dee
Well-known
This is old news, but, some years later, i keep near at hand, both my Kiev/Arsenal tan/silver rat Contax II and my Contax III body with Kiev 4 top plate/meter and controls.
Maybe I don't use them any more, though the Jupiters live on on the M8,but they form a window of connection beyond the bewildering lostness.
The musing is upon why do these cameras together with the KneB III/IV and the Kiev shuttered parts Contax II work for me ?
It's not just the physical cameras whereby hand and eye actually work together [like the Leica Digilux 3] but the history, constancy and the amazing opportunity for the guys that actually built Kiev cameras creating these unique hybrids just for me.
I am fascinated by the ingenuity of the technicians in creating an SLR from a Leica copy, and the neat copying of the post war Contax create my favourite Kiev 4 look-alike.
But it's also about that continuity/sameness of a 1935 body with 1957 rarer non ridged meter and controls. which continued until the 1970s.
The standard Kiev 4 does not work in the same way for me because my mind sees it as not-same/compromised by the revised body.
This is 'off topic' because in a sense, it's not about camera collecting or Russian Rangefinders , or Contax, but about a rare Connection/Konnection in an out of phase world which persists beyond taking photos.
dee
Maybe I don't use them any more, though the Jupiters live on on the M8,but they form a window of connection beyond the bewildering lostness.
The musing is upon why do these cameras together with the KneB III/IV and the Kiev shuttered parts Contax II work for me ?
It's not just the physical cameras whereby hand and eye actually work together [like the Leica Digilux 3] but the history, constancy and the amazing opportunity for the guys that actually built Kiev cameras creating these unique hybrids just for me.
I am fascinated by the ingenuity of the technicians in creating an SLR from a Leica copy, and the neat copying of the post war Contax create my favourite Kiev 4 look-alike.
But it's also about that continuity/sameness of a 1935 body with 1957 rarer non ridged meter and controls. which continued until the 1970s.
The standard Kiev 4 does not work in the same way for me because my mind sees it as not-same/compromised by the revised body.
This is 'off topic' because in a sense, it's not about camera collecting or Russian Rangefinders , or Contax, but about a rare Connection/Konnection in an out of phase world which persists beyond taking photos.
dee