shadowfox
Darkroom printing lives
No, this is not Ruben 🙂
Hi all FSU fans, the last time I posted in this sub-forum was last year about my former Zorki 4 which I like the look of, but had to let go because it won't load a film.
Fast foward to April 2007, on a whim I ordered a Kiev 4AM from somewhere in "South Siberia". Why? reading too much about Contax and Nikon RF design, I guess 😛, that and not being able to justify the price of a properly CLA'd one.
So, after about 40 days, a small box with Cyrillic writings arrived at my door. Nothing fancy, a copious newspaper padding, then the black leather case emerged. I eagerly opened the case and take a peek of my first Kiev... it's smaller than I thought and it's clean...
I opened the lens cap, making sure that I got what was promised to me, the Helios 53mm/1.8 peered back at me. Went on inspecting the camera... the shutter works... the film advance works... the film plate looks clean... and the aperture dial works... this is GOOD 😀
Let me get something straight, as most of you who already knew me (not hard, just look at my signature 🙂 ), I collect Olympus classics. The build quality of this Kiev is not even in the same league as some of my older Olympus like the Ace or 35 S.
However, the sheer beauty of the camera, it's unique, it's nothing like I've seen, and I know a pretty camera when I saw one. This one is decidedly "pretty".
So I took a test roll (expired Konica VX100), brush up on my "Contax Grip" readings, drive to downtown yesterday and eagerly finish and developed the film so I can scan it.
Let me walk you through some of the results:
No light meter, eh? fine, time to whip out the Sunny-16 rule. It's a rather cool but sunny day in Downtown Dallas, so I set the shutter speed to 250 and aperture f11:
first off, a sigh of relief... no light leaks, the film plate doesn't scratch the film, colors spot on, sharpness good. Next,
Let's see how it perform in the shade, I stopped down to f5.6 and took this. Not bad at all, the details are all there, the sharpness is more than ok...
At this point I noticed something, after reading all the "horror" stories about the Contax Grip, amazingly, I find it intuitive!! Using the small wheel to focus actually shaves the extra half-second I usually take to reposition my fingers to release the shutter from when I use my left hand to focus (Leica-style).
Next, how's the fabled long baselength focusing...
Wow... these miniature buildings are centimeters apart, and I actually can pick them up individually if I wanted to. Definitely a precision improvement compared to my XA (I know, that's an extreme comparison 😛 )
Now, let's put the lens through the test...
Contrast lighting? not a problem, you still can see what's going on under the "tent".
Details in the shadows? more than acceptable for me 😀
Last but not least...
Nice and smooth bokeh... what else can you ask for?
more samples here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mastaka/sets/72157600227087156/show/
So, in summary, as if you guys can't tell yet, I'm MIGHTILY IMPRESSED with this camera. It's *very* conducive to taking (good) pictures. I can see now how Contax and then later Nikon RF did and rightfully so, challenged the design superiority contest against Leica.
The build quality is the only lacking part, I end up twisting the film rewind like a knob when I was done with the roll because that tiny flip-up lever is close to being useless because it's so flimsy.
Also, what's up with the variable frame spacing on the negatives? Fortunately, I know the lab personnel well enough to give them a warning about it, and they know me (the geek with weird old cameras) enough to just raise an eyebrow and didn't ask questions or complain 😀
My scanner however was not very pleased with the variable spacing, as can be expected.
Next time I'll put a black and white roll in it.
And, oh, here's the shot of the camera itself:
Hi all FSU fans, the last time I posted in this sub-forum was last year about my former Zorki 4 which I like the look of, but had to let go because it won't load a film.
Fast foward to April 2007, on a whim I ordered a Kiev 4AM from somewhere in "South Siberia". Why? reading too much about Contax and Nikon RF design, I guess 😛, that and not being able to justify the price of a properly CLA'd one.
So, after about 40 days, a small box with Cyrillic writings arrived at my door. Nothing fancy, a copious newspaper padding, then the black leather case emerged. I eagerly opened the case and take a peek of my first Kiev... it's smaller than I thought and it's clean...
I opened the lens cap, making sure that I got what was promised to me, the Helios 53mm/1.8 peered back at me. Went on inspecting the camera... the shutter works... the film advance works... the film plate looks clean... and the aperture dial works... this is GOOD 😀
Let me get something straight, as most of you who already knew me (not hard, just look at my signature 🙂 ), I collect Olympus classics. The build quality of this Kiev is not even in the same league as some of my older Olympus like the Ace or 35 S.
However, the sheer beauty of the camera, it's unique, it's nothing like I've seen, and I know a pretty camera when I saw one. This one is decidedly "pretty".
So I took a test roll (expired Konica VX100), brush up on my "Contax Grip" readings, drive to downtown yesterday and eagerly finish and developed the film so I can scan it.
Let me walk you through some of the results:
No light meter, eh? fine, time to whip out the Sunny-16 rule. It's a rather cool but sunny day in Downtown Dallas, so I set the shutter speed to 250 and aperture f11:
first off, a sigh of relief... no light leaks, the film plate doesn't scratch the film, colors spot on, sharpness good. Next,
Let's see how it perform in the shade, I stopped down to f5.6 and took this. Not bad at all, the details are all there, the sharpness is more than ok...
At this point I noticed something, after reading all the "horror" stories about the Contax Grip, amazingly, I find it intuitive!! Using the small wheel to focus actually shaves the extra half-second I usually take to reposition my fingers to release the shutter from when I use my left hand to focus (Leica-style).
Next, how's the fabled long baselength focusing...
Wow... these miniature buildings are centimeters apart, and I actually can pick them up individually if I wanted to. Definitely a precision improvement compared to my XA (I know, that's an extreme comparison 😛 )
Now, let's put the lens through the test...
Contrast lighting? not a problem, you still can see what's going on under the "tent".
Details in the shadows? more than acceptable for me 😀
Last but not least...
Nice and smooth bokeh... what else can you ask for?
more samples here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mastaka/sets/72157600227087156/show/
So, in summary, as if you guys can't tell yet, I'm MIGHTILY IMPRESSED with this camera. It's *very* conducive to taking (good) pictures. I can see now how Contax and then later Nikon RF did and rightfully so, challenged the design superiority contest against Leica.
The build quality is the only lacking part, I end up twisting the film rewind like a knob when I was done with the roll because that tiny flip-up lever is close to being useless because it's so flimsy.
Also, what's up with the variable frame spacing on the negatives? Fortunately, I know the lab personnel well enough to give them a warning about it, and they know me (the geek with weird old cameras) enough to just raise an eyebrow and didn't ask questions or complain 😀
My scanner however was not very pleased with the variable spacing, as can be expected.
Next time I'll put a black and white roll in it.
And, oh, here's the shot of the camera itself:
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