Kiess Wide Angle Point and Shoot Camera?

[Wayne R. Scott]

Some idle thoughts from an idle mind.

I have a Kiev 4 AM that is in good shape, with the exception of the rangefinder which does not work.

IDEA 1 - I was toying with the idea of tearing into it myself, but based on the number of partially completed tasks I have lying around the house and in the garage that have been in Limbo for several years now I have decided against this idea.

IDEA 2 - I thought about sending the Kiev to Henry S. for a complete overhaul, but I can buy about 8 or 9 more Kievs complete with lens for that amount of money. Nope, not gonna do that.

IDEA 3 - I thought I might send it to Oleg and have it serviced, but I can buy another one from him in good working order for about the same amount of money. So it is gonna stay Stateside.

IDEA 4 - I am going to turn it into a Kiess (this is a combination of Kiev and Zeiss) wide angle point and shoot camera. I have a Zeiss Biogon 21mm wide angle lens and a 21mm viewfinder that I have attached to the Kiev 4 AM. I then printed out a hyper focal chart from an Excel spread sheet that I have taped to the back of the camera body. Example: Aperature F8, focus at 6 feet everything from 3 feet to infinity will be in acceptable focus. So this will become basically a wide angle point and shoot camera.

Does this sound like a reasonable combination? After all the camera body is just a dark box to hold the film .

Wayne

 

[phototone]

You bet. The depth of field of 21mm is vast. Why not. That Zeiss Biogon is fantastially sharp. I know, I have one.

 

[kbg32]

Great combination. Go for it!

 

[dexdog]

An unorthodox combination, but sounds like a lot of fun to use. I shot a roll of film recently with my 21mm, and after checking the DOF scale on the lens the first few time decided that focusing was not necessary anyway. It was a sunny day, most common aperture was f 11, and DOF was enormous.

 

[dexdog]

Oh, I forgot to mention that Henry S no longer works on Kiev cameras, according to a recent post on his web site.

 

[Wayne R. Scott]

An unorthodox combination, but sounds like a lot of fun to use. I shot a roll of film recently with my 21mm, and after checking the DOF scale on the lens the first few time decided that focusing was not necessary anyway. It was a sunny day, most common aperture was f 11, and DOF was enormous.

Yes, I figure at f11 I can focus lens at 4.4 feet and everything from 2.2 feet to infinity will be acceptably in focus. If I get closer than 2.2 feet to someone I may get punched. 😉

Good news about Henry, I really didn't want to sink a fortune into this old camera any way.

Wayne

 

[FrankS]

Sounds like a Russian Bessa L, or a Leica M1.

 

[cbass]

Wayne,

Didn't the Ukranians build such a camera (i.e., "Kiess") in the late 1950s? A Zayra perhaps (I forget the name)? It was basically a FED-2 without the RF. I've seen one before, it's a cool peice of gear.

Anyway, I think your "Kiess" is a great idea. Anything that lets the shooter use his or her imagination is aces in my book. Good luck with your project!