Post by belgiumreporter on Aug 20, 2020 8:25:54 GMT -5
Bought this Kiev 4 with its Jupiter 8 5cm lens on Ebay was happy to find a type 4 at a good price as mostly the cheaper ones are type 5's (the one with the build in lightmeter on top) i guess the type 4's are more expensive because their shape is more "pure" and i suppose most people buying these Kiev's don't intend to use them. I bought this one because it's got the Contax/ Nikon rangefinder mount and i can do some experimenting with it after wich it will become part of the rangefinder collection.
It's in pristine condition and also came with the leather (n)ever ready case. These Kievs are in fact Contax clones and not copies as the original Zeiss jigs and materials were confiscated as spoils of war by the russians after WWII The Zeiss factory then being rebuild in the USSR and production re- started under the Kiev brand name. Because of loose tolerances in the russian production process and inferior materials used, the Kiev's never attained the same high quality standard as their Zeiss/ Contax counterparts.
As they look so much alike, these Kievs are good source material to make fake Contaxes complete with jupiter 5cm f2 lenses disguised as Zeiss 5 cm 1.5 sonnars.
There's a lot on these fakes and how to spot them to be found on the net so be aware if ever you're offered a nice Contax for a good price or even worse for the right real Contax price.
Even the shutter still has the same shutterblinds design as the pre war Contax
It's in pristine condition and also came with the leather (n)ever ready case. These Kievs are in fact Contax clones and not copies as the original Zeiss jigs and materials were confiscated as spoils of war by the russians after WWII The Zeiss factory then being rebuild in the USSR and production re- started under the Kiev brand name. Because of loose tolerances in the russian production process and inferior materials used, the Kiev's never attained the same high quality standard as their Zeiss/ Contax counterparts.
As they look so much alike, these Kievs are good source material to make fake Contaxes complete with jupiter 5cm f2 lenses disguised as Zeiss 5 cm 1.5 sonnars.
There's a lot on these fakes and how to spot them to be found on the net so be aware if ever you're offered a nice Contax for a good price or even worse for the right real Contax price.
Even the shutter still has the same shutterblinds design as the pre war Contax
