Kiev 88

Review Date
September 17, 2009

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1 votes

Reviewed by
frdemmer , Professional

Price Paid
$380.00 at fotoplus expo

Photography Experience
21+ years , Other

Summary
'Have used these cams for years. Previously had used certain models of Prakticas. Also doing MF with Penta-Six. They are very unique technically. BUT require a LOT of practice with getting the pressure exactly right and knowing the idiosyncrasies. The years of doing 35 mm with Prakticas must be the way to get used to the Soviet technology. Actually, have colleagues that would only shoote Hassies and you should hear them gripe about the hyper-sensitive lens shutters. Eventually, they'd figure on having a spare while the other was on the way to the shop for tweaks. SO, the clunky, film-plane shutters of the Kievs, other MF, and Pentacons are actually an advantage as being pragmatic and 'work-effective.' These days, a number of up-grades are possible. Kiev USA does theirs for about 300. While there's a company, ARAX, that offers similar polished up version for about 800. As with the Praktica 35 mms, keep tightening the screws and sparingly lubricate the mechanisms where possible. Never use a lot of pressure on any mechanism, knob or lever. There are certain 'orders of operation' that usually eliminate the kinks and jamming. Also, there are adapters for the wonderful lenses so that they'll even mount onto the Nikon F1 mount of the DSLR's. Have gotten some v. photogenique results from doing that. Also, some of the lens mounts are so tight that they have had to be sanded with emery paper. So would recommend these cams for a dedicated photographer with enough DIY repertoire.'

Strengths
'Solid bodies and lenses. Skillful use of metal and plastic. Excellent lens selections; the optics are military specification quality as they are product of Arsenal of Kiev Optics. The technology that produced Sputnik and Kalichnikovs that are most prolific produced gun ever. Anyway, the cams are straight-up, pragmatic photographic tools. With practice and care, their performance also maximizes. Because of the emphasis being placed upon the actual 'USE' of the camera, their dis-assembly and assembly modes are easier than most. Rivets, stampings, pressure-forming or bonding and other non-arcane component methods are avoided for a preference of plain geometry of mechanism and use of threaded connectors. Few hair-springs are used and instead, flat metal springs are preferred. This does not save either room or weight, but has better longevity. Climates of the Soviet are really harsh, so consider these components are adaptive to colder operating temperatures.

Weaknesses
'Obviously require a certain amount of DIY and mechanical aptitude. Seem to require above average amount of lubrication; needle applicator and lithium or silicon lube. Though they are inventory at Radio Shack, that's not usually known to some photographers. Besides the inventories are usually depleted. Also, screws may need maintenant tightening, possibly even glue. But most weaknesses are result of lack of practice with them.'

Similar Products Used
'Sort of did a 'hop' from the Brownie 120 film up to the MF useage. The digressions from this sort of clunky, pragmatic equipment were mostly, well, they still are, to motion picture cams. The cam, as a technology, has evolved from the pin-hole to digital movie cams, say a Red One or Digital video cam. So these Kievs and other geometric-mechanism cameras occupy a particular niche. Some of us seem to keep liking that sort of technical mentality. And there are a lot of photographic results of that way of thinking besides Jeeps, revolvers, fountain pens and so on, if you're talking about basics of design. Specifically, they are similar to Exacta, Praktica, Pentacon, Lomo and most MF plate cams; Graflex, Kodak and others. The design directives that produced these sort of cameras also were at work on some of the movie cameras, Krasnogorsk and Konvas. So there's really a whole modality, possibly you'd say a lifestyle. But as of yet, they are still peripheral to the world of digital imaging.'

Customer Service
'Have to say this. That there were years when a lot of technicians would NOT even work on them. Most likely that would have been because of politics; the cameras may say, 'Made In Russia Occupation.', 'Soviet East Germany' and so on. But that has been getting cleared up with Glasnost, most likely. So technical support has actually improved every year. KievUSA used to have a table at FotoPlus Expo, but they are the other side of that Perestroika story. The enormous factory of Arsenal at Kiev doesn't produce any cameras. The Russian and really the whole Eastern bloc has gotten dependent upon the West and Asia for their digital imaging. So the bandwidth of the tech support that you'll get depends upon knowledge of the digital resources as the main tool. That refers basically to The Internet, as that's what has gotten to be the paradox of the technological niche and has actually saved some of the worthwhile efforts that should eventually be a true sub-culture. Mike Fourman was referred to, KievUSA has a great web-place and if you write to the Arax company they'll answer your letter. Besides the blogs of diligent DIY-ers are flourishing.'

Review Date
April 24, 2006

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1 votes

Reviewed by
Biggles44 , Intermediate

Price Paid
$130.00 at ebay

Photography Experience
11-20 years , Outdoor

Summary
A low budget (price is in Sterling) medium format system that makes you think. This is not a camera for the inexperienced or for those who like computers with film chambers. You won't find zoom lenses for it either. In short, it really sorts out the men from the boys and rewards them accordingly.

Strengths
Cheap system to put together, excellent results with care. Extremely high quality compared with 35mm. No automatic exposure modes, no AF, no fancy electronics and great optics.

