Hi Mno Liberal, I would think that if your Kiev is ok now, it'll probably stay that way - I have a hunch that my copy might have leaked from the day it left the factory - it would explain why it didn't look like it had been used much. Hopefully the latest work I've done will sort the problem, but if it persists, I'll just have to do a bit more work on it.
It is possible your camera miss an extra baffle over the one you indicate at 5.56 of the video. Also my Kiev 4A has another baffle behind the range finder. You can check those in my "Kiev 4A c.1959 - Step by Step Reassembly" video. Best of luck!
Hi Chris, I'd watched your Kiev 4A video just before (or just after) I got my Kiev, it was good to see how stuff fitted together. Mine does have the baffle behind the rangefinder, but I'm thinking that it might either be fitted incorrectly, or damaged, or maybe just badly cut when it was made, because the amount of torch light that can get into that gearbox area above the sprocket is a bit of a surprise. I'll probably take the thing apart again once I've finished the current film and have another look.
Nice video, light leaks are annoying. People who don't know about light leaks might claim they captured a ghost or an ufo/alien in one of those examples :)
Funny you should say that ohjajohh, one time a lady proudly told me about the shooting star she'd managed to photograph at a location that I photographed regularly - I didn't have the heart to tell her that it was lensflare from a bright light directly opposite, and that I usually cloned it out when I couldn't avoid getting the flare in the shot!!!
Hi Ybalrid, I still need to do more work on my Kiev - the third roll of film was a bit better, and the light leaks weren't so noticeable, but they were still there a little bit. I made a point of walking around on a sunny day with the ever ready case open, so it probably got more sun on it than previous rolls. When I next work on it I'll probably make a replacement baffle to sit behind the rangefinder window because the original cardboard one doesn't appear to be doing a very good job, and that seems to be the most likely remaining area that I haven't worked on. Additionally, the frame spacing seems to be playing up a bit too, so I'll be stripping the winding mechanism at the same time.
@@GrumpyTim oh boy! I have not scanned that film yet. But it was 400 iso and that mark looks very faint on the negative. I tried to shoot my phone light on the rangefinder window and I kinda sorta can see some light in the top of the sprocket. So I assume a 42 year old light baffle is not doing its job. But for now I don’t really want to mess around with this camera and remove the cover just yet 🤭
Yeah I think I will to remove the top cover of this camera to take a look. I gonna need to do that on a good quiet day 'cause it's a lot more fiddly than the few Canons that I have opened in the past!
When I get round to it I will do another video on the Kiev, hopefully showing what I've done to finally get it fully light tight, but it might be a while before I get round to that. Once you've had the top off the first time it gets easier as you get more familiar with the process. Hope you get on ok with yours. Probably worth scanning the negatives before you go too wild, just so you can evaluate how bad it is and decide how far you want to venture.
@@GrumpyTim It is quite bad, so I took the shutter cover off, and I put a piece of foam in that area above the sproket shaft. I took the top plate off then (quite an adventure all the bits stacked in the shutter speed knob) and I replaced the tiny paper bafle with a big one as found in this "KIEV Survival Site" that describe these fixes. I also jammed a bigger piece of 120 baking paper behind the rangefinder window glass. This last thing seems to have *mostly* mitigated the light leak I have. I did not wish to disassemble the camera further than that because it really looks like a pain to separate the whole front from the whole back with the shutter mechanism. And I know the Contax II type shutter is a "repairman's nightmare" and I do not want to distub any of it. It seems possible to push that black paper a bit further down but I did not want to insist. In my testing with a torch the issue is almost mitigated but I was able to find a very shallow angle where the light shining into the rangefinder window makes its way around that top sproket. I may go back in there, but I will shot a roll of film to see if it is worth the hassle. If it is, I will need to try to disassemble the camera further, and use the recommended thing from that website, a piece of the black plastic bags photo paper comes in. The good thing is FOMA put their black and white paper into a bag that is at least 2 times bigger than needed. So I will need to think about slicing a good piece from it next time I play in the darkroom... My 1978 Kiev 4A seems to have less of those "fit and finish" weirdness than your describe. Notably the joints between these top panels are a lot tighter together. The rewind knob assembly is quite different, but that is probably explainable by the lack of the necessary bits to set the film speed for the light meter. Overall, I sweated quite a bit but I got in and out without breaking the camera, and the result is probably better than what I started with. I also found one broken piece of film that was loose somewhere inside. I have some new skin for the camera on order from an eBay listing, though it's coming from America so it is gonna take a little bit to arrive here.
