I want my images sorted by star rating to i set the sort images drop down in the album to custom and then put in rating. the images are not sorted in a strange order but not by rating.
Zenphoto version 1.4.13

Just tried and cannot reproduce it sadly (standard Zenpage theme). Try to clear the browser cache or the static_html_cache in case you have the plugin active (would not affect if you are logged in as an admin).