Kiev 4M

K

KameraKev

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Jul 22, 2004
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Hi All;
I just received a Kiev 4m that I purchased on the bay. When I first received it, winding was quite rough, however after a few hundred dry firings, it is getting much smoother. The next issue I wanted to address was the meter. I have tried testing the meter against the meter on my Pentax K2. It appears to be within one stop, however when I test the meter indoors without aiming it at a strong light, the meter is totally non-responsive. My question is, is this because my meter is not the best, or is it just that selenium meters are not as sensitive as more modern meters?
Thanks,
Kevin
 
Hi Kevin, Your meter issue is due to a couple of reasons, first most selenium cells never were very responsive in lower light levels, and second is the age of the cell. They have a limited lifespan. You may be able to get the cell replaced, or simply use a handheld meter. Have fun with that Kiev!
 
Check to see if it reads correctly on a sunny day (sunny 16) and adjsut for that if necessary. Does anyone know the low light sensitivity capability of this meter when it's working correctly?
 
I doubt it should work indoor without bright illumination. My Kiev-4 meter didn't work in a church where I was shooting last weekend. Needle didn't move at all, so I used dim light rule - wide open lens and shutter speed depending on subj movement activity. In fact, that was a reason they put x2 and x4 marks on scale. In low light, sometimes it's possible to get a needle at x2 or x4 mark - and double or quadruple exposure respectively.

Eduard.
 
Eduard is a Kiev expert.

That adjustment screw you mentioned is likely a "zero adjust" so that the needle aligns with a no light index mark.
 
Mine seems to work adequately in a dim interior, such as a local bar. Some establishments are too dark for the meter, but basically, if I can easily see the meter, it will show at least -4, and seems to provide a devent exposure. Not sensitive as far down as I might like, but actually more useful than I expected.
 
Just looked into manual for Kiev-4M. According to this document, meter works in a range of luminosity 4 - 16000 cd/m^2.
Not sure I understand what that means in real life.
Eduard.
 
Well, four candles per square meter sounds reasonable for old-fashion Ukrainian Catholic church. But that's probably all they had, and my Kiev is almost 30 years old - some cells are definitely dead.

I believe cd/m^2 == lux; so, according to the conversion table, roughly the range is 0.75 - 6 EV when Kiev-4M was new.

Eduard
 
IMO the meter on a Kiev is pretty much useless in poor light, the cell is too small to give a useful output. The adjustment screw actually moves the scale up & down so that you can "calibrate" it at the diamond at the correct light level (whatever that may be). No way will it read to EV 0.75 by the way, and probably not as low as 6 either!

I actually replaced the cell on my Kiev 4 with a silicon cell that I had lying around - it's about a tenth of the size and over-reads by about a stop now.
 
Sorry, my mistake. Just found couple of formulas for conversion:
l (cd/m^2) = 2^(EV-3) and
l (cd/m^2) = 0.125*2^EV.
Despite the difference they both gives the same result, solving second one we have:
EV = log2(8*l) or for windows calc.exe users
EV = ln(8*l)/ln(2)
According to manual (issued in 1979) Kiev 4M meter range is from 4 cd/m^2 or 5 EV to 16000 cd/m^2 or 17 EV. Yes, these days I'm surprised the meter on my Kiev-4 still works. Sure it lost sensitivity... and to be honest we all know unpowered meter can't be as sensitive and precise as a battery dependent one.

Eduard.
 
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