I am 99% sure that there is no additional metal frame that protects from this particular light leak, I had exactly the same light leak on my Kiev 4. This light goes in the gap between the cover that you removed to get to the shutter. Next to the right upper screw.
My older 4A has an extra baffle. They are lost sometimes. Though i don't know if there is the same baffle in newer Kiev4 models. You can see that baffle at 2.38 of my video on a 4A.
It's definitely worth checking that the extra baffle that chrisdowntherabbithole mentions is in place - I know these sometimes get ripped out when people try to repair these cameras - mine is there but I suspect that it isn't doing it's job very well because a lot of torch light can get into that gearbox area above the film drive sprocket.
Cheers Ben, hopefully I'll rattle through the colour film fairly quickly and then I'll know whether the fix has been successful or not - I would say that I'm confident, but I'm really not! I already have another couple of things to check next time I take it apart - I'll pay more attention to the baffle (that I didn't show) behind the rangefinder mirror - it is there, but it could be badly fitted, badly cut or damaged, because I was surprised at just how much light was able to get into that gear section of the camera.
Nice to know if a problem with a light leak develops. For now, my Kiev 4 is perfect.
Hi Mno Liberal, I would think that if your Kiev is ok now, it'll probably stay that way - I have a hunch that my copy might have leaked from the day it left the factory - it would explain why it didn't look like it had been used much. Hopefully the latest work I've done will sort the problem, but if it persists, I'll just have to do a bit more work on it.
It is possible your camera miss an extra baffle over the one you indicate at 5.56 of the video. Also my Kiev 4A has another baffle behind the range finder.
You can check those in my "Kiev 4A c.1959 - Step by Step Reassembly" video.
Best of luck!
Hi Chris, I'd watched your Kiev 4A video just before (or just after) I got my Kiev, it was good to see how stuff fitted together. Mine does have the baffle behind the rangefinder, but I'm thinking that it might either be fitted incorrectly, or damaged, or maybe just badly cut when it was made, because the amount of torch light that can get into that gearbox area above the sprocket is a bit of a surprise. I'll probably take the thing apart again once I've finished the current film and have another look.
your hands are magic for reparing camers.
Not as magic as your hands for old engines Joseph. Cheers for watching.
@@GrumpyTim ohh thanks mate
Nice video, light leaks are annoying. People who don't know about light leaks might claim they captured a ghost or an ufo/alien in one of those examples :)
Funny you should say that ohjajohh, one time a lady proudly told me about the shooting star she'd managed to photograph at a location that I photographed regularly - I didn't have the heart to tell her that it was lensflare from a bright light directly opposite, and that I usually cloned it out when I couldn't avoid getting the flare in the shot!!!
I recently got a perfectly working 4AM, I need to check this, I saw a few lines on the bottom left of shots taken outside
Hi Ybalrid, I still need to do more work on my Kiev - the third roll of film was a bit better, and the light leaks weren't so noticeable, but they were still there a little bit. I made a point of walking around on a sunny day with the ever ready case open, so it probably got more sun on it than previous rolls. When I next work on it I'll probably make a replacement baffle to sit behind the rangefinder window because the original cardboard one doesn't appear to be doing a very good job, and that seems to be the most likely remaining area that I haven't worked on. Additionally, the frame spacing seems to be playing up a bit too, so I'll be stripping the winding mechanism at the same time.
