R
ruben
Guest
When Dee started to use the term "Kontax", out of some of his own special writing style, in which he likes to add a "K" to many terms related with Kievs, I happily coined his new term, for solving to me the need to write Contaxes and Kievs whenever I wanted to refer to their common design.
Besides, for me, as a Kiev fan owner, it was a way to pay my respect to the German designers of Zeiss Ikon.
But then something happened my naive mind didn't anticipate. Contax owners here felt hurt to their bones, exploding through Mike Kovacks mouth in an attack of hysteria, decorated with unappropriate words within a civilized forum like RFF. No single Contax owner found the need to disassociate himself from it.
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49630
After all if their precious cameras are not getting much use, at least the money they put in and the time they waited to get them fixed should merit them some minimum "status", that the association with the Kievs was lowering in their ignorant minds. You have to be a real ignorant to regard the Kievs as "Contax copies". A real ignorant, or a real snob. Or both altogether.
Unrelated to this, as the term "Kontax" started to catch, many confused fellows left the impression we Kiev owners feel ashamed of our lower priced cameras. Therefore time has come to voice the difference between empty snobism and real pride.
The truth is that the money difference between both cameras is not so high for us Kiev owners, who can spare the need to send them to expensive or/and lenghty overhaul, due either to our own knowledge, or our known much cheaper fixers. True, I have never felt a Contax in my hands and therefore allways treated Henry Scherer with utmost respect, even more after some exchanges I had with him.
My interest in a Scherer Contax, as I explained in the above link, was not to bear the Contax logo, but to learn in depht Mr Scherer's work. His price was extremely affordable to me, but the deal was politely killed upon him informing me about his year waiting list.
Why don't I buy a Contax and overhaul it myself ? For the very simple reason that my Kievs work so good, so smooth and so accurate I just don't need it. Many owners of both Contaxes and Kievs have comfirmed this at RFF.
Furthermore, when I talk about my smooth, good and accurate Kievs, I am talking about the Kievs 4AM, the hardest model to put back in shape, due to bearing several low quality parts. Older models I own, are on my own waiting list, pending my own will.
Athough being the most simplyfied and cheaper model, the 4AM is a Soviet modernization of the original pre war Zeiss Ikon model. Not only the Kiev 4AM it is not a copy, but a further improvement in many aspects.
It is we, Kiev owners, who have raised from our ranks the genious of Russ Pinchbeck and his unsurpassed Kiev Survival Site. No other camera in the world enjoys such a detailed support website, BY FAR. And by the same, it was the Kievs who inspired Russ to launch his monumental work, not the Contaxes.
It is we, Kiev owners the ones who have deeper insight about the Contax ribbs, than Contax owners themselves, due to the KSS and Maizenberg earlier work.
It is we, Kiev owners the ones whose cameras will work forever due to our own knowledge and capability to fix them, either by ourselves or by common help here at the FSU forum.
It is we, Kiev owners, from whose table crumbs Contax owners feed themselves with knowledge about their cameras and how to best use them.
It is we, Kiev owners, those who find almost nothing of interest to read at the Contax forum of RFF.
And it is we, Kiev owners who have stamped on our cameras a logo recalling the defeat of the monstrous Nazi regime.
So who is the real owner of "the real thing" ?
Our Kievs and related lens and gear have been manufactured by the millions, deep into the 80's, in contrast to the Contax whose production was betrayed and stopped more than 20 years earlier. Due to the hystorical circumstances of the Soviet plannified economy, the prices of our gear do not reflect their intrinsic value. The fact is that the more Russia today is involved by globalization, the more prices go up.
And I don't buy the story that more good Kiev gear is out of stock, although I accept that a lot of cannibalization is taking place. With such a massive production, it doesn't make much sense to me.
New owners of Kiev gear have a bright and assured future, provided they show some patience in learning Kiev disassembly, which is nothing but an issue of investing time and saving money. Contax owners, on the other hand will live forever enslaved, by their own prejudices, to the few fixers left, paying more and more money as time passes by, and the number of good Contax fixers shrinks more and more.
