Help with Medium Format

havoc

Jedi something or other
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Has anyone got any experience with Kiev Camera's, Pentacon six's Exacta 66, etc. I have been looking to get into Medium Format cheaply, I want something that either acts like a 35mm or like a hasselblad, (the formats i am familiar with) so TLR's are out. I would like it again to be cheap and have a wide variety of lenses.
I have heard rumors about the reliability of these cameras but i am not too worried since Kiev 60 bodies are going for 50-60 dollars on Ebay.

Basically what i wanna know is if anyone here has a Kiev or Pentacon six? If so what are your impressions "after" using them. I hear alot of good things about them, but i also hear alot of people that are afraid to try them. Perhaps some of you have some of these nice east german and russian lenses that i am hearing about? I would love to hear more about your expieriences with lesser known cameras.

I am planning on buying either a kiev 60 or 88 to try it out, but i wanted to know if anyone else has taken the pluge into Kiev, I did a forum search and found that a few people were interested in them just wanna know if you guys & gals have played with them.



P.S. My photo teacher who is a die hard Hassie fan and a real photo purist snob tells me i shouldn't waste my time on Russian "crap" so i told him that by the end of the year my Kiev pics were gonna look just as good as his overpriced Hassie pics. I considered at that point to buy a Holga and really try to show him up, but i figured that would be more difficult.
 
I have a Salyut C. It is a nice camera to shoot with the exception of the film magazines. They have a filmsy dark slide that is prone to bending. Visit this link to see the camera and some photos:http://www.p-bailey.net/id42.htm These photos were some of of my first attempts at developing and printing. The quality could be much better.
 
Well the russian lenses aren't going to be anywhere near the quality of the zeiss lenses. So you wont be making images as good as his hassey makes.....


Another option is the Kowa 6 which is considered the cheap mans hassey. Better than the Kiev but not as good as Bronica, Mamiya, Hasselblad, etc.
 
I've actually been reading alot of sites that tell me the 30mm fish eye is as good or better then the Hasselblad option, and that the east german equivelent of Zeiss lenses are very close in quality to the hasselblads. The price difference though is what sells them. Of course i haven't seen the two side by side. I'll make sure to see when we get together and shoot again.
 
Another obscure MF SLR is the Norita 66. It normally comes with an f/2 (fast!!!) 80mm lens. It was designed by the same guy who designed the Nikon F. I've showed my pics from it to several Hassy owners and they had to admit that it was just as sharp as anything they did with a Hassy.
 
I have a Kiev took 4 roll on if and shutter jam, lucky I only paid about 150 USD, I must have been stupid to think I was going to get a quality new MF for that cost, t'd me off so much that I when and got a uses Hasselblad, IMO a hammer to the Kiev likely would had been more therapeutic :roll:
 

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