@@GrumpyTim oh boy! I have not scanned that film yet. But it was 400 iso and that mark looks very faint on the negative. I tried to shoot my phone light on the rangefinder window and I kinda sorta can see some light in the top of the sprocket. So I assume a 42 year old light baffle is not doing its job. But for now I don’t really want to mess around with this camera and remove the cover just yet 🤭
Yeah I think I will to remove the top cover of this camera to take a look. I gonna need to do that on a good quiet day 'cause it's a lot more fiddly than the few Canons that I have opened in the past!
When I get round to it I will do another video on the Kiev, hopefully showing what I've done to finally get it fully light tight, but it might be a while before I get round to that. Once you've had the top off the first time it gets easier as you get more familiar with the process. Hope you get on ok with yours. Probably worth scanning the negatives before you go too wild, just so you can evaluate how bad it is and decide how far you want to venture.
@@GrumpyTim It is quite bad, so I took the shutter cover off, and I put a piece of foam in that area above the sproket shaft. I took the top plate off then (quite an adventure all the bits stacked in the shutter speed knob) and I replaced the tiny paper bafle with a big one as found in this "KIEV Survival Site" that describe these fixes. I also jammed a bigger piece of 120 baking paper behind the rangefinder window glass.
This last thing seems to have *mostly* mitigated the light leak I have. I did not wish to disassemble the camera further than that because it really looks like a pain to separate the whole front from the whole back with the shutter mechanism. And I know the Contax II type shutter is a "repairman's nightmare" and I do not want to distub any of it.
It seems possible to push that black paper a bit further down but I did not want to insist. In my testing with a torch the issue is almost mitigated but I was able to find a very shallow angle where the light shining into the rangefinder window makes its way around that top sproket. I may go back in there, but I will shot a roll of film to see if it is worth the hassle.
If it is, I will need to try to disassemble the camera further, and use the recommended thing from that website, a piece of the black plastic bags photo paper comes in. The good thing is FOMA put their black and white paper into a bag that is at least 2 times bigger than needed. So I will need to think about slicing a good piece from it next time I play in the darkroom...
My 1978 Kiev 4A seems to have less of those "fit and finish" weirdness than your describe. Notably the joints between these top panels are a lot tighter together. The rewind knob assembly is quite different, but that is probably explainable by the lack of the necessary bits to set the film speed for the light meter.
Overall, I sweated quite a bit but I got in and out without breaking the camera, and the result is probably better than what I started with. I also found one broken piece of film that was loose somewhere inside.
I have some new skin for the camera on order from an eBay listing, though it's coming from America so it is gonna take a little bit to arrive here.
I am 99% sure that there is no additional metal frame that protects from this particular light leak, I had exactly the same light leak on my Kiev 4. This light goes in the gap between the cover that you removed to get to the shutter. Next to the right upper screw.
My older 4A has an extra baffle. They are lost sometimes. Though i don't know if there is the same baffle in newer Kiev4 models. You can see that baffle at 2.38 of my video on a 4A.
It's definitely worth checking that the extra baffle that chrisdowntherabbithole mentions is in place - I know these sometimes get ripped out when people try to repair these cameras - mine is there but I suspect that it isn't doing it's job very well because a lot of torch light can get into that gearbox area above the film drive sprocket.
Not a great build quality.... Sort of what you would expect from the USSR. It would be good to know if that has fixed it though.
Cheers Ben, hopefully I'll rattle through the colour film fairly quickly and then I'll know whether the fix has been successful or not - I would say that I'm confident, but I'm really not! I already have another couple of things to check next time I take it apart - I'll pay more attention to the baffle (that I didn't show) behind the rangefinder mirror - it is there, but it could be badly fitted, badly cut or damaged, because I was surprised at just how much light was able to get into that gear section of the camera.
@@GrumpyTim Some of the stuff from the USSR was shocking!
Yeah, that does appear to be the case at times, but it's still intriguing to see it all the same.
People on russian websites say to only look for Kievs made before 1965 - their build quality is much more consistently good.
@@ka4estvo Interesting information.