Kiev 4am questions...

[Todd.Hanz]

I bought a Kiev 4am a while back and had some questions. The slow speeds (below 1/50) seem off a little.

Second isssue is the Helios 103 that came with it doesn't focus properly while my J-12 seems to work fine.

Any ideas? I don't want to send it out for repair if I can tackle it and of course the Kiev Survival site is down or moved.

Thanks,
Todd

 

[ruben]

Hi Todd,

Ref your Helios 103 the first question is if an object placed exactly at 0.9m from the film plane, does show accurate focusing patch - or not. And the same regarding an object at infinity. With this you are trying to establish first of all if the problem is at the body range finding mechanism, the most usual case.

The Kievs, as you know, were designed for the highest focusing standards, and so remain even today. An object placed at 0.9 meters from film plane should show accurate patch imposition at the viewfinder. If it does show accurate imposition but the pics are out of focus, then definitely the problem is with the lens, and most of the chances you may have to buy another one, with body or without.