First pictures from the Soviet "spy" camera

Hi guys, <p>

 

Some of you might remember when I posted a topic a while back about the cool little Soviet "spy" camera I had

just bought. It's not really a spy camera, of course. (Although it's small enough that if you loaded it with a

high ISO film you could easily take snapshots indoors without getting noticed...but I digress). It's a Kiev

30. I've shown it to a few of my friends and they said it looks like a "James Bond camera!" <p>

 

<img src = "http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/gatewaycityca/Kiev30SovietCameraBsmall.jpg"><p>

 

Anyway, I've had a chance to shoot a couple of cartridges and I just developed the film recently. The camera is

a LOT of fun to use. It's really light and easy to hold, but despite its small size it has a really nice solid

feel to it. It's made entirely out of metal and glass and seems to be really well made. It's completely manual

- you set the aperture and shutter speed, and it even has manual focus. I had to guess at the focus (especially

since the dial measures in meters!) but the lens is surprisingly sharp. Also, there doesn't seem to be much

parallax error at all, even at close distances. What you see in the viewfinder is pretty much what you get. <p>

 

I have a couple of pictures to show. I developed these in my darkroom, and I just scanned the prints. Since the

camera uses 16mm film, I can actually fit two pictures on 8x10 paper. I would have more pictures to show, but I

ran out of photo paper. Hopefully, I can get some more soon! I'm planning to order more paper from Freestyle

Photo next week.<p>

 

These photos aren't anything too special...a bench at my friend's house, and a church a few blocks from where I

live. I was mainly just taking some snapshots to test the camera.<p>

 

<img src = "http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/gatewaycityca/BenchatChristophershouseApril2011small.jpg"> <p>

 

<img src = "http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/gatewaycityca/ChurchApril2011small.jpg"><p>

 

The camera is a lot of fun to use, but I have to say that developing the 16mm film is a royal PITA. The Kiev 30

cartridges are meant to be re-loaded and they're very easy to open, but the problem is that the film is so small!

It's hard to work with. I'm sure I'll get used to it eventually though. It's worth it to be able to play

around with this camera sometimes.

<p>Really neat! I was hoping you would post an update, your initial post intrigued me! Hope that paper comes through - I am glad I still have a few boxes of my beloved agfa, after that I guess its time to figure out some kind of replacement...</p>

Respect for you guys using paper .. I have given up the dark room. If I lived back home (USA) I might enjoy doing enlargements from film but space is a very serious problem in western Germany So I only can do film in a tank and scan the negs! Not the same! Respect! I can imagine 16mm film is a real PITA but if I had the camera I'd be doing just what you did

Cool Church with a glimpes of the San Bernadino ? mountains in the back! I too am surprised at the relative sharpness of the lens on the park bench!

<p>Chris, what reels are you using to develop the film? For my 16mm film I use a very old Yankee tank with adjustable plastic reels and that works quite well. I found the tank on the big auction site. As with any film, keeping the negs clean and scratch free are the biggest problems. Since you reuse the cartridges over and over pay special attention to the felt light traps. I clean my Minolta cartridges with those tiny dental brushs you can buy in packs at the drugstore and use a Rocket Blaster to blow away dust.</p>

<p>Your Kiev lens looks sharper than the one I had, sample variation I suppose. If you can find any you can use the Minolta cartridges also in your camera but the Kiev carts won't fit the Minolta 16 cameras due to the small dia core. These little 16's can be quite a kick to use and with their small size there is never an excuse not to have a camera with you.</p>

<p>Very cool, Chris. I look forward to more.</p>

<p>Nice!</p>

<p>Yes, it a bit tedious to load the reels and develop 16mm film, but it is fun to try if you have the patience. My Yankee reels also adjust down to 16mm. I glued some strips of plexiglas to make a scanning frame. </p>

<p>When I first got a Minolta 16, I cut the 22-inch by 16mm strips from normal 35mm film. It worked, but I don't reccomend doing it that way. Then I bought a 100-foot reel of Eastman 7231 Plus-X movie film for about 12 bucks-- much easier. Works fine in both the Minolta and Kiev cassettes, only the sprocket holes show in the Kiev images because the image frame is bigger.</p>

<p>BTW, many of the internal parts are interchangeable between the Minolta and Kiev models, and they are not hard to repair. </p><div></div>

<p>Very good. Skillful use of small format. I think Plus-X in all sizes is out of production although you might find some "short ends" from motion picture suppliers if you are reloading the cassettes. The faster, but grainer Eastman 7222 (Double-X) is still being made, but I would guess its days are numbered as well. Great series and thanks for posting.</p>

Thanks for the feedback and tips, guys!

 

Mike, Plus-X has only been discontinued in 120 rolls. It's still being made in 35mm. Which is good, because it's my favorite black and white film!

<p>You're really making that little camera sing - the door to the chapel is wonderful!</p>

<p>Very nice Chris.</p>

Thanks to everyone for looking at the pictures, and all your great comments! I'm just about to post some new black and white photos I took at the train station a few days ago.

I just bought one of these camera, and I've been searching for film. I read in one of the posts that you can use Minolta 16 film

for this camera. Is that true? Also, any other suggestions for film? Thanks.