Kiev 4

[rolleistef]

Hi,
first day shootin' at school with my old glory,
using mainly the depth-of-field, and thanks to the quiet shutter, I took photos of people standing two meters ahead!
The light meter, though not useable indoor, is acurate, and once you got the tip, you can use it instead of a hand-held light meter (well, not for slides of course =)
good-night, have a nice day! (10:30pm in paris)

 

[Arthur Soares]

Yay!

Yay!

been a while since i haven't post anything here,
my last post was about me getting or not a Kiev 4.

Well, guess what it turned out,
lol.
got a wonderfully working Kiev 4 (meter) from 1960s, all shutter-speeds are ok and the meter too!

Great camera 🙂

 

[ruben]

Regarding the question Metered or non metered, I think It´s a question of personal preferences.
I usually prefer metered cameras, but I´m carrying allways a handheld meter (a LunaPro CdS).
If you find either a Kiev 4 or a Contax III with the meter working (even out of calibration), buy it. The cell can be replaced, recalibrated and it´ll be allways of some help.
Non metered cameras force you to think and calculate the exposure, and the most important, to not rely only on the meter reading alone, but to make a reasonable judgement according to what do you want to obtain.

Ernesto

After testing the meter of my flawless 69 Kiev, at ISO 100 indoors and outdoors, against my digital Sekonic L308, and finding both in total agreement, I formally retreat from my former statements at this thread, against the user value of metered Kievs, with special apologies to Ernesto and Claidemore.

By the way, again, this Kiev was bought against all my theories of responsible\expensive buying, just careless, because of the exhuberant external beauty of the camera, as pictured at ebay.

"Facts are stubborn things"

Cheers,

Ruben

 

[ErnestoJL]

Ruben:
No need for apologies!!!!
It´s a question of preferences, and if you prefer to go with a handheld meter, that´s OK. I´m currently doing almost the same, because many of my cameras don´t have a working meter, and of course, even working well, the meters are of the average type and have no intelligence to help me.
To be honest, what I would like to have is a fixed lens RF with a spot meter like the Oly 35SP, but unfortunately those are unusual to find locally in good shape.
Then I do my spot meterings by hand.

Kind regards

Ernesto

 

[ruben]

Ruben:
No need for apologies!!!!
It´s a question of preferences, and if you prefer to go with a handheld meter, that´s OK. I´m currently doing almost the same, because many of my cameras don´t have a working meter, and of course, even working well, the meters are of the average type and have no intelligence to help me.
To be honest, what I would like to have is a fixed lens RF with a spot meter like the Oly 35SP, but unfortunately those are unusual to find locally in good shape.
Then I do my spot meterings by hand.

Kind regards

Ernesto

I do own an Oly 35SP, and can tell you, that besides a hell of a lens, the spot meter feature there is no big deal. Not because it is not accurate but because it is too big spot area metering (the rather big yellow patch). In practice it gives you some compensation, usually 1 stop plus or minus from the general reading (which is also accurate and good), but I would not say it is rather a big deal in practice than it is in the concept. (Kudos for Maitani !). The OM4's and 3s' are a totally different story, a spoting delikatesen, or better said a Multi spot delicatessen. (More Kudos for Maitani ! ! !)

I also own a Sekonic L408 spot meter, which being smaller than minoltas is still too big for a daily companion.

As for the metered Kievs, after finding the acuracy of mine - I can manage with it instead of a handheld meter for day light, and this is a good step forwards for me.
Unfortunately, the Kievs meter cannot meter at ISO 800/1600. Here I am left with a problem that my small other Sekonic is to compensate for.

As I am getting older I am becomming more and more sensitive to camera noise and conspicuosy, as to not being seen unless I deliberatedly want it.

Cheers,
Ruben