Perceived 'value' and Kiev...

[dee]

I puled out my 1979 Kiev 4a for a photo shoot with my Grandaughters [Grandpa Camera] with one of my toys.
it has to await another time as the girls had tummy bugs !

I chose a mint boxed with Uk importer TOE unused passport and instructions, it appears to be a second camera bought so inexpensively as a curiosity. Very few USSR cameras would have been bought as sole/prime photographic tool, as reliability was suspect even then.

I was sorely tempted in the early 70s. with a new Zorki 4, but.in 1972, new £99 Prinzflex SLR just about blew my budget, I became spoiled/lazy with TTL metering etc.

I now have several Kontax cameras including a near mint 1951 KNeB II and hybrid Contax/Kievs and Contax/KneB IV hybrids.
Arguably of more value,better made and certainly more expensive to buy, than the lowly late Kiev 4a, but the 'New Boxed' UK camera was, and is, irresistible !

it's probably a sad truth that it could be considered that a carefully checked TOE imported Kiev had been saved from the vagaries of the Soviet system which often required that someone investing a considerable outlay on a camera often needed moonlighting techs to get it to work.
Guru, Oleg is bewildered by the preference for old Kievs as he insists that a newer Kiev well fettled, will be a better camera. He says that too much messing about has transpired with older cameras as they have no value in their country of origin.
My pair of late Kievs from him prove this.
Not to mention what happened later as it was passed down the chain !!

It's odd that there is a dee'stortion in respect of age here...1979 seems recent, but the camera is 35 years old !For me, ex-USSR cameras ' should ' be from the 50s and early 60s.

However, the genuine newness of the 1979 elicits a 'new camera ' response from ASD every time I open the box.

dee

 

[Dralowid]

Yes, in many ways I agree. The adage that 'older is better' with Kievs is undermined by amateur kitchen table repairs carried out with WD40, a cold chisel and lump hammer.

Surely anything that has been attended to by a knowledgable and reliable expert will work correctly? The design of Kiev cameras is not fundamentally flawed...unlike the Contax I.

 

[outfitter]

As I recall Oleg doesn't repair Kiev's so that might have some bearing on his judgement. DIY repairs (both in the FSU or in the West) are always a problem with all FSU cameras. There is no doubt that the fit and finish of the older cameras is better than te later ones - especially after they altered the design in aid of cheaper costs. Here in the NYC area there once were plenty of Russians who repaired the Kievs at a reasonable cost but they are dying off. That said the Contax design was very robust. I have a 4a I bought new thirty years ago and never used. I took it to the beach (as the least valuable alternative) and it worked perfectly albeit the wind felt and sounded lke a coffee grinder.

 

[Elmar Lang]

As said in other threads, I've bought my Kiev 4A back in 1975 and used it a lot in these nearly 4 decades.

It still works perfectly.

E.L.

 

[fanshaw]

As I recall Oleg doesn't repair Kiev's so that might have some bearing on his judgement. DIY repairs (both in the FSU or in the West) are always a problem with all FSU cameras. There is no doubt that the fit and finish of the older cameras is better than te later ones - especially after they altered the design in aid of cheaper costs. Here in the NYC area there once were plenty of Russians who repaired the Kievs at a reasonable cost but they are dying off. That said the Contax design was very robust. I have a 4a I bought new thirty years ago and never used. I took it to the beach (as the least valuable alternative) and it worked perfectly albeit the wind felt and sounded lke a coffee grinder.

Oleg does repair Kiev 2,3 and 4 models.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Very few USSR cameras would have been bought as sole/prime photographic tool, as reliability was suspect even then.

Gee, dee, with my FSU ESL, you just gave me lesson what BS means.
British Snobery it is.

Thank you for your interest in FSU cameras. My wife uncle used to work on factory which was making Lubitel. Our local town winemaker was managing one of the assembly line in place where they made Zorki and Zenit. He keeps his perfectly working Zenit. I'm using my family FED-2, which was for CLA and curtains replacement only once.
It isn't just two of us. FSU cameras were taken to Everest and North Pole to take pictures. Tens of millions FSU cameras served tens of millions photographers.
Sorry for your trouble.
Ko.

 

[Elmar Lang]

I wouldn't give my Kiev-4A even for change with a Leica M6 with the best lens on it.

(by the way, I prefer the Contax RF system...).

E.L.

 

[David Hughes]

Gee, dee, with my FSU ESL, you just gave me lesson what BS means.
British Snobery it is...

Hi,

Trouble is we can't blame people for believing what they are being told over and over again.

I often have problems with the logic too, f'instance TOE checked all the cameras before selling meaning they are bad and Leica check all their cameras before selling meaning they are good...

It's part of a larger plot to air brush out of history anything the USSR did except the bad stuff.

Look at the recent celebrations which will make thousands if not millions believe that Operation Overlord alone was what won the 2nd WW and that the USSR advances on the eastern front until they all met up in Berlin didn't happen...

Regards, David

 

[newspaperguy]

Well said, Mr. Hughes.

My favorite Kiev happens to be a II, but also have a 4 that has served me well for years.
(My wife insists that it's the "manly strap" on this II that earned my affection.🙄)