Kiev 4A arrived; observations

[dabick42]

@ Wolves - No offense intended !
I admit my criticism was a bit heavy, and out of order, so I offer my apologies.
One man's meat is another's poison, as they say.
I owned two Kievs in the distant past and got absolutely no joy out of either, reliability-wise, and that, along with noting many similar tales of woe from other users, has soured my view of them.
I see from your equipment listing that you own many FSU cameras and from this I can only salute you as being a braver and more forgiving man than I am !
Good luck, good shooting...

- Dave

 

[S.H.]

(...)
I owned two Kievs in the distant past and got absolutely no joy out of either, reliability-wise, and that, along with noting many similar tales of woe from other users, has soured my view of them.
(...)

Just my 2 cents :
Those cameras have to be hand picked, and/or properly maintained. It helps to have a competent repairman nearby. Part of the fun, or part of the problem, it depends... 😛

 

[pschauss]

Just to add to the statistics, I have 4 Kiev 4's , 3 with meters and one without. Three of them work perfectly and one has a light leak which I was unable to cure after taking the camera apart two or three times to add or replace the light seals under the top cover.

The three which work are fantastic cameras. It is definiltely worth the effort to find a good one.

 

[wolves3012]

@ Wolves - No offense intended !
I admit my criticism was a bit heavy, and out of order, so I offer my apologies.
One man's meat is another's poison, as they say.
I owned two Kievs in the distant past and got absolutely no joy out of either, reliability-wise, and that, along with noting many similar tales of woe from other users, has soured my view of them.
I see from your equipment listing that you own many FSU cameras and from this I can only salute you as being a braver and more forgiving man than I am !
Good luck, good shooting...

- Dave

Since you have the decency to explain, no offence taken. My collection of FSUs was almost entirely randomly taken from the auction site, over a period of time. I bought the first on a whim and was impressed at the results it gave.

Prior to that, my only exposure was the Kiev 4 that was my father's and I've inherited. That has never been serviced since it was bought, in the mid '70s and yet it still works, bar the dead meter. My take on them is that they are all elderly cameras and are unlikely to have been serviced, based on the low initial cost.

No, they aren't hi-tech and yes, they were made with quantity in mind over quality. Knowing this and being someone with a mechanical aptitude, they've all received some attention - ranging from minor fettling to major work. However, of the 30 or so I have or have had, I'd say about 75% worked well enough as bought. For such old and likely neglected cameras, that doesn't lead me to think they were so bad. The other 25% were in easily-repairable shape, suffering from neglect or age rather than actually having anything broken.

I'd invite you to visit the other forums and see that other old cameras are not without fault, even the pampered and more valuable makes. Simple fact is, they're mechanical devices and they need service and maintenance to continue working as intended. I'm sorry for your previous experiences with Kievs, you surely drew the short straws in what I would admit is the FSU lottery. Perhaps if my first experience had been a sour one I'd be cross too.

 

[Moto-Uno]

Have 3 Mockba-5 cameras,one excellent,one with a light leak(had to put a 50w quartz halogen headlight bulb in the camera in a very dark closet and was able to find it,no way with a flash light could I see it)and the other one was pretty much crap.Having said that USSR online found me a replacement ( the light leak one,since repaired) and mailed it to me,no charge to replace the crap unit,pretty commendable.They have a gearhead kinda charm to them and such large negatives!!!
Regards,Peter

 

[dabick42]

@ Wolves - The irony is that I always WANTED my Kievs to work well and reliably, because they were based on the classic, beautifully made Contax and one expected, perhaps naively, similar performance.

My first camera was a Nikon F, bought new in 1962/63 and still have and use regularly.
Its meter is unreliable nowadays, but the body still works perfectly after 1000's of rolls of film, and never serviced.
I have four other F's accumulated over the years, all well used, all working perfectly, all never serviced to my knowledge.

All cameras should be like this !

I have three Voigtlander Prominents, all early 50's vintage. I've had them 30-odd years, used them hard and often, and each has had just one shutter service. Beautiful, unbreakable cameras.

Then there's the Leicas, M's and LTM's.
I've several of both, and yes, they do like a service about every 10 years to remain reliable with frequent use.

In this company, FSUs are also-rans, where an occasional one can be a good one.
I wish it were otherwise....

 

[stevebrot]

My name IS Steve and I have three FSU cameras. (Sounds a bit like AA.)

My first Kiev was a 4AM and it was junk. Fedka replaced it for free with a 1961 version and threw in a case and Helios 103 as bonus along with the J-8. The J-8 had a bad diaphragm and Fedka replaced it with a newer (non-P 🙁) one. Soon after I got it, the shutter ribbons failed. Fedka did a full CLA as part of the shutter fix.

Do I like my Kiev? You Betcha!!! (Photo HERE)

I also have a Zorki 4K (nice viewfinder, needed shutter service) and a FED-2 (great in-hand feel, needed rangefinder work...did it myself). Do I like my Zorki and my FED-2? You Betcha!

I also have a Canon P. The P is a work of art and a pleasure to use. Which cameras see time in the field? The Kiev and the FED!!!


Steve