Medium Format reccomendations?

[thpook]

While everyone is on the medium format topic ... have any of you FSU users had any experience with a Salyut C or a Kiev 88? Maybe even the Pentacon 6? I want to get a system with interchangeable lenses if anyone has anything that they would like to part company with 😀 I have a Moskva 5 and the folding Mamiya 6 but want something a little more versatile. I love TLR's to fiddle with and look at but find them a little awkward in actual use.

dan

You'd be better served by a kowa 6 than a Kiev or a Salyut. QC is bad, and while some people find gems, other people get cameras that break all the time and are unreliable. I had a Kiev 88, and the first one had a hole in the shutter. Sent it back, got the new one and the first time I cocked the shutter / advanced the film the pin that held the winding knob on sheared. I played back and forth a couple more times, and when I finally got one that worked I didn't want to use it anymore.

Kowa can go for about 300 on the bay. I got mine for 275. The 85mm lens is nice, the 150mm lens is fantastic.

 

[RObert Budding]

Dan - I bought a Mamiya 645 Pro TL becaiuse I wanted more versatility than a TLR offered (but I kept the TLR, too). THe Mamiya lenses are excellent, and there are several good body choices. Take a look at KEH.com.

Robert

 

[thpook]

Come to think of it, I don't use my kowa all that much anymore (my Rolleiflex has taken over for 6x6). I'll think it over a little bit, but I might be willing to sell it.

 

[Roman]

About Cords it should be mentioned that only the Vb has changable screens, whic allows to mount one of the modern bright screens .

All other Cords are quite dark toward the corners, which does not matter as long as long as you have bright light and as long as it does not come from the rhs or lhs directly shining into the finder. Beeing the interface between man and tool the finder is a thing of central importance IMO.

Actually, screens in pre-Vb 'cords are quite easy to exchange, too - you just need a screwdriver... 😉
I exchanged the original one in my 'cord Va for a screen from 'redleica' on Ebay, and while overall brightness is not that much better, corner brightness improved a lot (read more details in the 'Barecelona RFF meeting'-thread!)

Roman

 

[Roman]

While everyone is on the medium format topic ... have any of you FSU users had any experience with a Salyut C or a Kiev 88? Maybe even the Pentacon 6? I want to get a system with interchangeable lenses if anyone has anything that they would like to part company with 😀 I have a Moskva 5 and the folding Mamiya 6 but want something a little more versatile. I love TLR's to fiddle with and look at but find them a little awkward in actual use.

dan

I own two Pentacon Six TLs, and a Kiev 60, and like them all - the Kiev 60 is more of a crude workhorse, rugged, but not elegant, there's not a lot that can go wrong (but if it does, it can be easily repaired yourself). It is a heavy beast, though.
The Pentacon Six, on the other hand, is a bit more refined and elegant, also slightly smaller and lighter, but it is much easier to break - esp. the winding gears are problematic (though 99% of all P6TLs with overlapping frames can be 'cured' with the 'Baierfoto winding technique': http://www.baierfoto.de/transportengl.html ). Also, the original screen of the P6 is quite dark (I had mine modified with much brighter Exakta 66 screens), and smaller that the full neg. size (51x51mm instead of 56x56mm, IIRC). The original waist level finder is not that good, either, but the much better Pentacon chimney finder, the Exakta 66 WLF, or a Kiev 60 WLF with adapter will work on the P6TL.
There are really excellent lenses available, too - the Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 180/2.8 is one of the best portrait lenses ever - the smoothest bokeh imaginable; the Flektogon 50/4, Biometar 80/2.8 and Biometar 120/2.8 are also excellent; of the Russian lenses, I like the 250/5.6 Telear, and the 65/2.8 Mir, the 45mm Mir is really bad, though.
Actually, I was thinking about selling one of my P6TLs for a while, but I don't think shipping to Canada would make a lot of sense (high shipping charges, customs, bad Euro-dollar exchange rate...)

Roman

PS: I don't own one myself, but know people who do - but I'd absolutely stay away fom any kind of Kiev 88 - that design is inherently flawed, and upgraded ones from Hartblei or Arax, where the worst flaws have been fixed, will cost about as much as a good used Bronica or Mamiya MF SLR on Ebay.

 

[RubenBlaedel]

About Cords it should be mentioned that only the Vb has changable screens, whic allows to mount one of the modern bright screens .


Best,
Bertram

Actually you can change the screen on a cord III but it is rather fidley stuff
Anyway I dont like the bright screen - bright yeah but the composing and the finisse in seing depth of field is gone - it is just bright
I have a rolleiflex GX -apx. 1992 and I a considdering putting in an old screen from a 1950ties rollei as it is more pleasing in an artistic way to work with the old screens - might sound like BS but one should really think twice before changing screens

best
<Ruben

 

[afaceinthecrowd]

Thanks for the input. I think I'll take Roman's advice and pickup a Pentacon Six. A Mamiya or a Bronica would be nice but they are more than I want to spend right now. I think the Kowa's are very cool but they are getting old and from what I hear, a little fussy and you rarely hear good things about the Kiev 88's but I would still like to try out a Salyut when the right one comes down the pike 🙂 .

Thanks!
dan

 

[rbiemer]

I own an Arax modified Kiev 60 and have been very happy with it. I decided on Arax instead of KievUSA because of price. And Mr Vartanyan is excellent to correspond with. I bought several lenses at the same time as I got the camera and I like the 250mm Telear but I end up using mostly the 80mm std lens and the 30mm Arsat. I don't use the 45mm Mir much at all. Eventually I will get a 65mm and the 150mm. I highly reccomend Arax!
Rob

 

[Honu-Hugger]

My preference and recommendation is the Rollei SL66. Rollei considered all of the good features of the classic Hasselblad and then improved the camera further -- same fine Zeiss lenses and Rollei quality.