Киев: Советские и украинские фотокамеры.

Soviet and Ukrainian brand of photocameras

Kiev is a Soviet and Ukrainian brand of photographic equipment including cameras manufactured by the Arsenal Factory in Kyiv, Ukraine. The camera nameplates show the name "KIEV", with older cameras using "КИЕВ" (in Russian) or "КИЇВ" (in Ukrainian) in Cyrillic. In November 2009, it was announced that the Arsenal factory would be closing after 245 years of operation.

Arsenal produced several 35mm film rangefinders, which were clones of the pre WWII Contax II and Contax III cameras. Kiev rangefinders retained the same lens mount as the pre WWII Contax rangefinders, making the lenses interchangeable between both brands. The lens mount of both cameras was sophisticated compared with other cameras of the time. The so called 'Contax/Kiev bayonet' actually consists of two bayonets – the inner bayonet, which is used exclusively for 50mm lenses, and the outer bayonet, which is used for all the other lenses. This makes adapting Kiev lenses which use internal bayonet to modern mirrorless cameras complicated compared to those that use the external bayonet. The internal bayonet lenses do not have a focus ring, because the bayonet is actually the helix. Adapters for such lenses tend to be more expensive that simple external bayonet adapters. The number of Kiev rangefinders vastly exceeded that of the pre war Dresden and post war Jena and Stuttgart Contaxes.

After the Second World War had ended, the Soviet Union demanded new sets of Contax tools from the original toolmaker in Dresden and then ordered a fair number of trial cameras to be made with Zeiss trademarks and coated lenses from these 1946 in post war East Germany. With this successful, everything together with German instructors were transferred to Kyiv. Missing specialists were in a few cases recruited in West Germany. Any still available parts went in the same direction. In fact, removing the front of some very early Kiev cameras, one could see that the metal was originally stamped with the Contax name, then pressed out and re stamped as Kiev. By the early 1950 all the parts for Kiev cameras were produced in Ukraine. frame lines. The viewfinder seems to show what 35mm lens is supposed to see with frame lines showing what 50mm lens would see.

A development of Kiev 10. Only small quantities of this camera were produced. The main difference was that the light meter was moved from the top to the side. Apparently, this was due to shiny chrome lenses reflecting the sunlight, rendering the center positioned light meter on Kiev 10 inaccurate.

This camera had two names during its lifespan, but these models were identical. The main difference in this model it was added TTL (Through The Lens) metering. Those meters are accurate even nowadays.

+Lenses made for Kiev Avtomat SLRsNameFocal lengthMaximum ApertureMir 20 Automat20mmf/3.5Mir 1 Automat37.5mmf/2.8Era 18 Automat50mmf/1.2Helios 65 Automat50mmf/2.0Helios 81 Automat50mmf/2.0Granit Automat45 80mmf/3.5Vega 21 Automat85mmf/2.0Jupiter 9 Automat85mmf/2.0Jupiter 11 Automat135mmf/4.0Tair 11 Automat135mmf/2.8Granit 11 Automat80 200mmf/4.5

The Kiev F line, available since around 1980, constituted some of the most westernized 35mm SLRs available in the days of the Soviet Union. To satisfy the large internal demand, there was no discernible export at the time they would have found a ready market in the West. Instead, the Zenit with an external selenium meter was sold in large numbers. It was Soviet policy to export domestic surplus rather than the more desirable items of their manufacture.

Kiev 17 was the first in the F line of Kiev SLRs. It was a fully manual camera. It did not even have a light meter. It is said to be a really unreliable camera.

A rare prototype camera. There's very little known about it.

A much better rated successor to Kiev 17. It offers stop down TTL metering with helper LEDs in the viewfinder. It has a top shutter speed of 1/500s.

This camera model adds the aperture coupling and the self timer to Kiev 19 design. It also readds the 1/1000s top shutter speed.

The body type is changed to molded polycarbonate, making it only Kiev SLR not made from metal. Despite its model number, it succeeds the Kiev 20. It has the same 1/500s top shutter speed as the 19, though. This is by far the most produced version of Kiev F SLRs. This model was produced long after Soviet Union fell and was also exported to other countries.

+Lenses made for Kiev F SLRsNameFocal lengthMaximum AperturePeleng N8mmf/3.5Zenitar N16mmf/2.8Mir 47N20mmf/2.5Mir 73N20mmf/2.8Mir 20N20mmf/3.5Mir 24N35mmf/2.0Mir 67N35mmf/2.8Helios 81N50mmf/2.0Helios 123N50mmf/2.0Volna 4N50mmf/1.4Volna 8N50mmf/1.2Yantar 14N28 85mmf/2.8 3.5Kaleinar 5N100mmf/2.8Telear N200mmf/3.5Yantar 20N35 200mmf/3.5 4.5Granit 11N80 200mmf/4.5Yachmar 4N300mmf/2.8

Kiev produced some 35mm compact cameras as well.

