Gast
Hello,
I own a Kiev 60 myself and am very happy with it in terms of how it works, its quality and its price.
I have 40
Gast
Gast
Hello,
I’ve also owned a Kiev 60 for years, along with a good collection of lenses.
I’ve shot about 400 rolls of film with it and I’m still happy with it.
Best regards,
Friedhelm
cfb_de
Right, I’ll come clean too. I was aware this was originally a thread about Ukrainian cameras, which I didn’t join straight away.
I’ve also been happy with a second-hand K-60 for about four years now. I adjusted the film advance myself; apart from that, no faults. At some point early on, the mirror got slightly stuck ‘just before the top’. I managed to fix it on the spot with the pin from my Swiss Army knife – it was a one-off issue and cost me one of the thirteen shots.
Yes. Thirteen shots. Provided the film advance is properly adjusted.
Best regards,
Franz (K-60 rulez!)
Godot
Important: don’t buy on eBay, as they only have the worst junk left; anyone who has a camera like that that works well
isn’t going to part with it in a hurry.
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Hmm, but where can I get one then? You can’t get one for €40 in the shops round here
Gast
Hello!
It goes without saying that we only make excellent, reliable cameras here in Ukraine :) !
Oleksander
Schwedenstahl
Hello,
I’d like to stick up for the Kiev 88. No matter which forum you visit, it always gets a bad rap, and I don’t think people are about to let up. Mine is a completely different story. I’ve had it since 1992, have shot more than 100 rolls of film (I should really count them) with it, and it’s never let me down. It’s been to the desert and the far north. Years ago, I bought a second one in case my first one failed – and what can I say, that one has never let me down either. I don’t use it as often as my first one, but it’s been over 10 years now. Apart from checking the screws when travelling over rough terrain and giving it a thorough clean, I haven’t had to do anything else or have anything done to it. As for the lenses, I’ve simply applied some black matt paint to the mount, as there were too many bare patches on some of them.
I’m not really sure – it provides accurate exposure, but I think I should have it checked after all this time; I’m sure they’d do the same with a Hasselblad.
Regards
Marwan
PS: I know other owners of the 88 who’ve had the same positive experiences. That said, I’d advise against buying from eBay.
Gast
I used to have one myself. As long as it worked, it was a good camera that took top-notch photos.
Positives: It made the most of the 120 film and didn’t waste half a centimetre of film on the margins.
Positives: Affordable, very good lenses
But unfortunately, the shutter gave out far too quickly. It was even worse once the warranty had expired. The specialist dealer was glad to be done with it.
After that, I ended up buying the Exakta 66.
Both cameras have one thing in common: they give the impression of a robustness they don’t actually possess.
Although I must admit I’m spoilt by Nikon cameras. Whether in the Swedish winter or in the tobacco fields of Cuba, there was only one direction: forwards. Roll after roll, without any issues.
My experience with the Kiev dates back to the pre-eBay era.
Anyone who buys a Kiev knows what they’re getting into and what they’ll get – or won’t get. It’s an illusion with a 50
SamuliSchielke
I agree with the previous speaker. A year ago, I bought a Kiev 88 for around 100 euros from a large-format photographer who wanted to get rid of his unused medium-format camera. Since then, I’ve been on the verge of throwing the thing against the wall on several occasions. Over the course of a year, I’ve invested quite a bit in
-repairing the bayonet mount
-repairing the spring aperture on two lenses
-adjusting the mirror
-lining the interior with felt to prevent reflections...
and lo and behold, just as I was determined to give up and save my money for a Mamiya, my Kiev started working smoothly. It just can’t quite manage exposure times shorter than 1/250, but otherwise it’s a brilliant camera now. Conclusion: the Kiev can be good, but it requires a lot of work. Mainly because of the 2.8/120mm Vega and 3.5/65mm Mir38 lenses, I’m now a very happy owner of a Kiev. I wouldn’t have expected that six months ago...
SamuliSchielke
I agree with the previous speaker. A year ago, I bought a Kiev 88 for around 100 euros from a large-format photographer who wanted to get rid of some unused medium-format equipment. Since then, I’ve been on the verge of throwing the thing against the wall on several occasions. Over the course of a year, I’ve invested quite a bit in
-repairing the bayonet mount
-repairing the spring aperture on two lenses
-adjusting the mirror
-lining the interior with felt to prevent reflections...
and lo and behold, just as I was determined to give up and save my money for a Mamiya, my Kiev started working smoothly. It just can’t quite manage exposure times shorter than 1/250, but otherwise it’s a brilliant camera now. Conclusion: the Kiev can be good, but it requires a lot of work. Mainly because of the 2.8/120mm Vega and 3.5/65mm Mir38 lenses, I’m now a very happy owner of a Kiev. I wouldn’t have expected that six months ago...
