I’m new to analog photography but it fascinates me. I have two 35mm film SLR cameras (Nikon EM and mom’s old Fujica ST605N) and they are fun and compact but I want to explore bigger formats too. In November I started looking for a medium format camera and I was sure I’ll end up with a Holga toy camera. By December I was gone through the twin lens camera phase and Hasselblad (Kiev 88) phase, but hadn’t made any purchasing decisions.
I was giving up with medium format when I was offered a Kiev 60 set in good condition. Kiev cameras were manufactured in Ukraine (the factory just closed its doors) and the camera models are clones of popular German cameras. Kiev 60 is a copy of Pentacon Six, using the same lens mount. Kiev 60 is huge and it weighs at least twice as much as my Nikon D80.
Like other medium format cameras, Kiev 60 uses roll film (120) that has 12 frames per roll (6×6). Even now, when digital cameras have taken over, the film selection is wide in both color and black and white and at first I’m going to test different films so that I find my favourite. The camera came with both waist lever finder (photo below) and a prism finder. The prism finder can meter light if a battery is installed, but I haven’t tested it yet. The lens is swappable and the German quality lenses (like Sonnar) are available but expensive.
I’ve shot two rolls with the camera but I don’t have any film developed yet. The color film (Kodak Portra 400VC) is in development and the black and white film (Ilford HP5+ 400) is waiting for my development equipment and chemicals to arrive from Germany. The Kiev cameras are known to be unreliable but easy to fix (they are compared to Lada cars for a reason). When I get my first rolls ready and scanned I’ll find out how accurately my Kiev works. Stay tuned if you are interested!
