Kiev 4a rangefinder - The Russian Contax

Kiev 4a rangefinder, Russian rangefinder made on original Zeiss factory machinery.

[PhiggysDOTcom]

The Kiev 4 with the light meter on top was my first 35mm camera back in the 60s it was my pride and joy with a top speed of 1/1250th sec I shot my first roll of Kodachrome II later known as Kodachrome 25 on a day trip to London in the 60s with my mentor sadly the exposure meter stopped working but I was given a small Leica meter as replacement which I used for a number of years.
Back in its day it was compared to the early Leica and thought to be a superior camera by many ??
Thank you for the great review and trip down memory lane 😊👍🏼
I now own a number of these cameras and various lenses along with Zorki Fed and Zenith cameras

[sclogse]

Dropping by to hang out with the oldies. (Your older videos) Doesn't hurt that I have one of these..with the little apartment on top...

[flowermaze___]

When we find out what zenography actually is 😂 but of course.
Amazing camera. I have one in the post after deliberating endlessly between the Kiev, zorki, canon, fed rangefinders. Decided on the Kiev… And the year variants of the kievs became another deliberation. Found a 1963 Kiev 4 and excited to see what they’re all about!

[alanread]

These are great cameras I have the Kiev 4 which is the same but with a meter.

[mikeshlau]

I'm not sure do you even know about the full history of Contax, just let me tell something. (I'm not an native English user, so I may use wrong tones, please forgive me)

Actually Contax is not a camera company, Contax is a serious of camera by Zeiss Ikon, which is the camera manufactory & department by Zeiss.

In fact, not only the lens quality, but also the camera design, Zeiss was definitely better than Leica in that age.

I have both Contax ii & Kiev 4, also the post-war Contax iia, all of them are excellent. Kiev fixed some main design problem of the original Contax ii such like shutter (although it's still easy to break, I just repaired my Kiev 4 shutter rope).

BTW, enjoy it :)

[RolleiPollei]

I just picked up one of these after watching your video. I had a broken contax iii but it had a great zeiss sonnar lens on it. Since I don't have the money at the moment to fix the contax I got a kiev 4a and it's great! I just processed a roll through the jupiter 8 it came with and it's really a great lens. I think I'll stick to the zeiss though it's got this unsharp yet dreamy wonderful look at f1.5 I can't get enough of and it sharpens up at f2. Pick one up if you ever get the chance you won't regret it.

[sgiruc]

I have 2x Kiev 4. Both are working perfectly.
Kiev is a nice, lovely looking camera. Compare to my FED 4 camera, Kiev is working much nicer, more smoothly. The only problem I have - Jupiter 8 lens are very flare prone.

[bvz]

Kiev is a Soviet and Ukrainian brand of photographic equipment including cameras manufactured by the Arsenal Factory in Kiev, Ukraine. Where is russians hear, all the time you tell to people the same stupid things.

[mathewrupp]

You should do a review of the MOSKVA cameras, I have the model 2 which has a surprisingly sharp lens. I would like to get the model 5 with the 6x6 mask, getting expensive to shoot 6x9.

[marktimmins]

Excellent review by my favourite you tube channel. It's a cool looking camera and I shall buy one immediately, Wish you could show us some photo results as well to give people an idea of its capabilities.

[johnt.thompson]

Kyiv is Ukrainian cameras. Also, we can say that Kyiv is a Soviet cameras. But they are by no means Russian cameras.

[nedbeg]

The only thing that is so nice about the camera is the look. The shutter is the last scrap. The narrow straps that drive the clasp like to tear, and the straps are not easy to get to either. I've bought quite a few cameras in the past 3 years. I couldn't fully expose a film. I have many other Russian cameras that I am happy with, but I cannot recommend the camera at all.
With best regards.

[grahvis]

I acquired a Kiev 4 but found the necessary grip combined with the focussing method and the delayed action lever, somewhat uncomfortable.
I then found a 4A on Ebay with a non working delayed action, for the mere sum of £30.
I had therefore, no qualms about removing the lever and filing down the stop pins, along with a piece of leather wedged in to prevent the pin by the lens mount engaging the infinity lock and now have a camera much easier to hold.

[Andrew]

Changing speeds prior to cocking the shutter actually ok I'm those, on the later one at least. I have this camera as well as fed 5, and though I find the lever on fed5 to be more speedy, it loses its convenience when I also have to change shutter speed afterwards

[REFIGUY]

Hi I recently purchased a Kiev 4M w light meter on top. The manual is a bit vague on how to line up meter dials on left to get meter on the diamond reading. On mine it has outside ring the shutter speeds. inside ring has combo of ISO and then aperture settings. I get it placed in center yet cant make heads or tails of what the reading is. I can use my ikophot light meter. Could you do a video on the Kievs w meters and show how to align it?

[markusklein]

The focus wheel can scratch the skin of your index finger - unless your skin is rather thick!

[dalex]

Do you ever post images taken by the cameras you feature?

[nigelrogel]

Hi sir, been watching your channel since more than 3 yrs ago. I think I haven't seen a review/tutorial on Contax / Zeiss Ikon cameras. I need help on how I can possibly adapt the lenses it came with on a Sony E mount (a6000). Any ideas?

[KIFQHESE]

You've erratically demonstrated the Contax grip. Two fingers on top, not one.


Cheers!

[abee]

Nice video! do you know how to set the iso speed in the Kiev 4? i want to shoot a porta 400