[Leica] Kiev RF Cameras: was, WHO IS THAT OLD GUY?

[marcsmall at comcast.net (Marc James Small)]

At 05:32 PM 7/16/2007, G Hopkinson wrote:
 >Jim, well I bought it cheaply to have a play. They were manufactured
 >in the former CCCP on machinery taken from Contax at the end of
 >WW11. I am told that quality control is the biggest issue.
 >This particular one was made in 1967. It is ruggedly constructed.
 >There is no risk of mistaking it for an M3 in fit and finish.
 >Having said that, the finder and rangefinder are very good in mine and
 >the lens glass looks excellent as does the bomb proof
 >shutter. I shall post some pictures from it 
when I get a chance to try it out.
 >I am sure that Marc will be happy to explain the Kiev story, including
 >perhaps the foreman's daughter's cabbage soup recipe ;-)

I tried to stay out of this but your use of my 
name made my intervention necessary.

First, I wish Hoppy had asked me the question 
about the cabbage soup recipe a decade ago, when 
I was interviewing through their families a 
couple of guys hauled off to serve as foremen at 
the Arsenal Works at Kiev.  One of them did 
comment that he disliked Ukrainian sausage, as it 
had too much garlic for his taste.  Another 
commented on the low quality of Ukrainian 
beer.  All did say that they were well-treated in 
their captivity and that they were permitted to 
have their families with them.  Back in the early 
1980's, American Express used an advertising 
slogan, "Don't Leave Home Without It".  A Soviet 
emigre y-clept Yakov Smirnoff did a stand-up 
comedy schtick about the "Russian Express Card", 
whose slogan was purported to be, "Don't Leave 
Home".  These guys taken from Zeiss Ikon were 
told, "Don't Leave Home", though they were 
finally allowed to return to Germany in the 1980's and 1990's.

The Kiev RF line are clones and developments of 
the Prewar Contax II and III cameras produced by 
Zeiss Ikon in Dresden.  Hoppy made the 
unfortunate comparison of a Kiev RF to a Leica 
M3.  A better comparison would be a Kiev RF to a 
Leica IIIc or IIIf.  I love the IIIc, but a 
Contax II is a world above it in all terms and it 
has those magnificent Carl Zeiss Jena 
lenses.  Hell, when I use my IIIc or IIIf or 
IIIg, I generally use them with LTM CZJ lenses.

With Kiev RF's, the general consensus is the 
earlier the better.  A 1948 Kiev II would 
probably have been made with parts made at Jena 
for the Contax Jena.  Other parts would have been 
made on machines taken from the Contax Jena 
assembly line by workers supervised by Zeiss Ikon 
guys.  The lenses would probably have been CZJ 
lenses with badge-engineered lens rings.  But 
even a very late Kiev RF is a very effective 
tool, and the price of entry makes them very 
attractive.  I never much cared for the Kiev 5, 
but I do like the last of the IV series, produced to 1986.

These cameras all allow use of the most handy 
Zeiss Ikon cassette system.  All have a really 
grand combined RF/VF.  The lens range is superb 
as well, though the Arsenal works never 
duplicated the Flektoskop reflex housing of Zeiss 
Ikon to allow the use of really long 
lenses.  They did produce a really nifty beam-splitter stereo rig.  Neat 
stuff.

I find a Contax II the most satisfactory RF 
miniature-format camera I have yet used and so I 
will often take a Contax II or a Kiev II when I 
walk around the neighborhood.  Decent gear and most capable.

Marc


msmall@aya.yale.edu
Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir!