I bought a Kiev 2 and now I am broken

K

kyonthinh

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Congrats!
II is good one.

I owned 4AM, for short time and sold it quickly after fixing light leaks.
 
It looks very good, and price is certainly excellent. These were excellent cameras, and the J8 is a fine lens. Other lenses for it are much cheaper than the equivalent ones for screwmount, as well. Enjoy!

Cheers,
Dez
 
Wow! It seems even having that little exposure guide card that goes in a pocket at the back of the case! Great find!
 
Aside from the slightly squinty viewfinder they are a very, very good camera ...I kept mine in preference to a Nikon RF.

I hope it treats you well. :)
 
newspaperguy said:
Congratulations! You bought the best FSU rangefinder ever made. and it is a true Contax copy - Zeiss historian Peter Hemming described the early Kievs as "...a German camera built in Russia." (OK, the Ukraine, really.)

As you may have guessed, I too have, and use, a Kiev II.

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/rffgallery/showphoto.php?photoid=137417
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Wellllll it's a great camera, but needs to rate second best to the fabulous and clunky Leningrad. It's certainly a cut above all the other FSU's. I am always impressed that the plating on early Kievs is a lot better than that of the prewar Contaxes.

Cheers,
Dez
 
KNEB... the inscription...

KNEB... the inscription...

I have a 1952 (SN starts with 53xxx...) and the KNEB inscription. It has treated me quite well.

I was told, the fifties models (identified by SN and the KNEB on the front plate) were early production after reconstruction of the Contax factory at the Kiev Arsenal, post WWII. There is a good chance the camera is assembled from original Contax parts that early in the Kiev Arsenal startup. There was purportedly a lot of parts inventory in the original ship and startup of the factory.

Mine is smooth and very nice operation in all aspects. I have the J8 and love the camera. Great plating, covering, smooth wind-on and shutter on time.

Enjoy.
 
They had probably run out of Contax parts by 1950, but the early 50's Kievs, whether they are Soviet or German, are extremely well made cameras, every bit as good as the prewar Contaxes, and these days usually costing as much, too.

Cheers,
Dez
 
Dez said:
Wellllll

"... it's a great camera, but needs to rate second best to the fabulous and clunky Leningrad."

Sorry Dez...

My experiences with spring-wound cameras (Practina FX, Robot)
soured me completely on that whole concept. Not for me, Thanks.
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I used to have a Nikon S2 black dial that I subsequently sold because I liked the Kiev better. When I got my Kiev ll I was quite surprised at how smooth it was and the rangefinder is exceptional IMO. It has a light leak that I know the source of ... I just haven't got around to fixing it yet.
 
hehe, when CCCP collapsed and the borders opened, here in Finland we had a flood of russian cameras coming in, as all the russkis wanted to "get rich in an instant". you could buy those Contax/Kievs for twenty dollars for kilo. Two bodies weighted that one kilo. If you bought ten, maybe you were lucky with having one or two that worked well. the rest was for practising the service work...I had one that had the shutter # 240, that means it was from German parts. I painted it black and put a golden Lenin emblem on it. Sold it in Ebay, calling it " The commemorative Contax model for Soviet 50 year occupy of the Baltic countries" Like leica has these whatever commemorative models of this and that bridge...
 
Rangefinderfreak said:
hehe, when CCCP collapsed and the borders opened, here in Finland we had a flood of russian cameras coming in, as all the russkis wanted to "get rich in an instant". you could buy those Contax/Kievs for twenty dollars for kilo. Two bodies weighted that one kilo. If you bought ten, maybe you were lucky with having one or two that worked well. the rest was for practising the service work...I had one that had the shutter # 240, that means it was from German parts. I painted it black and put a golden Lenin emblem on it. Sold it in Ebay, calling it " The commemorative Contax model for Soviet 50 year occupy of the Baltic countries" Like leica has these whatever commemorative models of this and that bridge...
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Do I see some hate here? Keep the photography thing in, and leave your personal political traits outside.
 
Nikos72 said:
Do I see some hate here? Keep the photography thing in, and leave your personal political traits outside.
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It`s just a comment on Kiev quality. Hope the guy is happy after recieving the commie camera... We have a saying here that you should get a russki camera from the period ( 5 year plan) when the factory gets new lathe bits....
 
Kiev's are fun cameras to use and give good results when in good shape. Fortunately, they are fairly easy to work on as well, if needed. I think you will like it.
 
Nikos72 said:
Do I see some hate here? Keep the photography thing in, and leave your personal political traits outside.
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Ah Nikos, you've just thrown your own personal political traits in the ring.

If you don't like discussing excrement, don't mention dung.
 
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