Schwedenstahl
What do you mean, it can’t manage shutter speeds shorter than 1/250?
Does it skip those speeds, or does it just stop closing at that point?
The escapement for 1–30ths and 60–1000ths operate independently. So there’s probably something wrong with the adjustment above 250ths. I think that’s quite easy to fix if you just leave the setting at 250ths from 250 onwards.
Do you have the repair manual???
Regards,
mawan
cfb_de
Hello mawan,
> if, from 250 onwards, the setting remains at just 250ths
That seems to be exactly the problem.
However, I haven’t observed this with the three 88s I know of. Two of the three owners read d.r.f., and a third reads the Parallel forum.
Life is hard and ends in death. And he who laughs last dies happily.
Best regards,
Franz
Schwedenstahl
Well, if that’s the case, then I reckon it’s a misalignment of the second shutter curtain; it probably just needs a bit of loosening up or adjusting. I’m abroad at the moment, but when I get back I’ll be happy to have a look – it shouldn’t be a major problem, though; I’m sure it’ll be quite easy to fix. I haven’t had that problem myself; my Kiev cameras never give me any trouble.
Regards,
Marwan
SamuliSchielke
I think I may have expressed myself a bit unclearly earlier. 1/500 and 1/1000 do work on the Kiev 88, but the exposure is often uneven because of the focal-plane shutter, meaning one side gets more light than the other. So, at least with my Kiev, you can’t take decent photos at 1/500 and 1/1000. At 1/250 and slower, however, there are no problems. Not every Kiev has this problem, but Hans Roskam, who repairs and sells Kievs in Holland, says that it is a design flaw that the Ukrainians adopted from the Swedes, and that there is virtually nothing that can be done about it. Hasselblad gave up on this type of shutter long ago; with the Kiev, you just have to live with it.
PhilippReichmuth
1/500 and 1/1000 do work on the Kiev 88, but the exposure is often uneven due to the focal-plane shutter, meaning one side receives more light than the other.
There are two effects here: one is ‘shutter fading’ (one side receives more light than the other), the other is ‘shutter banding’ (irregular streaks in the exposure). The former is due to the curtains running at different speeds and can probably be remedied by adjusting the spring tension. The latter is caused by the shutters themselves running unevenly; there isn’t much you can do about this apart from lubricating the whole thing with a minimal amount of oil and hoping that’s enough.
There were recently threads on this in the Kiev Report:
this one (with lubrication instructions for Kievs with metal shutters) and
this one.
Philipp
RomanJRohleder
Samuli,
It’s not a bug, it’s a feature – it’s called ‘variable exposure compensation’. Or ‘banding’, for that matter. ;-)
This issue is also known to affect other focal-plane shutter systems; currently, Nikon’s D200 seems to be showing similar weaknesses, and it’s also been reported with the Hasselblad 200/2000 series.
You can get it under control – by cleaning the shutter, the curtain guide and fine-tuning the curtain tension or the relative tension between the two curtains.
My K88Six from Wiese is problem-free in this respect, unremarkable; but then again, I very rarely use shutter speeds slower than 1/30s.
Roman
Schwedenstahl
For reference, there are online guides on how to clean it… Perhaps with photos of each step??
Best regards,
Marwan
RomanJRohleder
Marwan,
See Philip's post.
You can find pictures of the innards in the Weiner or online in the Tento guide and Steve Ash's instructions.
Roman has gone away on business.
Gast
Hello,
I’ve got the manual, but I can’t seem to find Steve Ash’s instructions. It only covers the Contax-based Kievs.
Can anyone help me out here???
Best regards,
Marwan
piu58
I’ve got a Kiev too. I hardly ever use shutter speeds faster than 1/125; in my opinion, sports photography and the like are better suited to 35mm. There are still slight differences in coverage if you use a different shutter speed. You might be able to adjust for it, but it doesn’t bother me too much with black-and-white film.
Otherwise: very reliable, fewer problems than with my P6. 13 shots are no problem.
A quick tip: if you have overlapping images and don’t want to adjust them, you can simply turn the film one or two centimetres past the red dot, and it works. However, you’ll lose the 13th shot.
