Kiev 4 focusing

[Mauro]

Dear friends,
I am trying to understand how focusing works on a Kiev 4; most of all, it is not clear the use of the Infinity lock and release.
Thanks for your help, and have a nice day!
Mauro

 

[RichardS]

I have no idea why Contax put a lock on the focusing wheel or why Kiev copied it, but there is really nothing understand about focusing. If you turn the lens to infinity, it locks in place. Push down on the small lever at the focusing dial and the lock will be released and you can focus, either by turning the dial or by turning the lens itself.

Make certain your right hand isn't covering the right window of the rangefinder. If you hold the camera the way you might hold any other camera, your index finger will be directly over the right rangefinder window which means you can't see any change in the rangefinder as you focus the lens. I think the Kiev is a great camera. Enjoy it.

Dick

 

[VinceC]

I've learned to live with the lock. It does make it a bit easier to remove the 50mm lens. All other focal lengths de-activate the lock. I found it incredibly annoying when I first started using a Kiev, but if you use the camera regularly, you train your finger to release the lock out of habit without even thinking about it.

 

[Hamster]

Vince, Just out of interest, in terns of ergonomics, how does the Kiev compares with the Nikons you have. I know Kiev is not a fast camera to use, but does nikon's implementation of the contax mount speed things up?

 

[VinceC]

For the most part, Nikon speeds things up a bit. But they're definitely of the same extended family. With Kiev, you need to splay your fingers with the "Contax grip" to avoid covering the RF window. Not much of a problem on Nikon. I have never used a Nikon M or S, which have dimmer viewfinders. The S2, S3 and SP all use bright life-size viewfinders, which makes framing very fast. It's faster to change shutter speeds on the S3 and SP, probably a toss-up between Kiev and S2 ... both have finicky shutter speed dials. The secondary RF image on a good Kiev is significantly sharper and easier to see than on a Nikon. Rewinding a Nikon RF is much, much faster than the knob on a Kiev. Flash sync on a Kiev is something like 1/25, versus 1/50 on a Nikon S2 and 1/60 on the S3 and SP. I kind of think of Nikons as the cameras Contax should have built. ... They're a refinement over a Kiev/Contax in the way that an M Leica is a refinement over a Barnack screwmount Leica.

 

[rpinchbeck]

Dear friends,
I am trying to understand how focusing works on a Kiev 4; most of all, it is not clear the use of the Infinity lock and release.
Thanks for your help, and have a nice day!
Mauro

Mauro,

Have a look at the following page on the Kiev Survival Site.
http://www3.telus.net/public/rpnchbck/helical clean.html

Cheers,

Russ Pinchbeck

 

[ErnestoJL]

The infinity lock has another function: it is designed to lock the inner bayonet (which is used only for the 50 mm lens) at infinity then any other lens can interlock with it adequately to drive the RF.
Once the new lens is in place, the lock is released, then focusing as allowed.

The way the RF works is complex however strightforward.
Zeiss choose a prism design instead of a mirror based RF because it is inherently safer in terms of stability, besides it gives a very long RF base. I think that it was designed in such a way to offer the customer a newer and more accurate RF than Leitz would offer at the time. We must not forget the competition of the time: Contax Vs. Leica. They were the best system cameras of the time and with this RF design, Zeiss would be in a better position to fight.
The RF itself is as simple as it can be however the prism were (and are still today) way more expensive than a simple mirror. Thta´s perhaps the reason why it wasn´t copied nor adopted for any other manufacturer other than Kievskii Arsenal Zhavod.
Besides the Kievs were reputed in and out of the FSU as "the finest and better cameras made there".
The explanation about how the RF works is in the Kiev Survival Site, so a visit to Russ Pinchbeck site will be way better than my words.
IMO VinceC is right in regard of that Nikons were the cameras Zeiss should have made instead of keeping the original design. The Nikon SP is the best proof that it could be made.
If that were the history, I´m sure things would be a lot different than are today.

Ernesto