Kiev 4m options

[stephen_lumsden]

Hi

The Kiev 4a seems to be shaping up ok.
Using a Sekonic 308s seems to work ok with it but sometime I would like a bit more of a mini setup.

Thinking of ordering a Kiev 4m from Yuri at fedka.com (his J-12 seem v.good so far, the j-9 stiil unsure about, but not enough pics taken yet to say good or bad..).

The advantages about the 4m seem to be:

Hot shoe:

Is this effective and can I use it with any flash, most likely the one which goes with ethe Canonet I have (forget the name but it is the Canon on which is suppoed to go with the Canonet)

Meter:

Fedka.com say it is working, but is it any good? I am not talking good enough for Slide here but print/bw would be ok.

Any ideas?

rgds

Stephen

 

[Duncan Ross]

Hi

The Kiev 4a seems to be shaping up ok.
Using a Sekonic 308s seems to work ok with it but sometime I would like a bit more of a mini setup.

Thinking of ordering a Kiev 4m from Yuri at fedka.com (his J-12 seem v.good so far, the j-9 stiil unsure about, but not enough pics taken yet to say good or bad..).

The advantages about the 4m seem to be:

Hot shoe:

Is this effective and can I use it with any flash, most likely the one which goes with ethe Canonet I have (forget the name but it is the Canon on which is suppoed to go with the Canonet)

Meter:

Fedka.com say it is working, but is it any good? I am not talking good enough for Slide here but print/bw would be ok.

Any ideas?

rgds

Stephen

The hotshoe seems to handle modern flashes with no problems, certainly the flash contacts are substantial enough! My meter is always within a stop and there is a degree of adjustment under the meter knob. Mine gets a bit lazy as the light gets low though so I only really trust it for outdoor shots.

The jupiter 12 is a cracker. Here is an example using old-fashioned film;

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=12051&cat=500&page=2

I find the viewfinder slightly better on the 4M/4AM too, there is less of a letterbox to look through.

Good luck!

Duncan

 

[newspaperguy]

I'm a confirmed Kievoholic, but if you're talking "mini-setup",
You're NOT talking Kiev. When I need compact, I turn to a
Zorki 1 (or other bottom loader) with a J-12. If it's the meter
that's bugging you, take a look at Gandy's CV clip on. Much
more accurate than any old selenium IMHO.

Rick

 

[stephen_lumsden]

Thanks guys. May look for a 4m now as I do not really have the money for the CV clip on yet and cannot justify one at the moment. The J-12 is quite cool though, and while the Kiev is not the smallest camera in the world, I will use my Canonet for the smallest setup I have rather than go for another LTM Russian RF. When it come to interchangeable lens RFs, the Kiev is good enough for me right now.

rgds

Stephen

 

[varjag]

Don't bother with Kiev's built-in meter. Use sunny16 rule or buy a cheap meter (e.g. Sverdlovsk-4).

 

[pangkievrange]

I'm a kiev rangefinder collector. For practical use, I take out Kiev 4m or kiev 4m (extra weight for low speed shooting) for shooting all the time. If the situation is more relaxing, I bring out kiev 3 or kiev 5 and fiddle with the loading procedure (Make no mistake, I use cassettes).The meter on my kiev 4m will give a kind of accuracy (1/4s at f/8, kind of struggling) and the response to strong light condition is not very linear (e.g., 1/500-1/1000 at f/8). I recently bought sverdlovsk-4 and put in 3 AA alkaline batterys. A very accurate meter (self-calibration!!). I like the incident light function.

pangkievrange

 

[varjag]

Yep, Sverdlovsk-4 is a nice and useful gadget. Got one for my friend, would buy now for myself too.

And for the extra weight at handheld shooting I use universal finder on my 4A