Kiev 5 on the way

W

wlewisiii

Guest
After wondering about them for ages (and a good page is at http://www.mars.dti.ne.jp/~cianmore/KIEV-5/kiev5.html - it babelfishes OK) I found one on the ebay from a Ukranian seller I'd not heard good or bad before. OK feedback and the lowest price I've seen yet on a 5 proved too tempting.

It'll be interesting to see how a Kiev with a brightline finder handles. Wee!

William
 
William, It looks like an very interisting camera, I hope you are not getting the FSU GAS fever.

Pablo
 
LOL I've got a near permanant case of GAS about Contax/Kiev gear. My wallet usually keeps it in line; (un?) fortunately this one was cheap enough to go for.

Now I juat have to wait on the mail from the Ukrane... foo on being patient! :bang:

William
 
Looks like it would be a good shooter, level winder, what looks like a pc-socket, wide RF base, nicer shutter speed dial. Looks UGLY though. Let us know how it goes.
 
Just google'd a bit more, and found mention of the Kiev 5 on Cameraquest, and indications there, are that the film advance was unreliable, and it's hard to find a fully working model.

http://www.cameraquest.com/zconrfKiev.htm for the Cameraquest page, just scroll down to the Kiev 5.
 
I've read his page too. I gambling that unreliable is ala that of the Iskra - treat it like a watch instead of a sledgehammer and it will continue to work fine. That page also mentions that you can still wind the knob in the traditional manner, so there is that as a fall back as well.

It is a "russian roulette" purchase though, so I just have to wait and see if, in fact, "everything work" :eek: but that's the way this game is - you pay your money and you take your chances. If it is totally hosed, perhaps I can retrofit the finder to my 4a and hack in a TTL meter and ...

What?

William
 
Thanks for volunteering to be a guinea pig William.... we'll all be very grateful :).
 
There are a couple of folks on the best stuff forum that have 5's and speak very highly of them. I do think it's a matter of getting a good one (or at least a fixable one, these being FSU cameras). I'll definately keep everyone posted.

William
 
I've got one and will be interested to hear how you do with yours. Mine is a little, er, quirky, and I've been curious as to whether they're all like that, or whether mine is especially weird.

The two weirdest things about it, I think, are that the bright frames in the finder are slightly trapezoidal, rather than rectangular, and that the focus ring sometimes binds when focusing from close-up to infinity; when that happens, I have to back out slightly to free it. I think this is caused by the spring of the spring-loaded RF coupling ring getting hung up. You do know that regular Kiev/Contax normal lenses won't fit, right...? The 5 doesn't have the traditional Contax built-in focusing mount, just a turning ring to couple to the RF. So, older lenses that fit the external bayonet work OK, but for normals you have to use a Kiev 5 version that has its own focusing mount.
 
Hmm. That's interesting about the finder. Can you tell me what year it was produced in? This one is coming with the Jupiter-8 they made for the external bayonette, so that's covered at least.

William
 
Sometimes I wonder how eBay lists things. I just checked for Kiev-5s, and out of 41 items listed, only two were actually Kiev-5s.
The prices seem to be a good bit higher than for lower-number Kievs. And the 5 lost the traditional "Contax" look. Also, how far can you trust those meters? I have a Kiev-3, a -4 and one 4a (no meter), and I have my doubts how accurate those meters are by now.
 
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It's a selenium meter that's ~30 years old. I presume it's inaccurate and intend to use my VC Meter II on it's shoe. As well it only goes to GOST/ASA 250 which isn't terribly helpful either. I'm more curious about the finder and film transport modifications than anything - it would be nice to have a usable camera that I didn't have to putz with external finders with. OTOH, I fully expect my 4a will remain my day-to-day camera.

William
 
Mine has a 50mm finder frameline only. Did you get one of the post-'74 versions that also has an 85mm frame? That would be a useful addition!
 
No, the one in the bay picture has a 72 serial. But I've heard that the late ones had the 85, but I've also heard that production ended in 73 - certainly not post 74... Wonder which is correct? :) Gotta love these silly cameras...

William
 
When production of various models began/ended seems to depend on whom you are reading. Also, apparently some lines overlapped each other.
 
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