Week 11: Another Russian Rangefinder

I’ve taken a couple of rolls with my recently acquired Kiev 4am. It came with a Helios 103 F1.8-22 lens and a Jupiter 8. I shot Kodak TMax 400 with the Helios and Fujicolor Superia 200 with the Jupiter 8. The only thing I have to compare is my Zorki 4k with a Jupiter 8 lens. The first roll I shot with the Zorki was quite pleasing – colors were deep and images sharp using Fuji 400. I’d say that roll has one of the best film pictures I’ve ever taken.

I wouldn’t say the results from Kiev were not as good per se but definitely different. The cutting sharpness isn’t there with either lens but it’s replaced with a softer and more muted look that’s pleasing in it’s own way. I’m definitely going to spend more time putting both cameras through their paces size by side using the same film this time – Ilford FP4+ 125. I think that’ll be a fair test and should give me a better handle on what to expect from each one.

This roll of Fuji 200 was taken on  partly cloudy days so the light was very soft to start with. It’ll be interesting to see what full sun will do. There are a couple inside a local supermarket taken with natural light that I color corrected during the scanning with an Epson 4490.