| Author | Message | ||
     Tony Duell Rating: N/A |
A few comments (I have a fair number of these cameras).. The Kiev is a very close copy of the pre-war Contax II, but not as well made. So close that most parts interchange, and that the instructions in 'All you need to know about the design and repair of Russian cameras' were useful for fixing my Contax. I am told that at one time if you sent a Contax in for repair to an independant repair shop, it got Kiev parts fitted (because the originals were unobtainable). They are that close. Of course this means the Kiev suffers from the well-known shutter tape problem. That can be fixed if you can get the tape, but it's not easy, and most tapes you can get are OK if the camera is going to sit on a shelf and be demonstrated occasionally, they don't really last long enough to use the camera seriously. The FED 1 and Zorki 1 (almost indentical) are pretty close to the Leica II. They are not as well made, of course. A simple, reliable design. Later FEDs and Zorkis were not copies of any Leica (in particular, the slow-speed mechanism if present is very different to Leica's, the Russian cameras have all the speeds on one dial, which none-the-less spins round during winding and release). These cameras a pretty easy to work on and have few major problems. Don't worry about the internal meter. These cameras are not automatic. If the meter doesn't work, you can still use the camera with an external meter, which is what you'd do if there wasn't a meter at all, right. The value might be lower if part of the camera is defective, but you can still take photographs. What would I go for? Either a Kiev, becuase it's such an unusual shutter, or a later Fed with the slow-speed mechanism (which is essential for me). |