Spindrift62 wrote:
gessman wrote:
RLK wrote:
Does anyone have experience with the Kiev Medium Format camera.
It is with a somewhat bruised ego that I admit to you that while we were here in this country making cameras out of cardboard and plastic, behind the "Iron Curtain" the Russians had quietly gone around the word buying up quality products and "knocking off" some of the best merchandise the 'free world' had to offer, Hassleblad, Leica, Zeiss Ikon, Nikon, Canon, etc., and did a pretty fair job of it. While a Kiev medium format is not a Hassy, it will use Hassy lens which is a major part of what's needed. And yes, perhaps they weren't originally quite as reliable as a Hassy, Bronica, Kowa, Mamiya, they are well worth the money and the lens produced by them aren't half bad. I have a few Russian cameras in my collection and it is my humble opinion that, while they are often the butt of jokes, they are not junk by any stretch of the imagination and can be bought for a fraction of the cost of other medium format cameras. Google 'complaints about Kiev cameras' and you should find some. Google 'experience with Kiev cameras' and you might find another story. You might find
http://kievcamera.net/ interesting also, not that I have a horse in this race.
Oh yow, I think the negative is about four times the size of 35mm, not two, and the advantages are huge, just as it is huge when you go to the next level of 4 x 5, or 5 x 7, or 8 x 10. Each leap takes you into a new world of photography that makes you want to wonder why you ever settled for 35mm.
quote=RLK Does anyone have experience with the Ki... (
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Yes you are quite right about the neg size, I'd forgotten how big they are and have since delved into my neg archives to remind myself. I only comment on cameras that I have used which is why I never mentioned the twin reflexes and the uprated 6 x7 standard lay out cameras. I did use a Kiev for about a week. It malfunctioned twice, the standard lens was soft and I got a hernia from carrying it(joke). I then got the retailer to exchange it and the new one wouldn't work from the box. I then changed that for a second hand 'guaranteed' one. The shutter went after about 20 activations. I bought a Bronny! I do agree with you that there are some Russin Cameras that are well worth the investment if you are into film. The Zorki - Leica copy being one of the best with an amazingly sharp lens that doesn't need Leica money to buy.
quote=gessman quote=RLK Does anyone have experie... (
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My, my, what a nightmarish experience you had. I'm sorry to hear that because now your are announcing your experience to the world as if it were totally typical of the experience everyone can anticipate which I wouldn't think would be completely accurate. I think if that were typical, Kiev would have run out of suckers long ago and apparently they haven't.
I've found that the Ziess Ikon Ikonta knockoff, the Moscva 1 through 5, particularly the Moscva 5 with the Industar lens, is very handy and useful also. It shoots medium format in three formats using 120 film with an internal adjustment made when the back is open to insert a new roll of film, 2 1/4 square (or 6x6), 6x7, and 6x9, a very handy instrument back in the day when you needed a little pano effect but couldn't justify buying a pano camera which were rare and terribly expensive.
After spending three wonderful years in your "Midlands," around Leicester at RAF Station Bruntingthorpe courtesy of the USAF, I wonder, could some of your issues have been related to all the moisture that descends upon you folks there? Might it have been related to rust, being 'made of old tank materials?' (as you say 'Joke') After those three years I spent there, I have steadfastly refused to reside anywhere except arid and semi-arid climates lest I prematurely rust further. :)
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