Weaknesses
VERY difficult for the novice user. I would recommend a lot of reading up and discussion before even attempting to use it as the smallest error can result in jamming or breaking the camera. Weight is surprising to those used to 35mm.

Similar Products Used
Lubitel and Ricohflex TLRs, Pentax, Chinon, Ricoh, Praktica, Zenit and Exacta SLRs

Review Date
December 18, 2004

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
4.20 of 5, 5 votes

Reviewed by
marty01_uk , Intermediate

Price Paid
$120.00 at ebay

Photography Experience
6-10 years , People

Summary
A medium format camera for peanuts.When they work they are fantastic mine came with the ttl viewfinder which needed to be set up but i havn't had any other problems with the system

Strengths
medium format quality for next to no money

Weaknesses
build quality (everytime you wind it on it feels like its going to break) flash sync is slow

Similar Products Used
bronica

Customer Service
not used

Review Date
April 28, 2003

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
2.82 of 5, 11 votes

Reviewed by
Carl Valle , Expert , from St Louis, Missouri USA

Price Paid
$300.00 at ebay

Photography Experience
21+ years , Fine Art

Summary
Kiev 88 is really a wonderful system. Yes it has problems, anybody who gets one will find out that you need to work on this thing. I have a newer camera, '99 Kiev USA modified (?) paid 200 on ebay for it. I broke one back when the flocking fell off and stuck to the shutter. I suggest you don't flock it.. You NEED the new NT series back they are much better mechanically. Also the 645 back is nicer if you can live with that frame size, there is less film advance per stroke so less stress on the gears. Check the back for leaks at the slide. Put a little strip of flocking on the back at the place where the body and back plate meet on the slide side - this gives a little extra pressure on that slide. It does make the slide hard to put in however. Also, take out the interlock on the slide so you can get the back off. It also helps to take out the auto stop down pins.. especially if you try to use the 2x or the extension rings

Strengths
Im giving 5 stars for both value and overall because of price mainly. There is no other way to get this much experience in any camera system, but the owner must be expert in taking apart lenses finders etc. or this could become a very expensive frustration very quickly. Great glass, really fun to get a lens or accessory at these crazy prices. I think it looks cool, or at least unusual... Pretty wide selection of lenses and accessories . I got all of the pieces, 4 lenses, the 2x, the groundglass, mag prism, standard prism, and a TTL prism (pretty accurate actually) a 645 and a 66 NT back, close up rings, and those nasty filters all for 1200 USD total. This is less than a single hassie lens...

Weaknesses
Build quality is really bad. I have had two bodies that were fine however. The backs must be the NT series. The K88 mount is sloppy. This camera system always leaks light but this can be fixed. My Penatx leaked also and so did my old nikon Ft. Other repairs which are routine (nikons also) such as tightening aperture rings, lubricating lens focus threads, you should know how to do these things if you expect your kiev experience to be acceptable.

Similar Products Used
Nikon Ft, FA FE2 FM various nikon, tokina, vivitar lenses, now F100 and N55 and a slew of AF lenses
Pentax 67 with wide and normal and a few accessories.. never liked the 67 much

Customer Service
There is no such thing unless you mean CUSTOMER'S own service, for which you must always be ready :>[

Review Date
April 9, 2003

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
3.00 of 5, 3 votes

Reviewed by
richard , Casual

Price Paid
$470.00 at kievcamera

Photography Experience
2-5 years , People

Summary
I bought this camera 2 months ago from Kievcamera. Before I bought this Kiev 88 CM, I read tons of stuff about MF. I used Nikon N70. In most time, I played auto. I have not had any problem with this camera (Kiev 88cm) so far. The meter was not bad initially. However, the knob for shutter speed somehow became loose. I used my Nikon to correct it with lens set at 50mm focal length on very bright gray surface illuminated by strong sunlight according to the method published at Kievalcoholic. Be careful about one screw of three. Actually, I took the knob off to see the location of the screws after turning the knob around. I did have several risky situations such as pulling shutter speed knob before cocking shutter. As long as you do not force anything, you can resolve this problem. In my case, I found out that taking back off solved the problem. Otherwise, the shutter could not be cocked all the way. Another thing is that after cocking the shutter, the dark slide can not be put back unless the shutter is fired. I do not know anyone trys to push dark slide in after the shutter is cocked. The pictures I took are very crispy, detailed, blowing away 35 mm films. No grainy whatsoever. I recently bought a brand new heavy duty (NO Name) tripod, a knockoff after Bogen, with load capacity of 26 lbs from Ebay. I have not played with 500 mm F5.6 mirror lens (Kievcamera)that is very heavy. I bought Jupiter 250mm from Russia. Is there anyone there who uses sonnar 180 or Flektogon 50 on kiev 88 cm (bought recently)without any problem of fitting? There are some weak spots in the English manual. For instance, it is not very clear about cocking shutter and setting up shutter speed, especially for beginners

Strengths
good solid products

Weaknesses
not fool-proved camera. Hugh potential for beginners to mess up and blame the camera for their mistakes

Similar Products Used
none

Customer Service
none