Shutterbug - At Large, by Bob Shell
At Large
by Bob Shell
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Here's my current collection of Kiev medium format cameras. I use them all but after working with the Kiev 88CM for a while I expect the others will spend most of their time on the shelf. |
The Latest Entries To Medium Format From Ukraine
I’ve long been a user and fan of the
cameras and lenses from the former Soviet Union, particularly the
Kiev cameras made by Zavod Arsenal in Ukraine. The Arsenal people
have made a long line of 35mm cameras based on the Zeiss-Ikon Contax
and a line of 35mm SLR cameras. Today, sadly, they are no longer
making 35mm cameras, but are pushing ahead with their medium format
offerings and working hard at modernizing the cameras and improving
quality control. I've owned several Kiev 88 cameras, the first of
which came from Continent Wide Enterprises in Canada. The rest of
them came from Kiev USA.
I've also owned several Kiev 66 cameras, the one which looks like an
overgrown 35mm SLR, all of which came from Kiev USA. As moderator of
the Russian Camera forum, I've gotten to know most of
the personalities in the business of importing and selling Russian
and Ukrainian equipment.
Here's the latest and greatest from Kiev, the Kiev88CM, complete with new metering prism and new style film magazine. Note the folding film advance crank which is remarkably smooth In operation. Because the camera has the Pentacon style lens mount I am able to use my collection of Carl Zeiss Jena lenses on it. It is shown here with my Carl Zeiss Jena 180mm 1/2.8 Sonnar.
Customized Optics
Long-time readers may recall Jay Abend's "Kiev Kronicles" from January 2000, in which he also talked about lenses and cameras from Hartblei, the company in Ukraine that buys factory equipment and "hot rods" it. They remind me of companies in the U.S.A. that buy stock vans and cars and customize them. The most interesting new product which they have produced is the MC TS-PC Hartblei 45mm f/3.5 lens. This is a true shift lens for architectural and similar work based on the 45mm f/3.5 Mir-26 for the Kiev 88.
But while the Mir-26 is a really good wide angle for general use, it does not have shift as supplied by the Zavod Arsenal factory. Hartblei takes the lens and mounts the optics in a completely new lens barrel of their own design, which allows a full 12mm of shift for excellent perspective control. You can photograph tall buildings without having to tilt the camera upward, or make shots from balconies without having to tilt the camera down. It also shifts in any axis, not just up and down, so it will lend itself to a wide variety of uses. One important use of side shift is to make a shot which appears to have been made straight into a mirror but without the photographer's reflection.
Now if all this lens did was shift it would be great. Shift lenses are rare in medium format, and expensive. This one comes in well under $1000 with exact price depending on the camera you wish to mount it on. But in addition to shifting it also tilts. Yes, you can make use of the Scheimpflug principle in medium format to produce the appearance of greatly expanded depth of field, or tilt it the opposite way to create the bands of selective focus which are so trendy in some advertising images now. Personally, I find most such images ugly, but to each his own. The amount of tilt depends on the camera, with some mounts allowing 8° while others only allow 6°.
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| A medium format fisheye lens for less than $500? Before you decide this is impossible read the text. The version shown is for Mamiya 645 cameras, bui other mounts are also available. |
Fisheye Modification
One of the most popular Ukrainian lenses has been the 30mm f/3.5 fisheye, originally called Zodiak and now renamed as Arsat. I've had one of the Zodiak versions for years and have used it on my Kiev cameras, on my Praktica 66, and on my Mamiya 645 via an adapter from Zorkendorfer. The folks at Hartblei must have noticed that many photographers were using the Arsat and Zodiak fisheye on other cameras, and now they have decided to modify the lens with a new lens barrel and mount to eliminate the need for an adapter. Initially they are offering the Arsat fisheye in a mount for Mamiya 645. The one I got from Fourman fit onto my Mamiya 645PRO just like a Mamiya lens. The diaphragm operates automatically, which was never the case with adapters, and it has a metering fork so it operates with the light meters of Mamiya 645 cameras fitted with metering prisms for full aperture metering. In other words, it works just like it was made for the cameras, as il was. For just under $500 this lens is an amazing bargain. Is it as sharp and flare free as the Mamiya fisheye? Well, no it isn't, but it's pretty darned good and if you don't expect to use a fisheye a lot it may make more sense to make this modest investment.
A New Kiev 88
As exciting as I found these lenses, I was even more enthusiastic about the newest iteration of the Kiev 88, the Kiev 88CM. I'd seen a review of this new model in the Russian magazine Photomagazin last year and had hoped they would find their way to the U.S.A. This camera takes the old, tried and true Kiev 88 and modernizes it with a much quieter cloth focal plane shutter in place of the stainless steel corrugated foil shutter used in the original design. Not only is it quieter, but winding resistance is greatly reduced, which should increase reliability. Finish of the camera is very good, better than many older Kiev 88s. The film advance crank is now built-in and folds out for smooth and quick movement from frame to frame.
On the front is a black lever with a large plastic head for easy operation, which
rotates the lens locking ring. Yes, this camera uses a Pentacon
six-style bayonet,
which means you can use all of the great old Carl
Zeiss Jena lenses on it as well as all of the Kiev and Hartblei
lenses. I found mounting lenses smooth and secure, something I can't
say for the older version of the Kiev 88 with Pentacon mount, where
you had to push the lens in and rotate it.
The Hartblei PC lens can be used on many
medium format cameras in addition to the Kiev cameras. As you
can see, it offers both shift and tilt for maximum control
of your images.
Up top the Kiev 88CM sports a brand-new metering prism with more modern styling. Like earlier metering prisms it can give an overall center-weighted averaging meter reading from the camera's focusing screen. Unlike the earlier versions, this new prism also has a built-in spot meter, which reads from a small rectangular area above the center of the image. I tested the meter against my hand meters and found it quite accurate in both metering modes, although I would have personally preferred a smaller spot area. It features an automatic shut off to conserve battery power, but is uncoupled, which means you must take your reading and then transfer both shutter speed and aperture to the camera.
New Film Magazine
On the back of the camera is a totally new type of film magazine. Previous Kiev 88s used a magazine that loaded like a Hasselblad magazine. The film insert slides out from the side in these magazines, and you must make sure the edge of the film is under a metal clip before putting the insert in, something I always found to be a pain. In this case the Arsenal people have gone one step ahead of Hasselblad in modernizing this 1950s design.
The new Kiev magazine has a hinged back which opens easily by sliding a button (with integral safety lock). Once the back of the magazine has been hinged open the film insert just pulls straight out the back like most other medium format SLRs. I found loading the new style insert very easy. Once the film is loaded and the slack taken up the insert just slips back into the magazine and the back hinges up and closes.
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| Probably the most significant improvement in the Kiev 88CM is the new film magazine. Note how the back of the magazine swings open for removal of the film Insert. This makes loading film a breeze with no more fiddly operation to make sure the film edge is under the clip as in the older magazines. |
This is just a remarkable improvement over the old system, and I will probably replace all of my Kiev 88 film magazines with this new type. Another improvement in the new film magazine is a two position double exposure switch on the side. I don't do a lot of multiple exposures, but it was always a hassle to do it on the older Kiev 88. Now it is a snap, just flip the switch and the film advance is disengaged from the magazine and you can wind the camera as many times as you like without moving the film.
Now when you consider the features that this camera offers you'd expect it to be pretty expensive, certainly well over $1000. But you would be wrong. Complete with an 80mm f/2.8 Arsat lens which is no slouch optically, the camera sells for just under $600. And it comes with two of the new style film magazines. One of the great things about working with Kiev medium format cameras is that you can put together a really decent system without spending a king's ransom. And as I can tell you from personal experience, Kiev cameras are addictive.
