Kiev Survival Site

ilf

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Apr 12, 2019
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Hello good people of rangefinder forum,

I'm a fairly new user on the forum, but so far I've been silently reading it, learning and mostly trying to fix my cameras by myself. The forum has been indispensable with advice on different topics, especially on FSU cameras like the Kiev. Another great resource was the Kiev Survival Site, that has been taken offline recently (probably the last couple of weeks).

Right now I have a disassembled Kiev 4 (I have been taking it apart so many times, that I'm fairly certain I can put it back together). However I also have a Jupiter 11 that desperately needs cleaning and readjusting (the last part mainly because I'm a bit of a brute and tried unscrewing the wrong part of the lens which probably messed up with the helical. However KSS has been down and I can only read the text from the Internet Archive, the photos are not available anymore, so I'm a bit lost.

Does anyone have a backup copy of the site or a way to contact Russ Pinchbeck (who I know was once a member of the site). I also might have some space and bandwidth to be able to host a mirror of the KSS, if Russ is willing to move it.

Either way any help with trying to re-gather all the indispensable resources on Kiev 4s in one place is welcome, or even if you are willing to do some hand-holding and have experience with Jupiter 11 and how to properly put it back together, I promise to try to recreate a how-to afterwards.

Thank you good people of rangefinderforum.
 
The owner of that Kiev Survival Site was a forum member here on RFF...rpinchbeck was his nom de plume here....maybe PM him if he is still around and still following RFF, just a thought.
 
You might try accessing the archived version of the site at the "wayback machine":
https://web.archive.org/web/20130120112236/http://www3.telus.net/public/rpnchbck/index

The internet archive has trouble with the images, so does google cache :bang:
Sorry, just noticed that you already tried that. How about youtube? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eD5gbeF-s8s

Thank you for this one, I searched, obviously not very well :)

The owner of that Kiev Survival Site was a forum member here on RFF...rpinchbeck was his nom de plume here....maybe PM him if he is still around and still following RFF, just a thought.

I found a topic in the forum with some of his replies, unfortunately it seems his account has been either deleted or deactivated, so he might no longer be on the forum. I think I found his Instagram online, but he hasn't posted since 2019, so I was hoping someone from the forum knows him personally and could ask him what are his plans for the KSS.
 
He didn't take it down because he wanted to. The hosting company is closing up shop and so the site owner may be looking for another service.

"Due to aging hardware, TELUS has made the decision to shutdown Subscriber Web Domain Hosting and FTP Service. All associated websites are no longer available. If you are attempting to access a website no longer available, please contact the website administrator. Subscriber Web Services will cease operations as of October 1, 2020. Please remove any files or data you would like to keep. If you require any password help or further assistance please contact the TELUS help desk at 1-888-811-2323.We apologize for any inconvenience and we thank you for using our services."

PF
 
He didn't take it down because he wanted to. The hosting company is closing up shop and so the site owner may be looking for another service.

"Due to aging hardware, TELUS has made the decision to shutdown Subscriber Web Domain Hosting and FTP Service. All associated websites are no longer available. If you are attempting to access a website no longer available, please contact the website administrator. Subscriber Web Services will cease operations as of October 1, 2020. Please remove any files or data you would like to keep. If you require any password help or further assistance please contact the TELUS help desk at 1-888-811-2323.We apologize for any inconvenience and we thank you for using our services."

PF

Sorry if I come a bit blunt here, but I obviously saw the message already and I think I was pretty clear that my particular current need of the site is not that important and my end target was to be able to salvage the site and it's knowledge, especially if Russ Pinchbeck is uninterested in maintaining the site anymore. If someone is in contact with him and knows his plans, I'll be far more calm about the possible loss of knowledge. Also as time passes by, the chance of losing the information permanently increases exponentially. My overall hope is that someone saved bits and pieces and we can recreate it from scraps or from web caches if the site is lost due to telus sending it to /dev/null and Russ no longer having interest in it.
 
Sorry, ilf, I was just trying to add a piece of the puzzle to your query for those who might not have bothered to look up the site, or don't have it bookmarked.

My thoughts are that Russ might not be interested in continuing the site, as I saw that notice quite some time ago, and he should have been able to port it over to another hosting company by now unless the platform it was built on is no longer compatible with today's standards and he didn't care to rebuild it from scratch.

PF
 
Again, sorry if I came a bit blunt, I appreciate your response.

I've been on the site so many times the past year or so, and I never noticed the message, which was stupid of me. I would have made a mirror of it. I suspect too, that he is not interested in continuing the support of the site. I can host a mirror of it, as I have the ability to do so currently.

I also have found several Kiev 4 support manuals in Russian. With the help of google translate and the fact that I also speak Bulgarian, I managed to find my way around those, so I can even add even more info to the site. That is why I'm so eager to try to find a way to resuscitate the KSS, even from bits and pieces. I already own several Kievs in different (non)working state and also the lenses for them, I shoot them regularly and I enjoy them very much (when I'm not repairing them :) ).

