KNeB IV and Contax IV

Here are the Contax IV and KNeB IV hybrids. They work quietly and, as requested, the meters are acceptably accurate as new cells were sourced...however, as they are from late 7os, they may have a limited life!
Both have the meter covers directly copied from the post war Contax, before they introduced the stamped ridges because the thin metal was vulnerable.
Indeed, one of the donors is dinted.
i love that they have the original style bodies.

All the donors were pretty rough, The genuine Contax III donor body left over from the Arsenal rebuild of another camera using it's shutter and meter parts.

Having been captivated by Kiev,I discovered that rough Contax III cameras were being offered for parts only at about Ј40 because repair costs were around Ј150 in UK,and similar,in USA.
One pair of 1958 Kiev 4 and 1956 Kiev 3 donors, now joined together, cost Ј65, bust, boy were they rough !!!
The 1957 Kiev 4 top plate and meter donors was equally and non working.
The spares KNeB fascia which Mike found for me was a scratched ,so I had little compunction using it.

With the donors, total cost was Ј150 each, which is daft considering that , at the time, I could have a Kiev II rebuilt for just Ј65+Ј30 shipping but Kiev 4 is my favourite.
My mind stumbles over Cyrillic script, but KNeB and Contax are OK.

No attempt was made to prettify the pair, they display the scars of both bodies and the top plates, as evinced by well used and generally abandoned cameras considered not worth saving.This resonates with my own experience of being less than 'real' people because I have memory and other problems and am confusingly inconsistent.
Maybe the finish on top plates and bodies don't quite match up, but the wear minimised this so that I just don't notice it.

I love the thought of saving two Contax II, one Contax III, another Contax III body, a rough Kiev 3a and a pair of dead Kiev 4 back to life.
All achieved with the dedication of the ex-Arsenal guys and Mike in Ukraine.

My genuine 1957 Kiev 4 is in itself, pretty worn, although it is very quiet in operation, shutter speeds sound OK, and the rangefinder is clean and seems accurate.
I wonder if this well used camera has been CLA at some time.
This contrasts with my 1959 and 1963 Kiev 4 which are near mint.

Unfortunately, I can no longer justify the cost of film and developing, so my Kievs are now simply a comfort zone in the confusion of ASD. The KNeB IV arrived too late, but it was great to create the triptych with my 1957 Kiev 4.


dee

Dee, it's a fascinating quest for custom building a camera. I wonder how well the Contax performs with the Kiev parts in it.. I can't believe that at this point in time the parts were so interchangeable... Have you tried taking photos with the Contax?

Cheers,
Vlad

Hi Vlad

I was surprised and pleased when Mike reported from the Arsenal Techs that it is entirely possible to substitute Kiev parts to repair Contax, except shutter parts which are not interchangeable.
It seems that this was the first time that they had examined both cameras in detail.

The Contax IV body is complete Contax IIII [ 1936], except for ribbons,screws/springs and small parts.
Frankly, I was amazed that they were able to fix three Contax shutters which showed a lot of wear.

It probably helps many Contax cameras had not been used for 20/30 years as subsequent owners [ not as rich ? ] were faced with enormously expensive repairs and better more modern cameras were available.

It seems that the Kiev 4 controls etc, fit together well.

The Contax III and Kiev III meter parts are NOT interchangeable.
Initially, I asked that a Contax III meter be repaired with Kiev meter parts, but I had to find another dead Ј40 Contax III for meter parts.
maybe they found a way to simplify the mechanism.

It appears that fixing the meter was very difficult and the specialised Technician was very proud of his work.
Indeed, Mike reported that the Techs did far more work than the cost as they were fascinated by the work.
Frankly,Mike also did much to help me make my specials.

Mike has a 1958 Kiev with old body and Kiev 4 top plate, given by someone from Arsenal, so it seems that it was designed to fit the original Kiev III body.Indeed, my Kiev IV has the number 1958 from the top plate/meter plus a 1958 lens to replicate this.

I guess that this Krazy experiment will never be repeated, but it cost me nothing as e-bay sales of Dinky Toys paid for it.

Obviously, there were less problems fitting a Kiev 4 top to a Kiev 3a body, which it seems was a familiar back street alteration when the Kiev III meter failed, and a more modern appearance was preferred.
It seems that the cost of such a camera was so great, that it was worth fixing and updating rather than replacing.[ especially as the Arsenal guys took home spares to supplement their poor income and moonlighted fixing even new cameras which did not work properly]

This also happened to Leica cameras in the west in the early 30s-I guess the cost of a Kiev in USSR was similar in respect of earnings.
Many Leica without rangefinder were converted to Leica II or III status.

Regards
dee

Dee, thank you for this detailed explanation, it's exteremely interesting for me to see how two diverging parallel lines of cameras models from 2 different countries developed independently (i.e. Kiev 4) can still be combined and mixed together in terms of parts. It's a very unique perspective into the design progression of the Kievs. I wonder if you get any cracks/light leaks when using these.. did you ever run a film through them?

Best regards,
Vlad.