A Day Spent with Kiev 4m

[Trius]

Bill: I like the colours in the first 3 you posted. The person that painted that fireplug, though, is just a tad sloppy! 😉

Earl

 

[bmattock]

I have had a Kiev 4 for about 6 months and still haven't run any film through it. It appears that the light meter is working and reasonbly accurate. Does the capping problem appear in different areas on the negative? I have a Zorki-4 (1962) that has been working well except for the 1/30 shutter speed. Every once in a while there is a semicircular over exposed area on the right hand side of the frame. this happens for three or four frames then disappears for quite some time. The flat side of the semicircle is against the right edge of the frame. I will have to upload and example. One more question for the Kiev 4 users: there are four bumps on the back of the camera under the covering. Are these the heads of the fasteners for the pressure plate?

Sorry for being a bit OT on the ZORKI-4 question.

Mike

Mike - my Kiev 4 only has the capping in one area, it does not move around. The Zorki has a totally different shutter system. I'm afraid I've never seen anything like you're describing with your Zorki. By all means, upload an example!

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[bmattock]

Bill: I like the colours in the first 3 you posted. The person that painted that fireplug, though, is just a tad sloppy! 😉

Earl

Hard to paint with one hand without spilling your beer.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[pshinkaw]

In some circles Zeiss bumps are a status symbol. Seems it's a flaw that's peculiar to authentic Zeiss cameras and extremely close clones like early Kiev's. I have found a pre-WWII Japanese camera that has the same thing.

-Paul

 

[Pherdinand]

In some circles Zeiss bumps are a status symbol. Seems it's a flaw that's peculiar to authentic Zeiss cameras and extremely close clones like early Kiev's. I have found a pre-WWII Japanese camera that has the same thing.

-Paul

Well, glad to hear that, since my Contax iia has a few bumps of which one is so large that it "exploded" and the green stuff is coming out through the leather! Seriously! Will post a photo of it soon🙂

 

[bmattock]

This is a bump, because I want everybody to know what a good guy Denis is. Denis felt awful about the condition the Kiev arrived in, even though it was in no way his fault. Although the packaging was in seriously bad condition, the camera itself looked OK - but it does have a small capping problem with the shutter. I told Denis not to worry about it - he acted in good faith, so did I, and I in no way felt cheated, nor did I feel he had to do anything about it at all. But he refused to let it go - he insisted on sending me another camera. It arrived today!

This camera is the Kiev without the speed bump for the light meter, whatever the nomenclature for that might be. Looks like an older model - it has button press on the bottom to release the tension for rewind, no rewind lever (a knob instead), and a cartridge/spool arrangement inside the take-up side of the film back. He sent the body only, as the Helios 103 on the original Kiev appears to be in excellent condition.

I'm looking forward to shooting with this camera - and I'm sure I'll experience nothing untoward (and in any case, I won't dare report it, or Denis will be sending me every Kiev in Croatia).

My main reason for writing this is not to crow about a new camera, but to report what a great guy Denis is, and how kind.

And by the way - the box it came in has been all over the world. It is a 'Staples' box (US office supply chain), with a previous old label from Ralph (can't read the rest) in the Colchester, CN, USA to our own Joe in Canada. I presume it went from there to Croatia, and now back to the USA. This box has been more places than I have. I just thought that was kinda cool - buncha RFF'ers, all sharing and swapping back and forth.

Is this a cool place or what?

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

PS - Denis, thanks again. You're a heck of a great guy!

 

[back alley]

i save most of the boxes that stuff comes to me in and reuse them when i send stuff out.
(was that a run on sentence?)

anyway, i didn't realize other people thought that was cool too.
and yes, it sounds like denis is more than a standup guy!

joe