KIEV III 1950

A nice KIEV III from 1950 has just arrived today. I will examine it as the KIEV III from 1949 two month ago and show some pics.

And a first question: The ligthmeter is the opposite of death, it always shows the needle at maximum even in the dark and it moves erratic sometimes. What could be the reason?

At first here are some pics as it comes just out of the packet, looks really nice:

http://ritzelkiste.de/ussrphoto/kieviii50_01.jpg

http://ritzelkiste.de/ussrphoto/kieviii50_02.jpg

http://ritzelkiste.de/ussrphoto/kieviii50_03.jpg

http://ritzelkiste.de/ussrphoto/kieviii50_04.jpg

More pictures to come on the weekend.

Ulrich

http://fotos.cconin.de

Beautiful !
Can't wait to see more pictures ;)

Ok, let's continue. First two pictures of the shutter. As on most old Kievs there is a scratched number on the shutter housing. Interesting that the digits always look the same, as if there was only one person who scratched in these numbers :-)

http://ritzelkiste.de/ussrphoto/kieviii50_07.jpg

The shutter itself looks nearly identical to the one of the 1949 Kiev III. The glue of the leather on the bottom drum looks identical but has not the black stripe on it.

http://ritzelkiste.de/ussrphoto/kieviii50_17.jpg

Now to the light meter. The wiring looks odd. Seems that there was a repairman working, you can see soldering on the wire. I think this is the reason that the needle of the meter is always at maximum and moves erratic when you move the camera. Could it be that there is a short circuit? Should I isolate the blank wire?

http://ritzelkiste.de/ussrphoto/kieviii50_10.jpg

The selenium cell is from Zeiss with the typical date stamped on it. But no more "Electrocell" stamped on it. Btw, the wire is soldered to the cell and the cell is wrapped in cellophane. And there is a number on the meter housing itself. Is this an original Zeiss meter?

http://ritzelkiste.de/ussrphoto/kieviii50_05.jpg

http://ritzelkiste.de/ussrphoto/kieviii50_15.jpg

http://ritzelkiste.de/ussrphoto/kieviii50_16.jpg

Ulrich

http://fotos.cconin.de

More parts.

The prism, russian made:

http://ritzelkiste.de/ussrphoto/kieviii50_08.jpg

Rewind dial and meter parts:

http://ritzelkiste.de/ussrphoto/kieviii50_11.jpg

http://ritzelkiste.de/ussrphoto/kieviii50_12.jpg

Selftimer, the lever is narrow and longer as on the 1949 Kiev III. The feather on the selftimer release button has 5 feather instead of 4.

http://ritzelkiste.de/ussrphoto/kieviii50_18.jpg

http://ritzelkiste.de/ussrphoto/kieviii50_19.jpg

Numbers on the mount are with commas but the 3 is not more flat:

http://ritzelkiste.de/ussrphoto/kieviii50_20.jpg

Ulrich


http://fotos.cconin.de

Any more parts you want to see? The camera lies disassembled on the table now :-)

Ulrich

http://fotos.cconin.de

An early Kiev III is really a beautiful camera. Thanks for the photos, Ulrich, and congrats for the find.

I think like too that the same person put the numbers on the shutter housing! The ones on my Kievs have the same "rigid" look.
On the cell of my 1949 Kiev III, the date is 21 jan. 39, so a bit earlier than yours. And there is too "858" which is handly written.

As for the electric wire, it would be good to isolate it. I have a short circuit too in the meter of my wartime Contax III, and the wire seems the weakest element...

Amitiés. Jacques.

Thanks Ulrich !

Please check that gear (it seems it's only of German manufacture):

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3920/15309438766_3e0ac03936_c.jpg

Jed, there you go. It's interesting. On russian shutters this part looks totally different. So a german shutter can be identified by this part only?

Jacques, thanks, I will isolate the electric wire and see if I got the meter back to work.

http://ritzelkiste.de/ussrphoto/kieviii50_27.jpg

http://ritzelkiste.de/ussrphoto/kieviii50_28.jpg

Ulrich

http://fotos.cconin.de

Thanks !

All Kievs between 1949 and 1951 that I already have taken apart looks the same. My 1952 s/n 52482 Kiev III has the 'kiev' gear like all later cameras.
Your camera looks clean inside !

