>>3246659Which ones? They're very different.
Keep in mind, even the leica screw mount ones were made to the contax flage standard, so even though all LTM lenses will mechanically fit, only the russian ones (Jupiters, etc.) will focus properly. Not an issue with wides, but it's an issue with fast normals.
You have two general options, either LTM mount or Contax mount.
Feds, Zorkis, etc. are LTM mount. Obviously go for a later model (Zorki 4, Fed 5 etc.) that have a combined vf/rf, it's *much* more convenient.
LTM mount has many lens options but the lenses tend to be more expensive because the mount is easily adaptable to M (and digital).
Kievs on the other hand have contax bayonet mount. The 50mm lenses are absolutely tiny, because the have no focusing helicoid, it's built into the body. This makes the lenses very hard (expensive) to adapt to anything else, so you get great prices even in original Zeiss lenses.
The main difference between the Kievs and the Zorkis are the shutter (cloth vs metal rolling shutter) and the rf baselength.
Cloth shutters are in general more quiet than metal ones, but the Kiev metal shutter is not your typical modern metal shutter, it's a complicated, overengineered contraption that looks like a literal rolling window shutter made up by metal strips. It's definitely quiet, just a different sound.
Cons: The cloth shutter can have pinholes burnt into it if you leave the camera sit facing the sun with a lens on. The rolling metal shutter needs a special silk ribbon when it's time to be repaired.
About the rf, the Kiev has a gargantuan baselength, ~90mm, literally longer than many shooters' dicks. rf patch contrast is great, but the vf brightness is worse as a result, compared to Zorki 4.
Also I find Kiev's better built and finished, usually the only issue is with the leatherette.
Anyway, I'm partial to Kievs, but it all depends on price. If you can find either for ~$30, go for it, you'll spend more than that on film in a week.
