Wrecked Contax Kiev reclaimed by Kiev techs

I have been away from my beloved Kievs for a while 'cos 3 cameras I paid for to be restored never returned from Ukraine , though I know that , rom photos sent , that the Arsenal techs did a great job restoring them .

it's a long story of the agent's personal problems and the chaos in UKraine but it disheartened me , but I have three excellent Kiev II , 2 lovely Kiev III a near mint Kiev IIa and a mint boxed TOE imported Kiev 4a .
I would not dream of messing with them although I do feel that the later and plentiful , Kiev 4 / 4m are fair game for recovering .

One problem I have is an ASD dee'slexia with Cyrillic script and a strange discomfort with what my ASD sees as ' not rightness ' of the modified Kiev 4 / 4a body . I would not want a fake Contax based on a Kiev but the CONTAX lettering is much easier to take in ... although KNeB is OK .

Very controversially , 2 years ago , I sent a box of Contax II parts to Ukraine for the Arsenal techs to work their magic with a new old stock Kiev II shutter . It's now a lovely camera .

This was followed by a pair of completely wrecked Contax III from which they made a fine, if a little scarred , camera with working meter .

Still buying £25-30 wrecks , I ordered a for parts but almost complete Contax II .
What was left of the paint was removed and the raw metal polished to complement the very brassed chrome . The broken self timer was removed so no one will mistake it as entirely original LOL Surprisingly , with original shutter , it is smooth and quiet . I shall see soon !

The Contax III body , showing all it's age , has been mated to an early Kiev 4 meter and top plate , at the same time , a parts Kiev III body was grafted onto another Kiev 4 top plate from another non working camera with a spare KNeB facsia .
I love my selenium meters and the Kiev 4 controls are so much better than those of the Kiev III .

I am assured that the ex-rat silver / tan Contax II is on it's way , with the other two to follow.

My comment is this - Given the cost , the parts Contax II , the rough Contax IIIs , the dead and scruffy Kiev 4s , the parts Kiev III body , would never have been revived / recreated . Much more sensible to buy a decent camera in the 1st place .

But I don't want another classic which I have to care for , my own identity and fragmentation relates to these reclaimed cameras , I get the opportunity to use the compact selenium meter on a body which is perfect for me .
It also creates a ' set ' of the three profiles of Contax and KNeB which settles my anxiety as the body is the same .

One element which is astounding is the dedication of those ex-Arsenal guys who used to build Kievs .
They did not need to save every part of that Contax II , they could have given up on the meter of the Contax III and saving the rear leather with it's Zeiss emboss .
They polished the Kiev 4 / Contax / Kiev III parts so that they all blended together , rough patches showing history .
I am told that they were fascinated and enthusiastic about working on both Contax and Kiev .

I feel like we have created a touch of unconventional local history with the links with Germany and Ukraine .

The cost ? Far too much , around £150 each including the donors , less than half that to the Kiev Techs .

dee

Hi Dee, good to see you back!

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="MS Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by dee</i>
The Contax III body , showing all it's age , has been mated to an early Kiev 4 meter and top plate , at the same time , a parts Kiev III body was grafted onto another Kiev 4 top plate from another non working camera with a spare KNeB facsia .
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Fascinating! I'm very curious as to whether these parts fit together perfectly or not, these are models that are generation away from the split of Kiev II and Contax II.. Do Contax III and Kiev 4 parts still that much compatible?

Cheers,
Vlad

Hi Vlad

There were 1951 protoypes of Kiev III with Kiev 4 top plate , so I imagine that they worked out the top plate and meter , then altered the body . Maybe they also wanted to make the modifications retro-fittable , so older Kiev III with non working meters could be updated ... especially as there seemed to be a moonlighting element of Arsenal Techs repairing cameras .
Most likely however , is that minimum alterations were made so that fewer parts and machinery needed altering . All I know is that a Contax III / Kiev IIIa body plus Kiev 4 top plate , reinstates the film plane flatness problems which the new body created , and ensures that the camera is of the Pre 1960 best quality of engineering - and fits a lovely Kiev IIIa case !

I am told that most early Kiev parts are interchangeable , though Contax purists don't like to imagine this , but Kiev shutter ribbons are coarser which can cause later problems .

Certainly , the Kiev II shutter slotted perfectly into the recreated Contax II and I have both a KNeB IIIa / IV and Contax III / IV awaited - I used a very early 1957 1958 Kiev 4 for each camera because , not only were they better made , but the meter top plate with window does not have the strengthening ridges stamped into the thin aluminium .
My Kiev 4 donors were pretty rough , so hardly ' worth ' restoring ,although Oleg could do an engineering repair at less money , he does not care about cosmetic stuff !
The Contax IV also has the 'picture frame ' meter window from a later Kiev 4M which is more like the post war Contax .
Cost for each refurb was 115 euro plus donors .

I love that those ex-Arsenal guys went the extra mile on my rebuilds and , I am told loved messing with the four Contax donors .

dee

Vlad

From the moment I picked up my 1979 Kiev 4 and Kiev 4m from Oleg , indifferent finish notwithstanding , I was kaptivated by Kiev .
Contax only happened because I have dyslexia with Cyrillic script and rough Contax donors were just a little more expensive than Kiev projects [ and someone from RFF offered me the Contax parts for £40 !!! ]
In a way , because my cameras were recreated in Kiev , by ex-Kiev technicians , they are really Kievs modified with Contax parts LOL .
I was going to put a KNeB face plate on the Rat Contax , but did not have a spare .

de