thoughts on kiev 60/6C

[rbelyell]

ive been thinking of getting some kiev 60/6C lenses for my 5d and ive noticed i can get a good deal on a package w the kiev 60/6C medium format camera. ive had a hankering to maybe try med/for one day, and thought i might take the plunge. anything i need to know (sure there's much) as never had any experience w med/for before....
thanks
tony

[sichko]

Lens tests...

http://www.pentaconsix.com/lenstest.htm

[rawhead]

Yeah, just know that there is more than a good chance you'll have problems with it :LOL:

Shutters are usually first to go; one of the issues I've had is that the second shutter curtain would close too quickly at high shutter speeds so that at 1/500s, half the frame would be black, and at 1/1000 almost the entire frame would be black.

Also, frame overlapping (i.e., film transport) is also a common problem.

Fortunately, both of those problems are relatively easy to fix yourself.

I have a Kiev-6C and a Kiev-60, but the Kiev-60 developed a overlapping issue that's pretty severe, so I'm using the 6C more these days. But that has a problem where the mirror sometimes won't snap back down after winding the film. In such a case, I need to take the lens off, manually click the mirror into place, then put the lens back on At least the film transport is spot on with that cam.

[rbelyell]

thanks guys. i had read something about the metering system of some russian MF cameras requiring some weird type russian battery...i dont remember exactly what it was. are there any such issues with metering on this camera? is there any online resource to instruct on the basics of this cameras operation, and MF generally, as ive never even held one of these cameras in my hand!

btw, are there differences between the 60 and the 6C?
t

[rawhead]

You can use regular LR44 batteries with the meter if you DIY or purchase ($10) an adapter. You will probably have to calibrate the meter to compensate for the slight difference in voltage, but the good thing about these commie cams is that making adjustments like that are a sinch. Just unscrew a couple of grub screws on the dial and place it in the right spot

Regarding the difference between the two, the biggest difference is that the 6C let's you shoot 220, while the 60 is limited to 120.

[PaulC]

I think I read somewhere (might even have been here) that the British importer had serviced all these before selling them, so UK origin Kievs are generally better than others.

I might be wrong, though.

[ZoneV]

If you buy the Kiev 60 set, you also get the extension tubes.
Out of the 20 mm extension tube and an old Canon EF mount of a defective Sigma lens one could create an adapter for the use of the Kiev / Pentacon lenses on a Canon EOS camera, manual for that in german language http://www.4photos.de/camera-diy/pentacon-six-ef-adapter.html

The quality of the lenses is higher than that of the cameras, as far as I know that. The Volna 80/2.8 works well on DSLR and Kiev 60.
With my Kiev 60 I had some reflection issues and film transport problems. I solved the latest with a bigger film spool (some paper glued arround the spools).
I have a Kiev repair link section in my DIY linklist: http://www.4photos.de/camera-diy/index-en.html

[peterqd]