Kiev 88

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.

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.

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.

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

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

medium format quality for next to no money

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

bronica

not used

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

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...

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.

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

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

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

good solid products

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

none

none

At first I bought an older 88. (not from Mike) sent it back right away. Then I purchased a 88cm modified by hartblei from Mike Fourman. The 2 don't even come close. Now I have 3 Zeiss lens' 1 body and 2 backs with a metered finder all for under $1100.00. Great camera outfit.

Mike Fourman is always willing to help. Camera is all manual and had not failed yet. I like "manual" It makes you think?

Standard Arsat 80 mm lens drops off around the edges. Go with Zeiss 80 mm Biotar it's tack sharp.

Canon 35 mm EOS. 4 Canon lenes.

Not much needed. Mike Fourmans standard reply is "send it back I'll replace it" He is Great.....!!!!