Russian/Ukrainian rangefinders

Hey Davin, welcome ! 🙂

To do this, do I also need to find some sort of viewfinder adapter so that the rangefinder will still function?
Click to expand...

The rangefinder will work exactly the same way and it will focus as with your other lens, BUT the field of view you'll see from your viewfinder will be the one for the "normal" lens that came by default with your camera, the 50 mm.

You'll need an external viewfinder that goes on the flash shoe. Just use the normal viewfinder to focus and the external one to compose your picture.

Try to find a soviet finder for your focal length on ebay, get a "Universal / Turret finder" or build a homebrew one. Better if you can find a lens that comes with the adequate finder.

Best !
 
Hi, Davin... No external viewfinders have any connection with focusing, though there are external (uncoupled) rangefinders, and some Canon camera bodies included a feature that tilted the external viewfinder automatically with focusing for corrrect parallax.

But you CAN improve rangefinder accuracy with a viewfinder magnifier. There's one from Leica for the M cameras, and Voigtlander Bessa R/R2 users can fit one made by Nikon. I expect the Nikon unit (or others) could be adapted to fit other cameras. I have one from Pentax that pivots out of the way...

Of course a viewfinder magnifier can be slower and awkward to use. RF cameras with long RF baselines (like the Kiev) are more accurate with longer faster lenses, but I'd suggest that out beyond 90mm you're better served with an SLR.

I have used a 135mm lens on a Canon RF for indoor portraits with no complaint, but it's good to realize this is a bit of a strain on the rangefinder system, both in RF accuracy and framing accuracy.
 
Interesting reading - I have a number of the Russian Fed's and Zorki's - they are a bit agricultural in their build but they are functioning ok after many years. I Also have the commoner lenses for these - 28mm f6 - very average, 35mm f2.8 -OK but the huge rear element is tricky to keep clean, - various 50's - the 85 f2 Sonnar derivative which is quite good and the 135 which flares badly. HOWEVER you can put the screw thread Voigtlander/Cosina lenes on these bodies and they do perform well - but just watch the rangefinder camming- the Russian gear works diffeently from Leicas.
 
Davin, the problem is that you're going the "difficult" way, that is, going from normal lens to telephoto. Building a home made finder for a wide angle lens is easier, and normally you don't mind if the frame doesn't exactly show what will finally show in the picture.

But with a 135 you'll definetely want to adjust your framing with more precission, and more or less the same with an 85.

I think I've seen some 85 mm finders out there on the auction site and some other web stores. Soviet ones are not that expensive, and anyway, if you have a bunch of lenses you can give a try to a Universal (turret) finder, which goes from 35 to 135 mm (If I'm not wrong).

If you haven't got the 85 mm yet, try to find one with finder included, I've seen some of them out there, sure.

Anyway, good luck ! 🙂
 
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That turret has 28-35-50-85-135 finders on it, and comes in a left and right handed shapes- the rare one being the one that fits the Kiev.

All the handedness does is put the view lens directly over the camera's taking lens, so the view is more accurate.

It is possible to switch the view disks between the finders so correction looks wrong- I believe there's a reference to that on Stephen's site- he (or a friend) has a finder with a foot for a Zorki and a turret for a Kiev, making it much more difficult to work.

JD
 
If anyone doubts that good samples of any FSU cameras can be found (and I was one of those that doubed after 5 bad Kiev 4s!) simply do an end run and buy from Oleg.

I got from him a Kiev 4 in a nice case, with a clean lens, and a shutter that winds on like BUTTER. A strange experience! Flash sync works, too, all the time.

Yay! I'm back in business!
 
JD, I hope this one will be the one you've been looking for!

About the butter-like winding, I have a 4AM (I wanted to try the Helios 103 and its almost always found with this model), and the wind process requires some more force when cocking the shutter (I think) than when only advancing film. Otherwise all works OK and I read somewhere that this "hardening" was normal, but I wonder if it's the same on your "new" 4... ?_?

It's going to be the paw tool for the next couple of weeks, so I hope it will work ok... glups...
 
Just had to tell someone about the latest and one of the better deals I received from the E auction site. In the mail, I received a beautiful Zorki-4 today. I know, unremarkable, but the seller also included two extra lenses: a Jupiter 8 f2/50, and an Industar-61 f2.8/55 as well as the satin finish Industar-50 f3.5/50. I can guarantee this is one seller who will be hearing from me again, yippee.
 
sounds great!
i have been checking ebay for some leica copies also but have not been successful so far.
was this an 'in canada' deal or from elsewhere?
i prefer to stay within canada to limit the hassle of cross border shopping.

joe
 
You're set to have some fun, JD! I got a Kiev 4A from Fedka, and got very nice service. Odd camera to get used to. Then I picked up a Jupiter-12 35mm from eBay, a silver one with Cyrillic labeling as I preferred. That's a really fine lens I think.

But in examining it closely it seemed to have some specks deep insiide, and one larger speck that I though might be some kind of unwanted substance on an inner element. Also the focusing on this 1969 lens felt like the lube was dry & gooey.

Picked it up today from the repair shop, and he informed me all these specks are bubbles in the glass! I'd heard of such a thing but hadn't seen it before. And the focusing is much smoother now.
 
Hi Joe,
The seller was from Missouri, but most of my Russian collection has come from New York and Pennsylvania. I send all my US purchases to a store at the border near where I live so once every 10 days or so I can go pick them all up and do battle with, I mean declare them, at Canada customs myself. It saves umpteen amounts of money and temper to ship this way. I bought a box of broken lenses once for 1$ US and because the seller labelled it wrong, Customs inspected it and I had to pay $9.00 in fees and taxes to pick it up at the post office. Shipping to the border only costs me $2 US/item and most times even though I declare everything, I'm not charged any taxes at all. It's also much faster with most buys arriving in a week or so vs. 4-6 weeks shipped to my house.
 
Hi Doug,
My two cents on bubbles in the glass: I have a Jupiter 11 in M42 mount for my SLR's with a small bubble also and not only does it take gorgeous photos, but I wouldn't trade it for love or money.
 
I now have 5 J-8's and a couple do have bubbles in the glass. In the day, it was considered a mark of quality, now, of course, it wouldn't be so well regarded.

The tightness in the winding at the point where the shutter is being cocked is normal- though my recent Kiev is much smoother- no more grabs. A good thing. There's someone in the states that will restore Kievs (who actually specializes in Contaxs) for good money, and I was thinking it would be nice for him to have a look at one of mine that doesn't work right- I might send along two that he could decide which is better, or for him to combine parts.
The final test is whether or not this camera has light leaks. We'll see!
I've had great success with the J-12 on my Nikon S-2.

It's time for a wider lens. I'm looking for a 21-28 (probably the 28, as it's the shortest FL on my turret finder!) in Contax/Nikon mount. Perhaps CV will come out with a 1.9 for THIS mount?
 
Thanks, Curt... I am a bit, um.. *charmed* I guess by the discovery of the bubbles in the Yupiter 12. Part of the character of the lens's construction, nicer than a discovery of fly-specks. 🙂

Not very evident in such a small pic above, but it seems to be a fine performer, and the repair tech was impressed, saying it looked about as good as a "real" Biogon.
 
JD, is the 28 you'd be considering the Orion? I saw a "block diagram" of it, revealing its 4 elements are symmetrically arranged front & rear, and not grouped. All four are positive and well separated. A bit odd looking, and I'd think hard to correct various optical errors. But then it's only f/6 at the maximum, isn't it? I might prefer something more sophisticated... if there IS any other 28mm choice?
 
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