Kiev-60 flash sync tuning

Hi,

I'm new here. I had repaired and tuned 2 old soviet MF cameras so far myself - Kiev-6C and Kiev-60. The cameras I got were in a pretty bad state but mechanics were working (more or less). Using the third "donor" Kiev-6C which was beyond repair I tuned the other two - flocked interiors, adjusted the mirror, focus screen, replaced all foams/seals, re-oiled mechanism (where it needed it), tuned fast shutter and curtains speeds and re-skinned the cameras. They both working fine and I run quite a few films through both apart from one tiny thing. The Kiev-60 has erratically working flash sync on 1/30 sec exposures - sometimes it fires the flash and sometimes it does not. The slower speeds work fine and fire it 100% so it's not a matter of cleaning mechanical contacts. So far I was unable to decipher how (or what part) triggers it and there seems to be very scarce info on a web about it.

Just wanted to check if by any chance someone had this experience?

Hello;
Did you check the points when you were overhauling the camera? Do they have the correct gap? The point set has an enlongated slot where they mount, so some adjustment can be made. If you have to unsolder the wire, use a low wattage iron. Plastic is envolved here so you do not want to melt them. Steven.

Thanks Steven. Yes I did - in fact I have not touched the left side (with shutter mechanism assembly) at all. The soldering was pretty quick so the plastic parts holding the flash contacts is intact. It does work fine for all slow speeds apart 1/30 that's the thing that puzzles me. And the Kiev 6C one works fine for all of them.

Do you know what releases the contacts and closes the circuit to initiate the flash? I have not been able to figure that out and not sure I ready to disassemble the shutter mechanism for that ;-(

Hello Alex?;
The flash sync points ride on a cam that is activated by the shutter drum which releases the curtains. There is a lockout lever that blocks the cam on speeds 1/60th second and higher. Had a K-60 that was problematic with the flash sync, after some creative bending of the points and paying attention on how it worked was able to restore proper operation. Loosen the screw that holds the points and move in just a tad. See if this helps, if not the chassis will have to come out and a good inspection made. I can help you on this. Also belong to the Kiev Report, Steven.

Thanks Steven,

Happy Christmas to you.

I've done some investigation over the holidays and even disassembled the top part of shutter mechanism but decided to leave it alone in the end. What happens is that flash circuit has two cogs that when engaged are closing it (causing the flash to fire) and when one of them goes off, it breaks the circuit. When the shutter is cocked - one of them is engaging right away (the one controlled by second shutter curtain - I'll refer to it as C2) and the other one is off (the one controlled by first shutter curtain - I'll refer to it as C1). When the mechanism is fired, and the first shutter curtain is fully opened it triggers C1 to engage to close the circuit and then as second shutter curtain is released, it takes C2 off breaking the circuit. On shutter speeds 1/60 and faster the C1 never engages far enough to close the circuit. This is controlled by the mechanism that engages the shutter delays on slower speeds and it has differently profiled bumps that control how far the cog goes. Unfortunately on my Kiev-60 it is rather badly made and the cutout that engages on 1/30 is a bit shorter (than it should be as I can see from my Kiev-6C) so it almost always not engages far enough.

After some pondering and experimenting with shutter mechanism and having difficulty to put it all back, I decided to leave it alone. May be one day I get some other cheap Kiev-60 or 6C and get the part from there but I've given up for now.

Thanks for the help.

Hello Alex;
I have heard of other K-60's with the same problem. Hard to fix a camera over the net without being there. You should be able to find a cheap parts camera. The old 6c is really inexpensive right now. Good luck, Steven.

Hi Steven,

Thanks - I will do. Will go on lookout for old Kiev-6C or 60 for this.

Alex