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Moskva-5

Reviews
Posted by Bengt Köhler Sandberg 2014-01-05

Moskva-5

Made by KMZ between: 1955-59

Specs:

Lens: Industar-24 105mm f/3.5
(4 elements in 3 groups)
Closest Focus: 1.5m (5ft)
Aperture: f/3.5 - f/32
Shutter: 1/250s to 1s
Leaf shutter from Moment-24C
Light meter: None
Battery: None
Flash: PC sync connection
Weight: 870g

Coupled rangefinder
Double-exposure prevention

Takes 120 film
6×9 cm or 6x6 cm (with mask) negative size


Viewfinder:

This has a separate viewfinder and rangefinder.
Both of them are small but find them still to work quite well.

Finding focus true the rangefinder is quite easy and it was accurate.
However did in some occasions find it quite hard to see things in bright backlight.
But this was from a very low december sun.




Image quality


Analogue B&W film

Moskva-5
Moskva-5
Moskva-5
Moskva-5
Moskva-5

Wide open
Moskva-5
Moskva-5


Bokeh

Moskva-5
Moskva-5

Flare / Backlight
Moskva-5
Moskva-5


More sample images can be found at:
http://www.sample-image.com/moskva-5/





Build quality

Very good and are all metal and solid.

 
Operating
Moskva-5


Conclusion


The older U.S.S.R cameras is always fun to test and that are often quite good plus built like a rock.
This one definitely holds up to that standard and it looks great and is very robust.
Image quality is quite nice with good contrast and bokeh.
Sharpness wide open is okay in the center but gets soft towards the corners.
But stop down to f/8 - 11 or smaller and it's quite the nice one.

The coupled rangefinder is very welcome and it makes it's a little faster to work with.

But one thing it that this cameras it not exactly ergonomically built to use handheld.
And it first seem like they missed that there need to be some room to hold the camera while using it.
After some use I found it easier to hold with one firm grip at the lid going across the bellow.
So you're holding it like a camcorder and then used a fairly long cabel release to trigger the shutter.
Was more stable and you can have one hand free for focus etc. while you still have a good grip.

Still a cameras that can be just as fun to use as it can look good in collection.


Thumbs up:
Image quality
Bokeh and contrast
Coupled rangefinder
Build quality

Thumbs down:
Corner sharpness at bigger apertures
Bad ergonomics for handheld use



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Technical Info
Scanner: Epson V700
Film: Kodak Tmax 100, Kodak Tri-X and efke 25
Developer: Kodak Xtol

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