Personally for me, the site is like a quick go-to manual if I forget something, but I would say that the lens CLA manuals are the most precious part of KSS, as this is not information that is readily available, unlike the Kiev/Contax info. Also the info on Isolette is handy too. I still own an Ikonta 532/16 that I would probably never be able to fix, but Russ' site has so many pointers in general, that it is extremely useful if you attempt to do self-repairs no matter what the camera is.
 
Yeah, it's a sad reality about the Internet that as technology advances it leaves a lot of sunken sites in its wake. Too many of my Bookmarks have had to be deleted due to site owners who just don't have the interest or resources to keep things going, and server hosts that fail to keep their platforms updated.


PF
 
I have most of the KSS pages archived, and could possibly put them in a ZIP file (or files) when I have time, and if it would not infringe copyright.. Does anyone have the means of hosting them?
 
I have most of the KSS pages archived, and could possibly put them in a ZIP file (or files) when I have time, and if it would not infringe copyright.. Does anyone have the means of hosting them?


Hello, I would love to get my hands on that archive, even if it is for personal use. I can also host the mirror, I currently have several instances for my personal use on scaleway, so I can mirror the site there, if Russ is OK with that. The site in itself is in the Internet Archive database, but most of the photos are not cached for some reason.

I would appreciate if you can share the archive with me for personal use and I'll be on standby if Russ Pinchbeck allows to host a mirror of it, I'll just upload it on one of my instances for archival purposes.
 
I commend all efforts to keep the Kiev survival site alive!

Even if its in Bulgarian.... :)
 
I commend all efforts to keep the Kiev survival site alive!

Even if its in Bulgarian.... :)

LOL, no. Neither in Bulgarian, nor in Spanish. If I ever find the time to learn Danish, I wouldn't write anything about cameras in that language, too :)
 
Hello all!
Rumours of my demise are greatly underexagerated. Lol

Thanks to maigo for reaching out to me and letting me know that Telus, my personal hosting provider, pulled the carpet out from under me without notice.
I very much want to keep the site alive and available, and free, to you guys. I may not be active at the moment noodling around with Kievs or other rangefinder cameras but I still feel the magnetic pull of film once in a while. Took my restored Roleicord out for a spin a couple weeks ago with Tri-X in it.

As for manias that are bewitching my mind these days, Vespa scooters. Try keeping a fleet of those alive is a fulltime job. Current activity is restoring a Thorens TD 125 turntable with the lovely SME 3009 tonearm.

Back to the important topic of the day. Yes, I will find a place to host KSS. I have the website backed up. In fact, I developed it offline so I have the full thing ready to transplant somewhere. Stay cool guys, it will rise from the ashes and look remarkedly and boringly the same. Lol

Cheers,
Russ Pinchbeck
Calgary, Alberta
 
Hello all!
Rumours of my demise are greatly underexagerated. Lol

Thanks to maigo for reaching out to me and letting me know that Telus, my personal hosting provider, pulled the carpet out from under me without notice.
I very much want to keep the site alive and available, and free, to you guys. I may not be active at the moment noodling around with Kievs or other rangefinder cameras but I still feel the magnetic pull of film once in a while. Took my restored Roleicord out for a spin a couple weeks ago with Tri-X in it.

As for manias that are bewitching my mind these days, Vespa scooters. Try keeping a fleet of those alive is a fulltime job. Current activity is restoring a Thorens TD 125 turntable with the lovely SME 3009 tonearm.

Back to the important topic of the day. Yes, I will find a place to host KSS. I have the website backed up. In fact, I developed it offline so I have the full thing ready to transplant somewhere. Stay cool guys, it will rise from the ashes and look remarkedly and boringly the same. Lol

Cheers,
Russ Pinchbeck
Calgary, Alberta

Thanks for the info, and it is indeed good news.

And if I have never said it before, Thanks for the Kiev Survival Site. I know it has been useful to me.
 
I'm glad the KSS will live on, it would be a big blow if it had been lost. I've written repair stuff myself, some of which resides here on RFF, so I know the work involved. A whole site like KSS though, I tip my hat to Russ for producing it. Great news that it will continue. As above, I'll just add my thanks to Russ, I've also found KSS helpful in sorting out a couple of Kievs!
 
Hello good people,

sorry for me being away, I got a bit ill, still don't know what it was, but it probably was the novel corona virus. I still don't have the test results back, but I'm finally better anyway. In other words, stay safe above anything else.

As to the revival of KSS, thank you to all who contacted Russ. I'm glad I'll be able to get back to tinkering with my cameras. If Russ wants a place to host the site, I still have space at my scaleway hosting, so just ping me and I'll set up something.

Thank you all, and again, stay safe out there.
 
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