On Apr 27, 2005, at 1:57 PM, mike wilson wrote:
The consensus on Russian cameras seems to go like this:
Up to 1989 quality control was terrible, with the properly constructed ones going to export. After that, quality fell through the floor in the export market as anyone could, and did, export them. Now, quality is good if you buy from a reputable dealer but you have to watch out when buying in the general secondhand market.
I had a few Kiev 35mm RF cameras ...Kiev II, Kiev 3, Kiev 4a models from early 1950s to 1974.
Examining them, it was pretty obvious that they used the same dies and tooling to produce them from the point where they took the old Zeiss factory to Arsenal to the point where the model was discontinued: you can see the quality degrade through the years as the dies wore out and the metal quality went down.
The Kiev II was a wonderful pre-WWII Contax II built post-WWII in Arsenal ... and the best of the lot. ;-)
Godfrey
