How many Kievs before you get one that works?

This is one giant used camera paradox coming up each time. If you want a good working Kiev or other camera with no problems, buy it from a reliable source or have it serviced/overhauled by a professional after purchase.

We keep buying cameras untill we have found one that works, instead of spending the same money on one purchase and good service.

Finding a reliable source or service person can be very hard. Many people tend to be experts, but a Kiev/Contax is different in every way for a service technician.

Almost each camera that I bought whether Soviet or other, was promised to be in good condition but had issues. Merchants simply have the priority to sell and can often not judge the condition of the camera.

Last year I offered a Contax IIIa for sale, honestly telling that it needed service on the shutter and the exposure meter. People got suspicious and doubtful about the condition of the camera. I probably would have sold it directly if I wasn't honest...
 
Valkir1987 said:
This is one giant used camera paradox coming up each time. If you want a good working Kiev or other camera with no problems, buy it from a reliable source or have it serviced/overhauled by a professional after purchase.

We keep buying cameras untill we have found one that works, instead of spending the same money on one purchase and good service.

Finding a reliable source or service person can be very hard. Many people tend to be experts, but a Kiev/Contax is different in every way for a service technician.

Almost each camera that I bought whether Soviet or other, was promised to be in good condition but had issues. Merchants simply have the priority to sell and can often not judge the condition of the camera.

Last year I offered a Contax IIIa for sale, honestly telling that it needed service on the shutter and the exposure meter. People got suspicious and doubtful about the condition of the camera. I probably would have sold it directly if I wasn't honest...
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My experience is many of the FSU and Eastern European camera sellers on eBay can tolerate negative feedbacks, especially the ones who sell large amount. One of the contributing factors for this phenomenon is that the prices of the items are not too expensive, and sometimes even cheaper than the shipping cost.

"Sell the junk and get the money in hands" is the priority for such sellers. Honesty doesn't help sales in such cases.

Also, I dare say many of the buyers don't know about the cameras/lenses, and that is what those sellers hope for.
 
The best and FSU cameras without any problem I had from Fedka and from Valkir1987 (Milo) service. They are all still working and even taken to Ukraine at -5C last weeks and at the end of my holidays +20C on the tank it works like a gem.
I had also my C.V. Bessa III 667 with me in Kiev, -5C in the morning and with the accessories in the locker on Kiev station it started to blink, low battery when I was on Maidan. I have quickly warmed it up to finish the shooting (spare battery in the locker, of course!).
For the people who have missed it, the road to Maidan is one big cemetery now. Awful what has happened there 3 years ago.
 
Some fascinating experiences here: I had long admired Contax/Kiev design before I finally got my hands on one... or four!

I am going to persevere, because of both the infatuation (Dogman's spot-on term for it) and the quality of the lenses (I bought a new old-stock J12 35/2.8 wide angle from ARAX, and an absolutely superb Jupiter 9 85/2 from Steve 'blythehill' on eBay).

A light comes on over my head with Sarcophilus's suggestion of grinding down a screwdriver to closely fit the shutter tensioning slot. For those who've perhaps very sensibly been shy of delving into the fiendishly complicated innards of the Contax/Kiev, the spring tension is set by turning a tiny, square-headed 'screw' that is locked by a slot cut in a swinging plate that you can barely reach when the unit is in place in the camera. You have to use a narrow screwdriver, because the lock plate is blocked by a blade that is wider than the screw head.

I found fitting new shutter ribbons hard enough, but having the standard watchmaker's screwdriver I was using either 'walk' out of position and jam the lock plate, or slip and let off the tension for the nth time caused me to walk away from the Contax repair job before I did something I would regret. My work around was to take the shutter out the body and make incremental adjustments before retesting with the shutter back in the body and the frame mask held firmly in place. Having the right screwdriver would have speeded the process and might even have made adjusting the tension in situ, as the otherwise very useful Peter Peter Tooke repair manual suggests, something an ordinary mortal can do (it is THE most fiddley, frustrating job).

Finally, as you say, David, buying the odd dud is all part of the fun of the fair when it comes to second-hand cameras - especially ones as old as these - but I do think the Contax/Kiev design is more susceptible to light leaks than the Leica its many copies.
 
Fotohuis said:
The best and FSU cameras without any problem I had from Fedka and from Valkir1987 (Milo) service. They are all still working and even taken to Ukraine at -5C last weeks and at the end of my holidays +20C on the tank it works like a gem.
I had also my C.V. Bessa III 667 with me in Kiev, -5C in the morning and with the accessories in the locker on Kiev station it started to blink, low battery when I was on Maidan. I have quickly warmed it up to finish the shooting (spare battery in the locker, of course!).
For the people who have missed it, the road to Maidan is one big cemetery now. Awful what has happened there 3 years ago.
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-5℃ should be a piece of cake for Kiev unless it is really gummed up. I've used it in colder temperature. I read from one of the versions of manuals for KIEV-4/4a, that -20℃ the lower limit of its working temperature.
 
Philip Whiteman said:
...Finally, as you say, David, buying the odd dud is all part of the fun of the fair when it comes to second-hand cameras - especially ones as old as these - but I do think the Contax/Kiev design is more susceptible to light leaks than the Leica its many copies.
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Hi,

Every January 1st for several years I have meant to make a list, as they crop up, of all the cameras and their problems mentioned on RFF but never get round to it.

The strange thing is that we never see headings like this one has for other makes. Although they all fail and need repairs only FED, Zorki and their friends get a reputation for it and rants. Look at any make's threads and you'll see they all have bits that fail to no one's surprise except the owners...

