The soul of an old machine*

Finally reduced one of my spare-parts Kievs to component parts, or as far as I am capable of taking it and still have it working.

It’s a Kiev 4, which looks like this:

The internals are the substantially the same as a Kiev 2, which in turn reflects the Contax 2 which was designed early in the 1930s by Hubert Nerwin. Eighty years on, it’s still a pretty amazing piece of engineering.

The slats on the right hand side are the shutter curtain; made of metal and not crappy cloth like a Leica. To the left is a mass of cogs and levers which lift the shutter curtain in preparation for firing, fire the shutter, wind on the film, set the shutter speed and advance the shutter counter; but even when you can sit and watch it all working it is hard to understand what each component is doing.

A couple of different views:

The yellow on the left of the second image is the boundary of the rolled up shutter curtain.

Of course there is more to the camera than this block. This next shot shows the clockwork delayed shutter release mechanism:

All shots: Panasonic GX1 with Voigtlander 25mm, Topaz B&W Effects.

The bronze gear on the upper left is part of the rangefinder focusing mechanism, another block of complexity which moves prisms around whilst at the same time rotating the lens to change focus.

The objective of this strip down is to sit quietly in a darkened room and try and work out how this all works. I will be helped in this thanks to a scary sounding but actually very helpful reader called “The Growler” who has provided me with a translated manual which explains the workings. So thanks to him.

• With due deference and respect to Tracy Kidder whose “The Soul of a new machine” is the only business book I have ever read which changed me. Thirty years on, I still have my copy.

Comments 🔗

2012-07-12 | Chang Noi says

I love those different views of the internal mechanism of machines. What a pieces of art, both the photos and the machines (in this case the Kiev 4). 1930! Keep them coming!

2012-07-12 | Grant says

Chang Noi, when you make sense you get it so right! Absolutely riveting stuff, just wonderful. Spike, please keep us abreast of the probings of your tiny tool…

2012-07-12 | Spacefruit says

I just love this stuff. Keep posting.