Ah, the joys of the postal system...

[bmattock]

A month or so ago, I traded a fellow RFF member a Kodak Aero Ektar lens for a Kiev 4 (a, m, or am, I can't tell the difference). Well, the Kiev just appeared - we had figured something bad had happened, and it wasn't going to appear.

The Postman arrived at my house today bearing a giant wad of what used to be a box.

"It used to be a box, I think," he said. Then he drove away.

The filthy wad had been wrapped, rewrapped, and then covered in shrink-wrap plastic.

I carefully cut through all the layers, revealing the gaping hole in the side of the er, box.

I extracted what appeared to be a perfect camera ever-ready case.

Inside - a perfect Kiev 4. Thank goodness!

But no thanks to the postal system of whatever country decided to jump up and down on the thing before delivering it.

Well, now someone has to tell me how to remove a Kiev/Contax lens. Can I change the shutter speed without winding on? This is going to be fun!

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[back alley]

gotta love the postal system, from any country!

nice looking kiev bill.

hey, howse the toe?

joe

 

[taffer]

😱

Glad it ended well !

Something similar (albeit not quite 'round') happened to the box containing a DP-11 finder I got a while ago. First, it took quite more than usual to show up, then there was the box, with rounded out corners... To make it even more puzzling, the parcel was sent air letter but appeared here with a global priority mail sticker.

😕

Ok, let's go. To remove a contax lens you have to push on the little metal tab that you'll find at 12 on the body lens helical . It pushes down the lens lock so you can, yes, unlock the little tooth the lens barrel has.

Once unlocked, turn it to the right (if you're facing the camera, that is) till the tooth gets to the end of its path (1/4-1/8 of a turn maybe). Then you can simply take the lens out towards you. To install, follow the inverse procedure till the lens locks at the ... yes, lens lock.

It may be easier to do both things with the helical locked at infinity.

As to wind, oh well, much has been written. I've ALWAYS changed speeds AFTER winding, and NEVER had a problem, and up to there I can write 🙂

Enjoy it !!!

 

[JoeFriday]

here's a photo of the tab on my Kiev.. make sure you have the lens set at infinity before removing it

 

[bmattock]

gotta love the postal system, from any country!

nice looking kiev bill.

hey, howse the toe?

joe

Toe's still sore, but it didn't stop me from running 4 rolls of film (1 each) through Bessa R, Bessaflex TM, Lynx 14e, and Canon FTbN. Tomorrow is dev day.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[doubs43]

Bill, that's a nice looking Kiev. There has been considerable discussion about changing shutter speeds on the Contax/Kiev cameras and each has their own opinion. I don't think it matters on the Kiev whether the shutter is or isn't cocked when changing speeds.

Yours is a model 4m and made between 1980 & 1987. (Correction to model designation made after noting that yours does have a meter! DUH!)

Walker

 

[JoeFriday]

I can never remember if I'm supposed to change shutter speeds before or after cocking.. I've done it both ways with both Kiev and Contax.. it hasn't seemed to have any detrimental effect.. but it seems to work with less resistance when doing it the correct way.. whichever way that is

 

[wlewisiii]

That is a very nice looking Kiev 4m (rather than 4am as it has the meter). And I've changed the shutter willy nilly with no thought about the cocking condition. The way the shutter is designed it doesn't matter like it does with the older Leica style shutter.

William

 

[bmattock]

Bill, that's a nice looking Kiev. There has been considerable discussion about changing shutter speeds on the Contax/Kiev cameras and each has their own opinion. I don't think it matters on the Kiev whether the shutter is or isn't cocked when changing speeds.

Yours is a model 4am and made between 1980 & 1987.

Walker

Cool, thanks for the info! How can you tell it is a 4am?

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[back alley]

it has the meter.

 

[captainslack]

The one I'll bring to show you on Sunday is a 4AM. It doesn't have the bulbous growth of a meter on the top. I got mine from G'man (thanks again!). Luckily, the postal service didn't use mine as a soccer ball enroute. 😀

 

[CleverName]

Bill, packages will get damaged like that whenever you try to ship a cat.

(see photo #3, then smile quietly to yourself.)

🙂

 

[bmattock]

The one I'll bring to show you on Sunday is a 4AM. It doesn't have the bulbous growth of a meter on the top. I got mine from G'man (thanks again!). Luckily, the postal service didn't use mine as a soccer ball enroute. 😀

Now I'm really confused. Do I have a 4m, 4am, or 4AM? Upper lower case make a difference like with the Retinas? Argh!

 

[bmattock]

Bill, packages will get damaged like that whenever you try to ship a cat.

(see photo #3, then smile quietly to yourself.)

🙂

Wanna know what's really funny? That cat's name is Zone V. Appropriate, or what?

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[dostacos]

Bill, packages will get damaged like that whenever you try to ship a cat.

(see photo #3, then smile quietly to yourself.)

🙂

LOL, I thought the same thing 😀

 

[captainslack]

I prepared for that though.🙂

And you did a good job, too!! BTW, did you ever get the lenses I sent you?

 

[captainslack]

Now I'm really confused. Do I have a 4m, 4am, or 4AM? Upper lower case make a difference like with the Retinas? Argh!

You have a 4m and the case doesn't matter. 😉

 

[back alley]

does anyone have pics and captions with the different/differences in the kiev models?

i'd like to know just how wrong i am/m 😉

 

[doubs43]

Bill, my apologies. I now see that your Kiev does have a meter which makes it the 4m and NOT the 4am. Too much turkey yesterday! 😉

Here's a page that gives some information that you may find useful.

http://home.att.net/~wayne.cornell/camera/Kiev4a.html

Walker

 

[ch1]

gotta love the postal system, from any country!

nice looking kiev bill.

hey, howse the toe?

joe

Actually, I find the USPS to be quite good.

It's easy to "rag" on the USPS - actually a cliche to do so.

Fact is - I've gotten tons of items delivered in fine condition and, espescially find that the USPS Priority Mail system (sorry, international folks, it's US domestic only) is damned fast!

Bought a lens on eBay on Wednesday and had it on Friday - that's 2 days including the Xgiving holiday!

They're good in my book.