So let them go their dead end way, and let's us continue with ours, as time is a precious asset we badly need to ensure our cameras bright future.
Cheers,
Ruben
Besides, for me, as a Kiev fan owner, it was a way to pay my respect to the German designers of Zeiss Ikon.
But then something happened my naive mind didn't anticipate. Contax owners here felt hurt to their bones, exploding through Mike Kovacks mouth in an attack of hysteria, decorated with unappropriate words within a civilized forum like RFF. No single Contax owner found the need to disassociate himself from it.
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49630
After all if their precious cameras are not getting much use, at least the money they put in and the time they waited to get them fixed should merit them some minimum "status", that the association with the Kievs was lowering in their ignorant minds. You have to be a real ignorant to regard the Kievs as "Contax copies". A real ignorant, or a real snob. Or both altogether.
Unrelated to this, as the term "Kontax" started to catch, many confused fellows left the impression we Kiev owners feel ashamed of our lower priced cameras. Therefore time has come to voice the difference between empty snobism and real pride.
The truth is that the money difference between both cameras is not so high for us Kiev owners, who can spare the need to send them to expensive or/and lenghty overhaul, due either to our own knowledge, or our known much cheaper fixers. True, I have never felt a Contax in my hands and therefore allways treated Henry Scherer with utmost respect, even more after some exchanges I had with him.
My interest in a Scherer Contax, as I explained in the above link, was not to bear the Contax logo, but to learn in depht Mr Scherer's work. His price was extremely affordable to me, but the deal was politely killed upon him informing me about his year waiting list.
Why don't I buy a Contax and overhaul it myself ? For the very simple reason that my Kievs work so good, so smooth and so accurate I just don't need it. Many owners of both Contaxes and Kievs have comfirmed this at RFF.
Furthermore, when I talk about my smooth, good and accurate Kievs, I am talking about the Kievs 4AM, the hardest model to put back in shape, due to bearing several low quality parts. Older models I own, are on my own waiting list, pending my own will.
Athough being the most simplyfied and cheaper model, the 4AM is a Soviet modernization of the original pre war Zeiss Ikon model. Not only the Kiev 4AM it is not a copy, but a further improvement in many aspects.
It is we, Kiev owners, who have raised from our ranks the genious of Russ Pinchbeck and his unsurpassed Kiev Survival Site. No other camera in the world enjoys such a detailed support website, BY FAR. And by the same, it was the Kievs who inspired Russ to launch his monumental work, not the Contaxes.
It is we, Kiev owners the ones who have deeper insight about the Contax ribbs, than Contax owners themselves, due to the KSS and Maizenberg earlier work.
It is we, Kiev owners the ones whose cameras will work forever due to our own knowledge and capability to fix them, either by ourselves or by common help here at the FSU forum.
It is we, Kiev owners, from whose table crumbs Contax owners feed themselves with knowledge about their cameras and how to best use them.
It is we, Kiev owners, those who find almost nothing of interest to read at the Contax forum of RFF.
And it is we, Kiev owners who have stamped on our cameras a logo recalling the defeat of the monstrous Nazi regime.
So who is the real owner of "the real thing" ?
Our Kievs and related lens and gear have been manufactured by the millions, deep into the 80's, in contrast to the Contax whose production was betrayed and stopped more than 20 years earlier. Due to the hystorical circumstances of the Soviet plannified economy, the prices of our gear do not reflect their intrinsic value. The fact is that the more Russia today is involved by globalization, the more prices go up.
And I don't buy the story that more good Kiev gear is out of stock, although I accept that a lot of cannibalization is taking place. With such a massive production, it doesn't make much sense to me.
New owners of Kiev gear have a bright and assured future, provided they show some patience in learning Kiev disassembly, which is nothing but an issue of investing time and saving money. Contax owners, on the other hand will live forever enslaved, by their own prejudices, to the few fixers left, paying more and more money as time passes by, and the number of good Contax fixers shrinks more and more.
So let them go their dead end way, and let's us continue with ours, as time is a precious asset we badly need to ensure our cameras bright future.
Cheers,
Ruben
Last edited by a moderator:
