Shovelbum
I dig up dead people
Howdy,
While I've never posted here before I wanted to start with a thankyou. A little while a go after a few years playing with my canonet I decided that I wanted to try an interchangable lens rangefinder. Being a college student funds are scarce so an FSU camera sounded like the best choice, but I didn't really know which one to start with. While I already owned a Fed-1, which I love just because it is so fun to play with, I've always had trouble focusing, my eyesight isn't all that great and it was a slow process. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy using it and have no intention of putting it on my shelf to collect dust, but I just wanted a camera with a easier to see rangefinder. After reading many past threads on the subject I was drawn to the Kievs. By luck I happened against a Kiev 3a at flea market. It was broken but it gave me an oppurtunity to try out the handleing and the viewfinder, I was blown away how easy it was to see the rangefinder patch despite the small viewfinder, I then knew I wanted a working one. ( I bought the broken one which I intend to attempt to fix myself someday, just for the fun of it). After reading more past threads on the kievs I decided to go with the older kiev 2a. I recently bought one and have just been having a great time with it. It works so smoothly and fits in my hands just right, it has just been a joy to use! I just ordered a J-12 and plan on rounding it out with a J-9 in the future.
I just want to thank everyone here who has posted on russian rangefinders and the kievs in particular. By being such a friendly and helpful bunch I was led to a new toy which has already given me a lot of pleasure and will continue to do so into the future. Thankyou!
While I've never posted here before I wanted to start with a thankyou. A little while a go after a few years playing with my canonet I decided that I wanted to try an interchangable lens rangefinder. Being a college student funds are scarce so an FSU camera sounded like the best choice, but I didn't really know which one to start with. While I already owned a Fed-1, which I love just because it is so fun to play with, I've always had trouble focusing, my eyesight isn't all that great and it was a slow process. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy using it and have no intention of putting it on my shelf to collect dust, but I just wanted a camera with a easier to see rangefinder. After reading many past threads on the subject I was drawn to the Kievs. By luck I happened against a Kiev 3a at flea market. It was broken but it gave me an oppurtunity to try out the handleing and the viewfinder, I was blown away how easy it was to see the rangefinder patch despite the small viewfinder, I then knew I wanted a working one. ( I bought the broken one which I intend to attempt to fix myself someday, just for the fun of it). After reading more past threads on the kievs I decided to go with the older kiev 2a. I recently bought one and have just been having a great time with it. It works so smoothly and fits in my hands just right, it has just been a joy to use! I just ordered a J-12 and plan on rounding it out with a J-9 in the future.
I just want to thank everyone here who has posted on russian rangefinders and the kievs in particular. By being such a friendly and helpful bunch I was led to a new toy which has already given me a lot of pleasure and will continue to do so into the future. Thankyou!
peter_n
Veteran
Howdy Shovelbum and welcome to the forum! If you can manage to get your film scanned, you have a gallery here and we'd like to see a few of your shots!
Good luck with the Kiev!
If you can manage to get your film scanned, you have a gallery here and we'd like to see a few of your shots!Good luck with the Kiev!
xayraa33
rangefinder user and fancier
Welcome to the forum Shovelbum, you will find many Kiev rf fanatics here.
w3rk5
Well-known
Welcome and congrats on your Kiev purchase. I'm more of a FED guy, but I like Kiev's alot too.
I see that you're already infected with G.A.S. When I got into photography (6 months ago), I got my first camera...a FED 2. I couldn't figure out why most of my RFF bothers and sisters kept on buying more, and more stuff. I swore I wasn't gonna be like them. 6 months later, I have or had 3 FSU cameras, 5 lenses, filters, hoods, ect. What happened?
I see that you're already infected with G.A.S. When I got into photography (6 months ago), I got my first camera...a FED 2. I couldn't figure out why most of my RFF bothers and sisters kept on buying more, and more stuff. I swore I wasn't gonna be like them. 6 months later, I have or had 3 FSU cameras, 5 lenses, filters, hoods, ect. What happened?
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