Kiev 4, film, gaffer tape & Yak hair.
I have to admit that digital photography has left me feeling a bit cold the last while. The power of digital editing the ease with which you can take pictures and the endless choices, those endless choices, well it's just left me a bit tired and uninspired. I've been at photography professionally for long enough now that I have my presets so set in stone it's pathetic. So in a bid to rejuvenate my creativity and get excited by photography again I decided to buy a rangefinder.
Rangefinders get round the thing that annoys me most about dslrs and that is their ad-hoc contrast based focus systems. I have a slight obsession with sharpness and so often I find the Canon wanting, especially in off the cuff situations where things are moving quickly. The computer in the canons well it simply guesses and get's it wrong... a lot. I rarely use auto focus now and my preferred lens to use on the digital in a zeiss planar f1.4 from 1979. It has a lovely cinematic feel, smooth and full of analogue class along with a fluid aperture I find it easier to get the picture I'm after than with the horrifically expensive canon ef lenses I own. In my quest for a rangefinder it became clear that I could never afford a Leica or Contax, film or digital so I just searched and searched until I found the Kiev 4.
So the Kiev 4 has an interesting story, not only was this the camera a prized status symbol of the Russian elite, it also saw duty in the KGB and was the preferred camera of the early cosmonauts. Originally of German design and manufacture by the illustrious Contax / Zeiss the kiev 4 is almost a total carbon copy of the Contax II. After world war II when Berlin was divided, Russia inherited the Zeiss Ikon factory and promptly moved all machinery, designers and engineers to Kiev in the Ukraine and set about reproducing the Contax design under the Kiev Banner.
Admittedly the quality of finish might not be the standard of the Germans but in use the thing is a joy to use, It is built like the proverbial tank and hangs around your neck like a compact. The rangefinder is just sheer simplicity to use, line up the two images in the view finder and your in pin sharp focus. The film wind on / shutter speed dial on the right is somewhat of a fankle and it's pretty easy to stretch the film if you're a bit cack handed. You get used to it though, I went through quite a few film jams with the shutter speed selector just not engaging, however with a bit of tlc and lubricant this seems to be fixed and everything is running silky smooth now. The lack of a light meter is taking quite a lot of getting used to, I have an analogue pocket one and it has revolutionized how I meter things. However the real test of my mettle is when I just guess what to do and I've been pretty spot on with my semi-educated guesstimation. Which has boosted my confidence greatly, I just look at the situation, twist the nobs instinctively and take the picture, it is seriously liberating and well, it makes me feel like I've got shit down pat. Which you know puts a swagger in your step.
As you can see from the picture - which are digital photographs of snappy snaps matte prints - there is a lot of light leak. I was aware that this was likely to happen as the Kiev's light sealing consisted of glued Yak hair, which had obviously long floated away, although there's still a some evidence of the Yak inside the body but it is completely useless at keeping light out. Which I don't mind in the slightest, the light leak adds something along the way and although not desirable all the time it certainly creates a pleasing dream like effect of which I am a big fan. So with some cunningly applied gaffer tape, I now have control of how much light reaches the back of the film, which in itself is a fun wee experiment. And like with all things analogue this means that the results will be intrinsically random and of the moment.
So aye, lots of fun. The thing is currently covered in gaffer tape, loaded with ILFORD HP5 PLUS and ready to create some classy silver prints.
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