R
ruben
Guest
With great sorrow and even before I ended a single miserable roll of film, I have sent my new Kiev 6c 456 to the closet, and put my Iskra to work.
After being very enthusiastic with the Kiev MF, the weight and size overpowered me. But this needs a great clarification as not to misunderstand a potentially good MF SLR, and one of the very few accessible in 60 x 45 format.
I was needing the camera for daily use, meaning going to work and back, and sometimes going somwhere else. My daily weight consists in a back pack with my lunch and some other things, a front belly pouch with a Kiev Rangefinder and a dismouned lens, and keys, money etc. So it is within this context that the Kiev Medium Format was too much size and weight.
There is another advantage of the Kiev MF I cannot enjoy, and it is being a system camera. Using at least 2 rangefinders day to day, and trying to replace one of them for a medium format, calls for small and non system Medium Format: a folder. System lenses will be left to the 135 format. It makes more sense.
And another word on behalf of the Kiev 60. Its controls are very very straightforward, it is a camera very easy to manipulate. And there are some twenty or more different lenses of different trademarks mountable. Some are a real bargain, and most of the Russian ones are still in production.
My story with the Iskras is almost as old as mine withe the Kiev rangefinders. Somehow they were hidden in my closet/d mind and lately I thought it too ridiculous to walk with a folder camera. But after wearing a Kiev Medium Format and noticing no attention is gathered - then I thought why not.
Iskra disassembly and CLA is much much easier than the Kiev rangefinders, so today I remained at home working the full day in putting an Iskra in shape. Upon it much of my past technical memory about it went back and I have introduced several minor aesthetical and technical improvements.
I hope in the next days I will be able to enter in detail about the Iskras. Unfortunately I notice their prices at eBay have almost doubled since some two three years ago. Nevertheless, all in all the Iskra is a very well built camera supposed to last.
Cheers,
Ruben
After being very enthusiastic with the Kiev MF, the weight and size overpowered me. But this needs a great clarification as not to misunderstand a potentially good MF SLR, and one of the very few accessible in 60 x 45 format.
I was needing the camera for daily use, meaning going to work and back, and sometimes going somwhere else. My daily weight consists in a back pack with my lunch and some other things, a front belly pouch with a Kiev Rangefinder and a dismouned lens, and keys, money etc. So it is within this context that the Kiev Medium Format was too much size and weight.
There is another advantage of the Kiev MF I cannot enjoy, and it is being a system camera. Using at least 2 rangefinders day to day, and trying to replace one of them for a medium format, calls for small and non system Medium Format: a folder. System lenses will be left to the 135 format. It makes more sense.
And another word on behalf of the Kiev 60. Its controls are very very straightforward, it is a camera very easy to manipulate. And there are some twenty or more different lenses of different trademarks mountable. Some are a real bargain, and most of the Russian ones are still in production.
My story with the Iskras is almost as old as mine withe the Kiev rangefinders. Somehow they were hidden in my closet/d mind and lately I thought it too ridiculous to walk with a folder camera. But after wearing a Kiev Medium Format and noticing no attention is gathered - then I thought why not.
Iskra disassembly and CLA is much much easier than the Kiev rangefinders, so today I remained at home working the full day in putting an Iskra in shape. Upon it much of my past technical memory about it went back and I have introduced several minor aesthetical and technical improvements.
I hope in the next days I will be able to enter in detail about the Iskras. Unfortunately I notice their prices at eBay have almost doubled since some two three years ago. Nevertheless, all in all the Iskra is a very well built camera supposed to last.
Cheers,
Ruben
Last edited by a moderator:
