Kiev (brand) - Attractions of Kiev Cameras, and Problems

Attractions of Kiev Cameras, and Problems

The low price of the Kiev medium format cameras has attracted many amateur photographers wishing to enter the medium format camera market on a budget. Some have reported that the prices of a Kiev camera setup with other Russian or Ukrainian components (e.g. lenses) can be 1/10 to 1/15 the price of a similar Hasselblad setup. However, the Arsenal plant is reported to have generally poor quality control and people often receive cameras with small cosmetic or functional defects. Sometimes brand new cameras are completely inoperable. It has been suggested that the Kiev cameras are not intended to be used "out of the box" like most Western consumer goods, but are instead more like pre-assembled kits that require some work be done on them before they can work reliably. One key issue is thought to be the rough finish on the gears of the internal mechanisms, causing the film advance to become stiff and sound like "grinding walnuts" according to some accounts.

For this reason a number of distributors have appeared offering Kiev cameras in safer forms. At the least they provide a closer contact for easier exchanging or returning of faulty items. However some have taken advantage of the Arsenal plant's variable quality to add value through varying levels of third-party rebuilding, modification, and testing of the Arsenal-supplied cameras.

The cameras however, still have a number of quirks that no simple servicing will remove. The most notable quirk is that the shutter speed on the original Kiev 88 should only be changed after cocking the shutter (spring-loading the shutter mechanism and advancing the film). Changing the shutter speed on an un-cocked camera will damage the timing mechanism, so it is recommended that Kiev users get into the habit of always cocking the shutter after taking a photo. This is not a problem with the Kiev 60 and Kiev 88CM variants. There are also mixed reports that the shutter speed dial should only be turned clock-wise, never anti-clock-wise. This is certainly known to be an issue with cameras modified by Hartblei to add a mirror lock-up (MLU) feature. Other cameras may or may not have this problem.