BTW My 1950 Kiev II s/n 501504 has '1244' shutter number scratched. In comparison with your camera this makes me think that Kiev II and Kiev III have separate serial numbers.

Jed, I took a look at the pictures of a disassembled Contax II from 1937 I had here some times before. The gear looks the same. So it could be a whole Contax shutter or at least parts of it.

After cleaning the camera now it seems that it was very seldom used. The black paint is nearly perfect, the chrome shining and the leather has only two tiny bumps on the back.

The shutter is too slow even after cleaning all the gears with lighter fluid, but it works now much better than before as it looks as if releases in slow motion at all speeds.

I have isolated the electric wire of the light meter but it did not help. The needle stays at maximum and moves when I shake the camera. Maybe the meter is dead.

Later or tomorrow something to the lens.

Ulrich


http://fotos.cconin.de

Available gasoline (type c or F) will help a lot in cleaning the shutter but as expected it will require a lot of work as curtains needs to be removed :

https://youtu.be/sxJ4krf40CQ?list=LLuOBaRnDJvkx7tW-K6DTxFQ&t=142

To the lens: It's a rigid Zorki ZK with coatings on front and back lenses. I wondered about the weight, the barrel seems to be made out of brass:

http://ritzelkiste.de/ussrphoto/kieviii50_23.jpg

The glass ist totally clean, no haze, no fungus, no(!) cleaningmarks or scratches. The chrome is like new.

http://ritzelkiste.de/ussrphoto/kieviii50_29.jpg

http://ritzelkiste.de/ussrphoto/kieviii50_30.jpg

http://ritzelkiste.de/ussrphoto/kieviii50_31.jpg

Inside is a number scratched in but no Zeiss number:

http://ritzelkiste.de/ussrphoto/kieviii50_24.jpg

Ulrich


http://fotos.cconin.de

Jed, I think I don't want to disassemble the shutter ribbons. It's a pain in the ass to reinstall them [:D]

Ulrich

http://fotos.cconin.de

Everything put back together, no left over parts :-)
Now it's one of the beautiest KIEV II/III I own.

http://ritzelkiste.de/ussrphoto/kieviii50_34.jpg

http://ritzelkiste.de/ussrphoto/kieviii50_35.jpg

http://ritzelkiste.de/ussrphoto/kieviii50_33.jpg

http://ritzelkiste.de/ussrphoto/kieviii50_32.jpg

Ulrich

http://fotos.cconin.de

The camera is beautiful.

Ron

Thanks, Ron. Yes it is really beautiful.

Today I remembered that I have a broken Contax III of M series and I have found it ;-) So I opened it to compare the lightmeter.

Jacques, the odd wiring on the KIEV seems to be right. It must not be isolated as it seems. In the Contax M series the electric wiring of the lightmeter looks the same, only the thread looks better. And it is the same type of meter (and it's working). So I think I will replace the meter in the KIEV with the meter of the Contax M series. What do you think? Is it okay to do something like that?

By the ways the selenium cell was made in August 1938 and has a "Electrocell" stamped on. All other things look the same even the red-orange paper behind the flat spring.

http://ritzelkiste.de/ussrphoto/kieviii50_36.jpg

http://ritzelkiste.de/ussrphoto/kieviii50_37.jpg

Ulrich

http://fotos.cconin.de

Hi Ulrich,

Just curious : what's wrong with your Contax III M ?

Hi Ulrich!

It seems you are decided to operate on the patient from the cell.
But I would put the same question as Jed: what is wrong with your Contax III M series, so that you want to sacrify it?[:)]

As for the rest, it seems really possible, but I am not very qualified. Is the sensibility the same on the two cells? And what about the scale in the dial?

Amitiés. Jacques.

Jed and Jacques,

the scale is different. It goes from 8 to 27 instead from 9 to 33. Thanks for the hint. So I think the cell would not fit and leave it as it is.

On the Contax M series is one of the shutter ribbons broken. I have tried to repair the ribbons on a broken Kiev for more than one time before but I was not successful. It's a very hard job for older getting eyes ;-)

Ulrich

http://fotos.cconin.de

Hi

very interesting discussion!!! I have a 1952 and i am going to look for each single details now!! [:D]

regards