A chum for the Chaika

Differently broken

What do you do when you’ve just bought a broken Russian camera? You buy another one of course. While I love the artistic potential of having one picture taken on top of another, it makes the camera much less useful for reportage (i.e. taking pictures of things that look like the things). So last week I waded back into the auction fray and managed to pick up another identical camera (for less than the original and with a case and wrist strap thrown in). From the images of the camera, this one has a complete takeup gear, so it bound to be OK. Right?

Wrong. The takeup gear is fine, the camera loads and takes pictures, the shutter works. But the film counter stays stuck at zero. Bearing in mind you can fit 72 pictures on a single roll of film, a way of knowing how many you’ve taken is kind of important. Wah. So I take the camera to pieces for a look-see.

I love the way that the clear plastic that covers the displays on the camera is actually made from old film.

Turns out there is a tiny cork clutch between the indicator dial and the gear that moves with the shutter advance. I stuck a couple of pieces of insulating tape on top of the cork to make it thicker and more grippy and we are in business. So now I have an “art Chaika” and a “business Chaika”.