KIEV 2 Improve Viewfinder

[Wompa]

Hi everyone!

I have obtained a Kiev 2 and want to know if there is some way to improve the viewfinder.

Its both smal, and very dim.
The camera is alot like the Contax II even if its a camera from -56.

Does it exist any way to get it brighter and maybe a bit larger... without using an aditional viewfinder ontop.

 

[xayraa33]

Use a separate VF in the cold shoe, like a Leitz SBOOI for the 50 mil lens. Just use the RF in the camera's VF for focus only.

These 1930s design RF 35mm cameras all have small squinty and dim viewfinders.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Based on the image provided it needs CLA long time due too.

 

[Sarcophilus Harrisii]

I've never cleaned Kiev optics but I certainly have cleaned a few Contax II optics. There are a multitude of internal optical surfaces that comprise the viewfinder/rangefinder system. In my experience if you are thorough and carefully clean all of them the finder will be surprisingly bright for a 1935 design, and the patch contrasty and phenomenally accurate. It does entail removing the front cover plate, the top cover and the top casing to access all these optics but the reward will be a very usable finder with a RF system that has never been surpassed in accuracy.

As to size—you'll have to live with that. Unless you're up to re-designing the internal lenses for greater coverage and fabricating modified housings for them and for the camera body—without compromising the layout of the internal mechanism. Which you're not (because if you were you would not be asking how to improve the finder in the first place, right?). You'll have to live with that (and fit an external finder if you'd like to).

 

[Wompa]

Based on the image provided it needs CLA long time due too.

Yes.. It wouldnt harm to have it CLA.

I have no clue where it came from or anything, it seems like it must have been a camera that have seen very little use latest 20years and been sitting in a bad place.
The inside had what looked like mold but was some sort of dust collected everywhere and all the grease was like mud.

The focusing was stiff but the shutter worked fine at higher speeds.
So I took it aparts and used it for two rolls of FP4.
Later that day I noticed the focusing was a bit wank and it became more and more obvious the more I used it.

I opened the top and the prism had broken in two right in the middle...
So It was a small crack that I missed when I went true it the first time.

Its fixed now with some epoxy and paint but Its not near as sharp as before when looking true the viewfinder and seeing the patch.
Ohh well.. its a great little camera! I really love it.

 

[Wompa]

I've never cleaned Kiev optics but I certainly have cleaned a few Contax II optics. There are a multitude of internal optical surfaces that comprise the viewfinder/rangefinder system. In my experience if you are thorough and carefully clean all of them the finder will be surprisingly bright for a 1935 design, and the patch contrasty and phenomenally accurate. It does entail removing the front cover plate, the top cover and the top casing to access all these optics but the reward will be a very usable finder with a RF system that has never been surpassed in accuracy.

As to size—you'll have to live with that. Unless you're up to re-designing the internal lenses for greater coverage and fabricating modified housings for them and for the camera body—without compromising the layout of the internal mechanism. Which you're not (because if you were you would not be asking how to improve the finder in the first place, right?). You'll have to live with that (and fit an external finder if you'd like to).

It seems that the prism was cracked before and now it had broken in two.
So that didnt help...
But besides that, It isnt a camera for everyday use and especially fast photos.. I used it during a vintage bicycle meet and it was perfect for that occasion.
Besides that.. its a great camera! I really love using it.
It feels really solid, and its quite reliable for beeing 70years old.

 

[ForestCap]

I got a KIEV 2 last summer and had it serviced by Oleg. Performs very well now. I have had two KIEV 4A before that and I like all of them. I tend to use the KIEVs in winter more since their shutters are more cold proof, and the heft of the camera fits the heaviness of the season very well.

 

[Philip Whiteman]

I'd recommend getting your hands on an el cheapo (and generally crap) Kiev 4, and swapping its intact viewfinder 'pencil' for the broken one in your 2, Wompa. That component is identical from the Contax II all the way to the Kiev 4M - and a Kiev 2 is well worth resurrecting, being built by a motivated workforce trained by ex-Zeiss technicians.

The viewfinder prism of even the late Kievs seems to be well made - but the less said about the mechanical aspects of the camera, the better.

Your Kiev 2 also doesn't appear to have been butchered to incorporate a flash sync socket, which makes it all the nicer.

Cleaned and lubricated, as I imagine you have done already, it should be an excellent camera, close to a Contax in its quality - and something worth hanging on to (and using)

 

[Wompa]

I'd recommend getting your hands on an el cheapo (and generally crap) Kiev 4, and swapping its intact viewfinder 'pencil' for the broken one in your 2, Wompa. That component is identical from the Contax II all the way to the Kiev 4M - and a Kiev 2 is well worth resurrecting, being built by a motivated workforce trained by ex-Zeiss technicians.

The viewfinder prism of even the late Kievs seems to be well made - but the less said about the mechanical aspects of the camera, the better.

Your Kiev 2 also doesn't appear to have been butchered to incorporate a flash sync socket, which makes it all the nicer.

Cleaned and lubricated, as I imagine you have done already, it should be an excellent camera, close to a Contax in its quality - and something worth hanging on to (and using)

Great idea, because even if I glued it quite good it feels that the prism is a bit wonky and it doesnt aline the screen completly 100%.

Its a real tank of a camera! And I would love to use it more, but the viewfinder is of quilter so Im at the point not that I need to aline the 0,9m and infinity... it takes a bit of trial and error.

I will check Ebay after a relic of a KIEV and see If im lucky with the prism. And also.. I get alot of extra screws because that is missing from my camera 🙂