Kiev 35 was the prototype camera of the series. It was presented at Photokina in 1984 with the Industar 99 lens.

Kiev 35A is an actual production version of Kiev 35. It's a compact 35mm camera, with a front cover that folds down to reveal the lens. It's an exact copy of Minox 35, the only difference being that Kiev 35 is around 2mm wider. It offers electronically controlled shutter with aperture priority mode. Shutter speeds range from 4s to 1/500s. It has hot shoe flash synchronization. The film speed settings range from 22 to 700 GOST (15 30 DIN). The lens on this camera is MC Korsar 35mm f/2.8.

This is a modernized version of Kiev 35A. Besides the cosmetic changes, shutter speeds have been reduced to range from 2s to 1/500s. It also added a self timer.

Kiev medium format cameras can generally be divided into two families.

The Kiev brand of medium format cameras started forming, when the Arsenal factory decided to try copying the Hasselblad 1600F around 1956–57. These cameras used a screw type lens mount similar to the original Hasselblad mount, however, there are mixed reports on compatibility between the two. Most film backs are not compatible between Kievs and Hasselblads due to different gear mechanisms. However, Kiev viewfinders are compatible with the Hasselblad 1600F and 1000F, and even current Hasselblad V system models.

The Salyut, like Hasselblad 1600F, was a medium format SLR with a modular design it offered interchangeable lenses, viewfinders and film backs. Because of it being so similar to the original Hasselblad, it is sometimes jokingly called Hasselbladski. The shutter was horizontal running focal plane shutter, offering speeds from 1/2s to 1/500s + B. One of the versions of this camera already added the 1/1000s shutter speed, but that wasn't common. The lens it had equipped out of the box was Tessar optical formula derivate Industar 29 with semi automatic diaphragm. The rough production numbers of this camera were around 50,000 units. The camera was often exported with changed name. The cameras named Zenith 80, Revue 6x6, Revue 80 and Vitoflex all refer to this same camera and have the same features.

This camera upgraded the original Salyut with extended shutter speed range now it offered speeds from 1/2s to 1/1000s + B. It also introduced the fully automatic diaphragm. It was equipped with a new lens, Vega 12. It can be found under multiple names as well. It can be found under names Soyuz, Zenith 80 (just like the original Salyut) and Kiev 80. The only difference between the latter and Salyut S is that some Kiev 80s came equipped with a different lens Volna 3.

The Kiev 88 and Kiev 88 TTL were the same cameras as the Salyut S, but with added hot shoe for flash synchronization. Those cameras were equipped with Volna 3 lenses out of the box. The difference between those two models was that Kiev 88 TTL had a TTL metering prism, where Kiev 88 had a non metering prism. Since those cameras had interchangeable viewfinders and prisms, the real difference was only what accessories were present in the box when you bought the camera, but the cameras were the same.

The camera is perhaps the biggest upgrade since Salyut, because it replaced the original screw type lens mount with the Pentacon Six lens mount, expanding the options for lenses.

This camera is extremely rare (around 2000 units made This problem can be fixed.

This is a 6x6 SLR which can use both 120 and 220 film. Shutter release button is located on the left of the camera. It has interchangeable viewfinders (waist level viewfinder on pentaprism). It uses horizontally running focal plane shutter with speeds ranging from 1/2s to 1/1000s + B. By default it was delivered with Vega 12 lens.

Almost the same camera as the original Kiev 6S, but had a different front plate the Kiev logo is now written in chrome on black background. It offered a CdS TTL metering prism out of the box.

The current Kiev 60 has a more conventional right handed shutter release, but does not take 220 film. Otherwise, it's mechanically the same camera as the Kiev 6S.

