and screwed it up.

Cameras are like guns, only bad things happen when you open them up. My advice is either 1) write it off as bad luck and try again. These cameras are VERY cheap. You can't touch a reflex 16mm for that kind of money($150-200) This is what I would do. 2) Send the camera to a professional to be repaired. No, it won't be cheap but at least you will have a camera that has been repaired, cleaned, lubed and inspected.

If it makes you feel better, we have all be burned on ebay. I've lost about 400 bucks over the years.

Joe

May 3, 2006

I've had a similar problem. I've found that screwing in the shutter-release cable and carefully, firmly, and repeatedly pressing the "plunger", the shutter will re-engage. I have a theory that when the trigger is disengaged, the shutter gets hung-up between "on" and "off". I admire your courage in investigating the mechanics. I intend to examine mine more closely, but I've had a fear that upon opening it up, a mass of screws and springs will explode out.

Otherwise, I've had good luck with my camera. I've shot 5 reels through it, and they all came back nice (except for the one I over exposed by two stops). The focus is sharp, the zoom works nicely, the film was not scratched, and the built-in light meter even matched up well with a Sekonic. I got lucky.

Happy Shooting!

Simon

Galen Carter-Jeffrey · May 3, 2006

The ebay auction for my camera

I paid a little more because I thought it was worth it to buy from a reputable seller. I'll probably ask to send it back though.

:(

Clive Tobin · May 3, 2006

... So there are at least 8 of us who are happy....

Congratulations to anyone who has a k3 that is working well! It is basically a good camera (except for the light meter.) Maybe it is just the Monday, Friday and post-vodka-swilling holiday ones that have problems...