Beauty from the Beast : The Kiev-60 TTL

[rick_drawbridge]

<p>I seem to have been pre-occupied with other projects over the past few weeks and have not devoted nearly enough time to CMC, but I took a few hours off to put this bulky, clumsy camera through it's paces. It's the Russian Kiev-60 TTL, manufactured in the Arsenal factory in Kiev in the years 1984-99.</p><div></div>

[rick_drawbridge]

<p>This is the third copy I've owned and the first that is in complete working trim. Well, almost; the frame spacing is far from perfect, a common issue with these cameras. If one wants to delve into the interior there is apparently an adjustment which may solve the problem, or may not. At worst, one breaks the thing and that's the end of the story. It seems the problem is caused by the fact that a roll of Russian film was a different thickness from most others, and this difference upsets the film transport mechanism. I'm working on solving the problem by incrementally increasing the diameter of a take-up spool with bindings of masking tape, and matters are improving. Half way through the first film the film wind/cocking lever mechanism came apart, but after some expensive head-scratching our local technician put it all back together. "Never had to work on one of these before," he muttered in an ominous sort of way. So, while a Kiev-60 is not expensive to buy in Bosnia, actually producing pictures with it can be costly.</p>

<p>It's basically a big SLR camera using 120-size roll film for 6x6cm images. It's similar to the Pentacon Six, and uses the same breech-lock lens mount, which is really how I became involved, having a few lenses I wanted to utilise more frequently. It has a mechanical focal plane shutter with speeds of 1/2 second through 1/1000th. plus "B", surprisingly gentle and not too rowdy, and a big non-return mirror. Typically Russian, it's sturdy but a little rough around the edges, the internal frame for the image area appearing to have been hand-made with a pair of pinking shears. In it's favour it has a very bright viewfinder, one of the best I've used, with both microprism and split image. The waist-level finder with it's built-in magnifier is particularly effective, while the metering prism viewfinder dulls things down a fraction. This eye-level finder with built-in CDS meter justifies the "TTL" designation, I guess, though the metering is not coupled in any way to the camera, and requires calibrating for the maximum aperture of the lens currently fitted. It's also completely devoid of any click-stops, so one must take care not to bump the thing out of the correct setting. However, it works well enough with it's twin LEDs and in it's sole centre-weighted averaging mode, and allows the camera to be used at eye level.</p><div></div>

[rick_drawbridge]

<p>The standard lens is the rather good 80mm Volna-3 MC f/2.8, as fitted to the camera in the pic above. This lens was used from many of the photographs I'll post, along with the fine 150mm Kaleinar 3-B f/2.8 and a 50mm Flektogon f/4. Despite it's quirks I enjoy using the camera; one can almost forget that it's a roll-film camera and handle it like an old Praktica, remembering only to resist the temptation to turn the camera 90 degrees for the vertical shot... It's not quite a competitor for the Pentax 67, but there's far less to go wrong. I hope you like a few of the images, shot in our low early-winter light. The film is either Tri-X 400 or Arista EDU 200, developed in Pyrocat-HD and scanned on an Epson V700 Photo.</p><div></div>

[rick_drawbridge]

<p>No.2</p><div></div>

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<p>Nil</p>

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[Mike Gammill]

Beautiful images. If the Keiv 60 is a "beast" then you have "tamed" it judging from the high quality of your images. Thanks

for sharing.

[BelaMolnar]

<p>Excellent images from a camera, most of the people my looking down to it. Without knowing this images can be done with a Hasselblad, etc. It is a demonstration again and again, to prove, it is not a camera most of the time, it is the one behind the camera whom creating an image, beautiful or ugly.<br>

Congratulation, Rick, you proved again it is the person, not the camera.<br>

Great B&W images.</p>

[evan_dong1]

<p>Rick,</p>

<p>How is the spacing if you use Ilford, Fuji, or Kodak film spools? Do you still have the overlap issue? I thought the overlap issue was resolved at some point in manufacturing of the newer Kiev 60 from Kiev 6C.<br>

The first generation of Exakta 66 had this issue and I believe that the Pentacon factory resolved it in the MK2 and MK3 bodies..<br>

Otherwise, the optics are great for the amount of money spent..<br>

Evan</p>

<p> </p>

[q.g._de_bakker]

If spacing problems are due to being adjusted to a thicker film, changing the spool thickness will only do a bit. The spool plus film diameter will grow slower, pulling less film across per rotation, when not using that thicker film, no matter that you start with a self made thicker spool. So only adjustment of the mechanism will solve the issue completely.

[JDMvW]

<p>Pretty good for a piece of Soviet work. Of course if you'd shot a Hasselblad, everything would have been so much sharper, at least socially and prestige-wise.</p>

<p>I personally take pride in what we can do with so little (a rare use of the word <em>little</em> in conjunction with this camera).</p>

<p>Good for you.</p>

<p>I've found that careful loading with keeping tension on the roll goes a long way toward reducing the spacing problem on my Pentacon 6TL.<br>

One of these days, I'll get out with my own Iron Curtain camera:</p><div></div>

[robert_marvin]

<p>My Arax 60 (a modified Kiev 60) has very close frame spacing and an unwanted 13th frame (hard to store) if I use the normal start mark. When I use the next mark to the right the spacing is fine.</p>

[paul_wheatland]

<p>I no longer use or own the 60 because I bought a Graflex Norita with 80mm f2.0, however when using the Kiev 60, I placed a length of masking tape on the paper leader once affixed to the take-up spool across the film gate, before advancing to the start arrows. This eliminated the spacing issues very nicely, others using the 60 might want to try this hint.</p>

[tony_lockerbie]

<p>Beauty from the beast is a very fitting title for these images...nicely done as usual, and that late Autumn light is looking good!<br>

Never laid hands on one of these, but like JDM, I do have the Pentacon Six, complete with the overlapping frames!<br>

I might try Paul's remedy above, and I have tried winding the film onto the take up spool really tight, with limited results. Really want to use the wonderful 180mm Sonnar that I have, in fact all the lenses are really good.<br>

Shame that the QC on these cameras was so variable because they are actually nice to use, with great lenses, but you just can't rely on them. <br>

Your post has encouraged me to have another crack...never know!</p>

[rick_drawbridge]

<p>Thanks for the responses, and the comments regarding the film spacing. Yes, <strong>Evan</strong>, I've tried a variety of spools with little effect on the problem. The original Russian spools appear to be quite heavy things with a wooden core, and I'm using the old metal spools rather than the current plastic. With this camera the spacing was even but far too close in that the frames just touched; by packing the spool the early frames have quite large spaces that diminish as the roll progresses, as <strong>Q.G.de Bakker</strong> noted, but that's a manageable situation. I'll try the tape on the leader, as <strong>Pau</strong>l suggested. Advancing the start position doesn't have any effect on spacing with this beast, <strong>Robert</strong>.</p>

<p>Thanks, <strong>Tony</strong>, I'll have to say that the Kiev and the Pentacon aren't my go-to cameras when it comes to MF, but they're an interesting concept that the Pentax 67 system probably brought to a zenith when it comes to big, heavy eye-level SLR's. Thanks <strong>Mike</strong> and <strong>Bela</strong> for the kind words, and amusing comments, <strong>JDM</strong>; when I go to town I carry the Kiev in a Hasselblad bag... ;-)</p>

[tony_lockerbie]

<p>I had a go at Paul's remedy, the frames were uneven but at least there was a space between them...encouraging!<br>

When the weather clears I will try another roll...might be on a roll so to speak!</p>