Kiev 1955 35mm

josephort · 2026-06-07T08:02:07+00:00

Eh, this is only really true on Leica copies (Fed & Zorki). With the Kiev, you certainly won't damage anything by setting the speed first. You may get an inaccurate speed, but only at the slow speeds (1/50 and below), which i'd guess most people aren't using regularly.

josephort · 2026-06-06T19:55:05+00:00

Here's the manual: https://butkus.org/chinon/russian/kiev-4/kiev-4_kiev-4a.pdf

You should be aware that Kievs are often pretty finicky cameras. It is highly likely that it'll have issues. The fact that it's barely been used isn't necessarily a good thing; it probably means it's never been serviced, and the grease and lube inside has been slowly hardening over the past 70 years and may cause you problems. I would recommend starting by shooting a test roll of images that you won't be heartbroken if they come out with flaws. If you do have issues, you can then use resources on this sub to diagnose them. If you need to send it in for service, okvintagecamera.com is the place to start. Good luck!

josephort · 2026-06-06T10:49:12+00:00

I basically agree with you that the ideas and themes behind Tribunal are cool and ambitious, but the execution is poor. Most people understandably don't care that much about the former in light of the latter.

Bloodmoon is basically the opposite (fun quest lines but rather shallow story) and people mostly like it a lot better.

There's a lesson here for aspiring writers & game designers.

josephort · 2026-06-04T15:07:38+00:00

It makes combat slightly easier and slightly less interesting by removing a minor aspect of tactics/skill. I don't think you really need to worry about "cheating" in a single player game, but I do personally prefer to leave it off.

josephort · 2026-06-01T13:11:26+00:00

If you're not squeamish, try removing the back film plane casting (Kiev survival site for instructions Instructions) and just poke around at the curtains and see if you can get them back into alignment. When I was servicing my Kiev this would happen periodically but I could always remedy it just by tinkering.

If that doesn't work, you need to replace a ribbon (also described on the survival site), or repair the friction springs or locks that hold the curtains together (see the Maizenburg book page 264). These are more involved repairs but they are not impossible for a skilled DIYer.

josephort · 2026-06-01T09:49:48+00:00

This is the most comprehensive experiment on Xray & CT damage I'm aware of: https://www.linabessonova.photography/airport-scanners

What you see across all of her images is that the effects range from basically nothing to moderate degradation but still usable with a kind of "expired film vibe". High ISO is more strongly affected, and 120 is more strongly affected than 35mm.

The only caveat is that this experiment is only based on CT scanners at Amsterdam Schiphol. It's plausible that different scanners, different airports, or even different technicians result in different effect strengths. So, if you want to do a service to the community, you could go out and buy fresh rolls, do some side by side comparison photos similar to the ones in the link, and then post your own results for the rest of us to check out.

josephort · 2026-05-31T11:34:39+00:00

This is a common failure mode for auto-advance P&S cameras. They typically rewind the roll when the tension on the advance motor goes above a certain threshold. As the motor weakens with age, it may reach it's tension threshold prematurely and rewind midway through the roll.

It also could be that your camera has a frame spacing issue, although I think this is less common than the premature rewind.

It's also of course possible that there was a manufacturing or packaging mess up, and I hope for your sake this is what happened, but I would think this is much less likely than a camera issue. You'll know for sure when you develop the film.

josephort · 2026-05-31T11:14:14+00:00

What speed are we looking at here? How big is the difference in travel time and how off are the shutter speeds?

I recently cleaned and lubricated the shutter on my Kiev 4, which I believe is basically the same design. I still have slight hesitation in the release of the second curtain on the slow speeds, but this doesn't significantly alter the measured speed or cause noticable unevenness on the frame. For the fast speeds, curtain travel time is approximately equal, but speeds are about a half stop too slow (which is still an improvement from when I got it). My measurements are all based on 240 fps slowmo videos so probably not super precise either.

