A word of praise for the Kiev

[rxmd]

Yesterday I received a Jupiter-12 in Contax mount that I had won on eBay (9 EUR well spent) and dug up a friend's borrowed Kiev 4M. After digging up a smallish Braun 35mm finder and getting around some trouble mounting the lens, today I ran a roll of XP2 through the camera and find that the Kiev has the potential to be an outstanding piece of equipment for low-cost street photography. Ergonomics are OK, and the rangefinder, while dim, is precise and snappy; and the softness and sound of the shutter is just amazing at 1/25 and 1/10 and easily beats any Leica I've ever had the opportunity to shoot with. Now I'm waiting for the pictures.

If they turn out the way I think they could, maybe I'll get around to actually getting that Kiev 2 for myself.

Philipp

[vrgard]

Sounds like a very familiar story, Philipp, in that many others have discovered the joys of using a Kiev combined with their very low cost. Reminds me of me when I first got mine. Enjoyed the occasional odd look/question about the camera (e.g., "gee, can you even get film for that camera?"... :-) ) Hopefully the pictures you took will turn out as nice as your experience indicates. Thanks for sharing and do post some of the shots when you get them.

-Randy

[leica M2 fan]

I just got back a roll of Sensia 100 slides taken with the Kiev 4aM and the Helios 103 and in a word, they are superb ! What a tremendous lens, you are in for a treat using whichever Kiev you decide on. They are really great. I am enjoying mine so much.