Kiev non-50mm lenses - RF coupled?

[wolves3012]

Looking at Kievs, there are two bayonets - inner and outer. The 50mm lenses fit on the inner bayonet. Am I right to think wide-angle and telephotos fit on the outer bayonet? How does the rangefinder then couple to these lenses? More to the point - do they couple at all? Presumably this is the case, but I don't see how!

 

[darkkavenger]

Hello, all lenses for the Kiev/Contax bayonet system should be coupled except some particular cases such as the Carl Zeiss Tessar 28mm f/8. All short tele/tele lenses should be RF coupled also.

I am certain that some more advanced connaisseurs will be enlightening you about the particular cases. the 50mm will couple through the internal bayonet system while all other lenses will be coupled through the external bayonet mount.

🙂

 

[Mark Wood]

As for the Zeiss 28 mm Tessar, the only FSU lens for the Kiev that doesn't have any rangefinder coupling is the 28 mm / f6 Orion. (Irritatingly, it doesn't have any depth of field markings either but it's a very nice but rare lens).
The outer bayonet only hold the lens on the body and the coupling to the rangefinder is still through the same inner mechanism as the 50 mm lenses. (It's easier to see by looking how it works by looking at the camera/lens than it is to describe in words...!)

 

[ZorkiKat]

The 35mm, 85mm, and 135mm Jupiters have focusing mounts which couple with the bayonet mount and allow full rangefinder coupling.

Jay

 

[wolves3012]

Ok, thanks for the responses. I figured that most lenses must couple somehow or they'd be a pain to use - I just couldn't see how, looking at the outer bayonet! Have to wait and see if/when I get another lens...

 

[ruben]

Probably you didn't get it for forgetting the external bayonet mount lens does include a "locker" fixing their posistion to the bayonet. Both external and internal bayonets are part of the same helical compound and rotation.

Cheers,
Ruben

 

[VinceC]

All the non-50 lenses couple through the use of a spring-loaded built-in adapter that matches up with the internal 50mm lens mount. For that reason, every coupled Contax/Kiev/Nikon lens has the same longish focus travel of 270-degrees from 3 feet to infinity. That makes for very precise focusing of telephotos but can be a little bit of overkill for the wide-angles.

The noncoupled Orion 28/6 has a focus travel of only 90 degrees from 3 feet to infinity. I used a marker to add tick marks indicating depth of field. You could also use a fine-tip pen on top of clear tape.

 

[rxmd]

Some additions: while most 50s attach through the inner bayonet, there are some 50s that attach to the outer bayonet as well (notably the Jupiter-8NB for the Kiev-5 and apparently the Helios-94 as well, even though I've never seen one). According to Princelle there appear to have been a rare Rekord 50/1.8 and a Rekord-4 50/0.9 lens as well that also look like they attach to the external bayonet.

Another uncoupled lens is the twin 35/4 from the SN-5 stereo unit.

 

[napchop]

The Jupiter 8NB and the Helios 50mm lens of the Kiev 5 fit only the Kiev 5. The locking mechanism on the 2, 3 & 4 Kievs prevent their use on these cameras