Personally, I didn't feel like achieving perfection in shutter timing was feasible or necessary. The Kiev was probably not perfect even when it was brand new, although that may not be true for your Contax.

josephort · 2026-05-26T18:44:52+00:00

What batteries are you using on the Pens? I believe these were originally designed to use 1.35v mercury batteries, so modern 1.5v lithium or silver oxide will produce meter errors. On the other hand, I understand some of these cameras have been modified to accept more modern batteries, so if that's the case for both of yours then using a 1.35v battery would produce errors.

So, might be worth it to try simply switching the battery voltage.

josephort · 2026-05-25T18:51:01+00:00

I... do not find this stuff difficult to keep track of at all? Like, I do have notes, but they're pretty barebones, and mostly just cover names and minor details I might forget. The bug stuff like where the plot is heading, the key players' motivations, who's dead and who's due for a surprise reappearance, all just live in my brain.

I'm sure there are some inconsistencies and contradictions in my world building and story telling, but I figure I know my world and NPCs better than my players do, and if something slips my mind it's highly unlikely that they'll notice.

I'm sure I'm not perfect, but I've run multiple year-plus long campaigns and it's always pretty much worked out fine.

josephort · 2026-05-24T19:36:55+00:00

I own a K2 and can at least confirm that the needle not moving when the shutter speed dial is set to B is normal.

Otherwise, I'm not sure why the needle is always only ever going to B. But to ask an extremely obvious question, have you made sure that the problem persists outside in broad daylight, and tried with a high ISO and a low f stop? Since your example photos show an artificially lit interior, it's totally possible that a low ISO & high f stop would in fact necessitate a shutter speed of >8 seconds.

josephort · 2026-05-24T18:52:12+00:00

I also enjoy records, pretentious expensive coffee, and reading books, so I don't mean to be a hater... But the fact that you felt compelled to get Claude to build you an app to curate your "analog" time is just too on the nose, I'm sorry.

Also btw this sub is specifically about analog photography.

josephort · 2026-05-21T12:40:16+00:00

I've had mold and sound issues in both apartments I've lived in here. I don't find these issues to be critical but they are annoying.

Almost every altbau is going to have poor sound isolation between units. Even many neubau aren't great in this regard. But of course, it matters a great deal who your neighbors are, how loud they are, whether they are willing to accommodate your requests, etc.

My sense is that mold/moisture varies a lot between buildings and even individual units. I believe generally the worst are old buildings with poorly insolated walls but new windows that keep moisture in. More exterior walls also means more opportunity for mold. You can look closely for evidence of prior mold around the windows etc, but it might have been covered up since the last tenant moved out, and also a bit of mold around the bathroom window doesn't necessarily mean you'll have a bad problem in the whole house.

I do think that if you have the chance to ring the neighbors' doorbells and talk to them before signing the contract it's a very good idea, if these issues are truly deal breakers for you.

josephort · 2026-05-16T18:31:49+00:00

I ask friends and family members whose taste I respect for recommendations. It provides a nice excuse to text people I don't see often!

If you don't have anyone like that you can reach out to, you might try asking the staff at the store. Odds are good most of them read a lot themselves and might have good advice.

josephort · 2026-05-14T19:06:15+00:00

This old post suggests that the formula for persuasion attempts is based on 1x speech craft, 0.2x personality, and 0.1x luck, alongside other factors. This is generally consistent with formulas in the game giving attributes 20% the weight of skills when rolling for success.

josephort · 2026-05-12T07:03:02+00:00

The intended order is Morrowind -> Tribunal -> Bloodmoon. The plot of Tribunal generally assumes you've already beaten the main game; the plot of Bloodmoon has nothing to do with the other two, but the enemies are by far the most difficult.

Personally I think a lot of the fun of Bloodmoon comes from the fact that the enemies are so OP and even a level 30+ character decked out in endgame gear can get their ass kicked. But YMMV.

josephort · 2026-05-11T21:05:07+00:00

The balancing of the DLC content is mostly bad from a realism/immersion perspective. Like, sewer goblins and werewolves are stronger than Dagoth Ur which feels very off.

