OT - Anyone have an Arax 60?

[Jocko]

Please forgive the OT thread, but for a while I've suffered from the growing conviction that

A) My happiness will be complete if I buy an Arax 60

B) Because of A) I will never have to buy another camera again 😀 !

Sad isn't it? But I did wonder if anyone here could share their experience with/assessment of the Arax? Thank you!

 

[rbiemer]

Jocko,
I have an Arax 60 and as I am happy to tell you I love it but(in my case anyway) neither A nor B are true.
MY ARAX 60 .
I first read about the Kiev 60 in Shutterbug--I think--and that started me on a year llong research trying to decide who to get one from. Early on I found the Kiev Report and that led me to ARAX. I then pestered Mr. Vartanyan for several months with questions and he was unfailingly polite and helpful.
It also helped that his prices even with shipping from the Ukraine were better than the US dealers. I haven't had any problems with the camera or lenses in the year or so I've owned them. I bought the camera and several lenses and the only thing I would do differently would be my choice of lenses. I got the 30mm, 45mm, 250mm, and 500mm. And the 80mm that came as the standard lens. I would have been better off NOT buying the 45 or the 250 only because they don't fit the way I shoot. Well, that and the 45 Mir is a dog of a lens. I will ultimately get a 50mm Flektagon and a 150mm(Kaleinar?) to replace those two but lately I have been shooting just 35mm cameras so I'm not in any hurry.
I find I shoot half the time with the TTL prism and half the time with the waist level finder.
If you buy one, get several tripod adaptors! These are cheap and SMALL but very useful.
The camera is HUGE compared to dern near all 35mm RF cameras and it is heavy.
I don't have a film scanner so I can't share any photos 🙁 but I have been very happy with the results(again, except for the shots where I used the 45mm).
That's my take on Arax, briefly. Feel free to email or PM me if you have any more specific questions.
Rob

 

[Jocko]

Rob! That was So Very Helpful! Thankyou!

A) and B) aren't true for me either - just the delusion that they might be! 😀

 

[CZeni]

Well, maybe 🙂

In my late 1990s efforts to do medium format on the cheap I bought a Kiev 60 that has been hot-rodded by Hartblei in Prague. We had a bit of miscommunication on the covering details (their idea of "black leather" is more like something that Superfly would have liked: http://www.attackblob.com/arf/Superfly2.jpg) but other than that the camera works well enough. It is big, bulky, loud as heck and still a bit subject to funny image spacing.

Would I buy one today? Probably not...simply because the prices of Mamiya RB/RZ, Pentax 6x7s and Bronica kit have fallen so far that they're more than competitive with new FSU medium format gear - my local shop has a couple of RBs with waist level finders, back and a standard lens for under $600. I now shoot my medium format with either Koni- Omega or with a Pentax 67II. The Koni cameras are fantastic if you can find one that's not been thrashed. The Pentax has the advantage of a built-in matrix meter...it won't be price-competitive with the FSU gear though.

FWIW, and YMMV 🙂

 

[rbiemer]

We had a bit of miscommunication on the covering details (their idea of "black leather" is more like something that Superfly would have liked: http://www.attackblob.com/arf/Superfly2.jpg) but other than that the camera works well enough. It is big, bulky, loud as heck and still a bit subject to funny image spacing.
FWIW, and YMMV 🙂

Craig,
That's "black Leather"? I think the camera looks great, man, but it's probably good you didn't ask for something bright colored! 😀
I've been fortunate in that the frame spacing is still good on mine(or has been. Now that I've said this out loud I just jinxed my self. Dern!)
The way you have the camera set up in that picture is how I most often use mine--I love the 30mm!
If only somebody made a metered waist level finder...(sorry I'm still thinking about the "dream camera" thread).
When I got the Arax, I had looked at and read about the Hartblei cameras but I seemed to only find other folks selling the cameras--there was some confusion about who Hartblei was--and I wanted to buy from the person/company doing the "tweaking".
Were I to want a 120 SLR today, I'm not sure what decision I would make; you are right about MF prices coming down so I would have a much harder time now than I did then. But since I'm not looking for one anymore I'm happy.
Rob

 

[dostacos]

well I have some "ALMOST" ARAX 60s 😀

both of mine took trip to Gevorg and he re-colored in black, Flocked camera body interior, Mirror Lock Up (MLU) installation, Shutter curtain replacement, Focusing screen replacement Complete CLA the first one, and the second started out black, but had a big ass dent int the top plate that seemed to make the rewind tight he did everthing but the mirror lock up on the second one so I basically got a pair of ARAX without the ARAX badges they both work great, had I to do it again, I would get the Arax 60 and 88 and cut out all the extra camera travel 😀