Regards, David
 
My experience w/ FSU cameras (not lenses) is that you are just rolling the dice unless you buy it from someone that has used the camera and guarantees it works correctly. I have so many, many memories of bad FSU cameras. I finally just swore to never buy another one and lived a much happier life after that decision :]
 
Only one for me. I did a fair amount of research first and took the warnings to buy from a reputable dealer to heart.

I don't live very far from Fedka, so we met at a Starbucks (it felt a little like adrug deal), I got to see the camera in person and we made the deal in cash. I paid only a little more than the going rate on the auction site and I felt it was worth every penny to meet face to face and get to know the person I was buying from.

That day, 8 years or so ago, I bought a Kiev 4a from 1978 and a Moskva 4 from the late 50s. The Kiev has a very good J8M 50/2. Both cameras worked well at the time of purchase and still work well now.

The two FSU cameras I did NOT buy from a reputable dealer (both Zorki 6s) have been considerably less reliable. Then again, they cost me next to nothing and I have had fun tinkering with them.
 
Only one for me as well.
Got a working Kiev 4 with a J8M at a fleamarket on a trip to Poland, works good but probably a bit slow on the long shutter speeds.
 
I had far more trouble getting my hands on a Contaflex that worked properly. I cannot seem to find anyone who really likes to work on these, even Henry.

The first Kiev I picked up was a solid camera and worked well and still does. I packed on a winter mountain outing this January where the temperatures were very cold (particularly each morning) and it worked flawlessly.

I now own 4 of them and the worst problem I have had was a back latch that needed tightening. Of course, all but one were picked up from Oleg at OKVintage so I was probably cheating.
 
I think that I have bought a total of nine or so over the course of fifteen years at prices ranging for $24 to $48. I bought the first one from Oleg and it worked perfectly right out of the box. Even the light meter worked although I had to set it a stop slower to get the exposures that I wanted.

The second one had a light leak which I fixed after taking it apart several times. Except for two or three others, the remaining Kievs worked fine out of the box except for a few which required tape fix a light leak between the back and the body.

One of the more remarkable ones was a Kiev 4 which KEH Outlet had listed at $25 with free shipping. The picture clearly showed that the covering was peeling off around the edges but the screw heads showed no signs of damage from improper repairs so I took a chance on it. It worked perfectly.
 
David Hughes said:
Hi,

Every January 1st for several years I have meant to make a list, as they crop up, of all the cameras and their problems mentioned on RFF but never get round to it.

The strange thing is that we never see headings like this one has for other makes. Although they all fail and need repairs only FED, Zorki and their friends get a reputation for it and rants. Look at any make's threads and you'll see they all have bits that fail to no one's surprise except the owners...

Regards, David
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Yes, interesting, that. One could almost think that ideology was involved.
 
Pioneer said:
I had far more trouble getting my hands on a Contaflex that worked properly. I cannot seem to find anyone who really likes to work on these, even Henry.

The first Kiev I picked up was a solid camera and worked well and still does. I packed on a winter mountain outing this January where the temperatures were very cold (particularly each morning) and it worked flawlessly.

I now own 4 of them and the worst problem I have had was a back latch that needed tightening. Of course, all but one were picked up from Oleg at OKVintage so I was probably cheating.
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Phil (farlymac) did an excellent job of sorting out a Contaflex II a couple of years ago, and is in the US like you. Whether he'd want to do another one is another matter, of course. I've been known to make one work again for an owner occasionally, but postage to Australia and back makes it much less convenient. Scherer's web site says he acquired the entire parts inventory of Contaflex spares from a Canadian source. One hopes they might be put to good use by him otherwise they benefit noone, since he advises he does not sell spare parts.
Cheers,
Brett
 
Sarcophilus Harrisii said:
Phil (farlymac) did an excellent job of sorting out a Contaflex II a couple of years ago, and is in the US like you. Whether he'd want to do another one is another matter, of course. I've been known to make one work again for an owner occasionally, but postage to Australia and back makes it much less convenient. Scherer's web site says he acquired the entire parts inventory of Contaflex spares from a Canadian source. One hopes they might be put to good use by him otherwise they benefit noone, since he advises he does not sell spare parts.
Cheers,
Brett
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Thanks Brett. I will keep that in mind. :)
 
I am an addict of the Kiev-Contax RF system.

My first Kiev was a 1968-made one, purchased back in 1975 when I was nearly 17 years old.

Comparing it to an original Contax-II, I can say that it was made with the highest care: this, confirmed by a serious repairman, who simply checked and relubed it ca. a decade ago. It never gave any problem nor failed a picture (sometimes, the only failure it was me...), after 40 years of sometimes very intense use.

It is important to remind that the Kievs made earlier than 1970 are the best ones; those from the 50s are perhaps the best ones... but mostly, arrived into our hands after a strong use in any condition.

The 1947 Kiev of my avatar, with its collapsible 3K 50/2, besides strong signs of use, still works very well.

E.L.
 
This thread prompted me to go digging around in the wardrobe where I keep my cameras. In the back, I found a Kiev 4AM (1983 vintage) which I bought two years ago. I put a short roll of film in it and found that it works perfectly, no light leaks. Surprisingly for a Kiev built in the 1980's, the wind and shutter mechanism is smoother than some of my earlier Kievs.
 
This thread prompted me to go digging around in the wardrobe where I keep my cameras. In the back, I found a Kiev 4AM (1983 vintage) which I bought two years ago. I put a short roll of film in it and found that it works perfectly, no light leaks. Surprisingly for a Kiev built in the 1980's, the wind and shutter mechanism is smoother than some of my earlier Kievs.
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The same with me: A Kiev-4AM from 1980 but still going strong. In the meantime together with a Jupiter-8M, J-12 and J-9 for very small money. I even have a stereo adapter with it for half frame stereo pictures.
 
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