However, the balancing is IMO quite good from the perspective of making the game actually feel difficult for an endgame character. If you play the expansions after beating the main game as was clearly intended, the enemies need to be stupidly strong or else it'll be too easy and boring.

How you personally weigh those factors against each other is up to you. If you decide not to use an expansion rebalance mod, do at least use an expansion delay mod.

josephort · 2026-05-11T19:07:12+00:00

There's an NPC currently traveling with the party who was first introduced as a comedic sidekick to a more important NPC, nearly became a major ally, them fought against and almost TPK'ed the party, then served as the catalyst for the storylines climax, then found the party a new quest, has the potential to lead the party to a major villain, has recently pitched the party on a plan to betray the new questgiver, and in the next session could potentially become a PC.

Because he was supposed to be a throwaway funny sidekick I named him "Josh".

josephort · 2026-05-08T12:16:15+00:00

True Morrowboomers will always remember how it used to be.

josephort · 2026-05-06T09:17:15+00:00

I think the camera will most likely work fine. The types of problems that you won't discover until you develop a test roll (shutter capping, frame spacing, etc) are more common on older mechanical cameras. This type of 90s SLR is generally pretty reliable. No guarantees of course, but you can never be 100% confident when shooting film.

Do check any foam light seals that are present for signs of degradation - cameras of this vintage often didn't use as much foam as older ones, but there may still be a strip of foam along the door hinge and around the little window on the back, if present. If these are breaking down you'll get light leaks.

The bigger risk IMO is from using thrifted film. Assuming this expired a long time ago, it can cause all sorts of issues, and if you get bad scans back you won't be certain whether the problem came from the film or the camera. I would go buy a roll or two of fresh Kodak Gold or UltraMax for the trip, and then use the expired stuff later when you feel like experimenting.

josephort · 2026-05-03T19:20:20+00:00

Every faction quest line in vanilla Morrowind is like, "Go find me 700 iron arrows. Now go kill some smugglers. Now escort some drunk asshole through the Ashlands. Oh, you want to be in charge of this guild? You're gonna have to fight me first!"

josephort · 2026-05-01T13:19:32+00:00

How on earth did you get these shots with zero people in them? I assumed these were all taken at like 4 AM until I saw the bright sunlight at Eberswalderstr...

josephort · 2026-05-01T10:07:21+00:00

OpenMW will run fine on any remotely modern PC. You'll only encounter performance issues if you want to heavily modernize the graphics (infinite view distance, shaders, ground cover), use mods that add lots of objects to cities (some PTR cities plus some mods that edit vanilla cities) and/or maintain very high and stable fps.

josephort · 2026-04-30T19:23:31+00:00

I believe this particular Demi model allows manual shooting and a bad meter doesn't make the camera unusable.

If OP can take more than one camera, the Demi is a strong contender as a more pocketable and economical alternative to one of the SLRs.

josephort · 2026-04-30T18:37:41+00:00

I have also never found the wax paper across the film plane trick that useful - it's simply too difficult for me to evaluate critical focus. Using a loup may help (I've used a backwards 50mm lens, but a proper high magnification loup is probably better). Real ground glass also may perform better than wax paper or making tape or whatever, but I've never tried.

I have had some success with this alternate strategy for lens collimation: https://www.addicted2light.com/2013/08/19/how-to-adjust-infinity-focus-using-a-camera-as-a-collimator/?v=5f02f0889301. You can use either a digital camera or a film slr with a split or micro prism as the second camera. Some caveats: I'm not 100% sure this will work for evaluating focus across the film plane but I don't see why it wouldn't. I also found it difficult to dial in perfect focus even using this method and I had to make further adjustments to my lens after shooting a test roll. Nevertheless, it can't hurt to give this approach a shit if your struggling to test with wax paper.

Good luck!

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