The low price of the Kiev medium format cameras has attracted many amateur photographers wishing to enter the medium format camera market on a budget. Some have reported that the prices of a Kiev Hasselblad type camera setup with other Russian or Ukrainian components, such as lenses, viewfinders and film magazines, can be just a fraction of the price of a similar Hasselblad setup. On the other hand, prices of Pentacon Six cameras are comparable to prices of its Ukrainian counterparts. One of the reasons for the lasting demand for these cameras is the price of the lenses that can be used on them. Despite the cheap price (compared to Pentacon Six mount lenses from other manufacturers) the Kiev lenses are optically excellent, with many of the lenses being based on Carl Zeiss Jena designs. Historically, the Arsenal plant is reported to have generally poor quality control and some buyers have reported receiving cameras with small cosmetic or functional defects. Many of the less favorable reviews come from people comparing the camera directly to the more expensive Hasselblad models. The quality control seems to have fluctuated throughout different years of production though, and thus varies from camera to camera. It's important to note that Hasselblad like Kiev cameras are based on camera designs even Hasselblad gave up on. Having poor quality control only made things worse. For this reason, a number of third party distributors have appeared offering Kiev cameras in improved, quality controlled forms. However, some have taken advantage of the Arsenal plant's variable quality to add value through varying levels of third party rebuilding, modification, and testing of the Arsenal supplied cameras. The cameras, however, still have a number of quirks that no simple servicing will remove. The most notable quirk is that the shutter speed on some of the original Hasselblad like Kiev cameras should only be changed after cocking the shutter (spring loading the shutter mechanism and advancing the film). Changing the shutter speed on an un cocked camera will damage the timing mechanism. This is not a problem with the Pentacon Six based Kiev and Kiev 88CM variants. There are also mixed reports that the shutter speed dial should be turned only clockwise, never counter clockwise. This is certainly known to be an issue with some cameras modified by Hartblei to add a mirror lock up (MLU) feature. Other cameras may or may not have this problem, so special care is advised.

The vendors that sell Kiev cameras outside of the former Soviet Union often make their own modifications to the cheap and basic cameras coming from the factory. Mirror lock up is a feature that can be added to these cameras. This removes the small amount of motion blur that can be caused by the mirror hitting the top of the mirror box just before the shutter opens, however, other sources of motion blur still remain. This is most useful when the subject is greatly magnified (when using long or telephoto lens) or with macro photography. Some of these cameras have a really strong mirror slap, creating motion blur even when not shooting handheld, so MLU is a really useful feature if you tend to use the slower shutter speeds. The Pentacon Six based Kievs are sometimes modified to shoot with a 6x4.5 frame size, often called Kiev 645 or similar, yielding more pictures per roll of film in a "print friendly" rectangular format versus the original camera's square 6x6 format. But since the film feeds sideways, the 6x4.5 variant produces photos in the portrait aspect, as opposed to the landscape aspect seen in most other cameras. On the other hand, the Hasselblad based Kievs can shoot the 6x4.5 frame size by simply using a different film back. The 6x4.5 film back is interchangeable with 6x6 backs on others, for example instant film backs, while the Pentacon Six based Kiev frame size modifications are permanent. The original Pentacon Six lens mount on the Kiev 88CM accepts all the lenses from Arsenal, but has trouble accepting some other lenses, for example Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnars for Pentacon Six. It is, however, possible to overcome this issue by third party modifications that allow Kiev 88CM to accept all the lenses made for Pentacon Six lens mount. Kievs cameras utilizing Hasselblad like screw mount can be modified to Pentacon Six lens mount, which is more desirable because of the greater amount on lenses available. Since the register distance of the new mount is shorter than the original one, the mount is located inside the camera body and allows to use all existing screw mount lenses with an adapter this is desirable, if we already own screw mount lenses but want to modify the lens mount to extend the lens options. In that case, we don't have to buy all the same lenses with a different mount.

+Lenses made for Kiev medium format camerasNameLens mountFocal lengthMaximum ApertureZodiak 8B, V30mmf/3.5Mir 26B, V45mmf/3.5Mir 3B, V65mmf/3.5Mir 38B, V65mmf/3.5Industar 29V80mmf/2.8Volna 3B, V80mmf/2.8Vega 2V85mmf/2.8Vega 12B, V90mmf/2.8Industar 56V110mmf/2.8Vega 28V120mmf/2.8Kaleinar 3B, V150mmf/2.8Jupiter 36B, V250mmf/3.5Telear 4B, V250mmf/3.5Telear 5B, V250mmf/5.6Tiar 33B, V300mmf/4.5ArsatB500mmf/5.6ZM 3B, V600mmf/8.0
Lenses for Kiev medium format cameras come in two different lens mounts mount B and mount V (be careful, in Cyrillic В actually represents V with Б being B as we know it). Mount B represents the Pentacon Six mount lenses and V represents Salyut screw mount. Most of the lenses were made in both mounts, but some are exclusive to just one of them refer to the table above. In the 1990s, the lenses were all renamed to Arsat, making harder to distinguish them from one another, but optically, they are one of the lenses listed above. When the lenses were renamed, mount designations were changed. Pentacon Six mount lenses were renamed to Arsat C where screw mount lenses kept the letter B. Among the best regarded is the Zodiak 8 fisheye lens. This lens is reputedly quite good mechanically and excellent optically, which is stunning since one would have to spend many thousands of dollars to get a non Ukrainian equivalent lens of this type. Shift and Tilt Shift lenses made by third parties, based on the 45mm and 65mm optics are also available. These lenses allow photographers to take advantage of the Scheimpflug principle for achieving greater apparent depth of field without adjusting the aperture, and gain other controls similar to those found on view cameras.