rover said:
I am thinking of finally getting a Kiev 4a. Hopefully the cover will be peeling off so I can cover it in a nice navy blue. If possible I will get one with a J8 and J3. Then I can hunt down a turrit finder, a J12 and J9 and J4.68....
But I have to LOOSE the 135!
Ralph, the Kiev is really a nice machine.
When my M2 was away on CLA, and before Brian's M3 arrived, I was shooting with my Kiev 4A exclusively for about 2 weeks (see the photo in my gallery of my younger son with a patterned tablecloth
😀). And, lo and behold, it has grown on me! I even find myself wanting to put it in the bag instead of my Leica M2 or M3!
It sure is the camera I'll take with me when I fear Leicas would be damaged...
I can really tell you that Kiev 4A is definitely the camera that I would without hesitation proclaim as THE best-buy of all times. If you get one with reliable shutter, everything else is pretty easy to repair - and even if you send it to someone like Oleg for a CLA, it will definitely cost less than any Leica CLA....
The RF is pretty accurate, and again easy to correct or adjust... My only gripe is small viewfinder. Pretty difficult to use if you wear glasses, too.
I wear glasses, and I often wish the VF was a bit bigger. Another thing - glue some protective material around the VF, so you don't scratch your glasses...
The photo below shows the VF, and the little leatherette "ring" I glued around it - same material as my "custom cover". You can see that the little viewfinder "window" is really small...