This is a Smena (Смена) 4, a 35mm compact camera made by GOMZ in Leningrad, Russia and was produced between 1958 and 1960. It was the 4th in the Smena family of cameras, and the last to be produced with this body style, made entirely of Bakelite. The camera was…
Last week’s Keppler’s Vault featured two different Russian Lens articles, so this week I thought I’d include a couple articles I’ve found that talk about 1950s and 60s Soviet cameras. On a side note, it’s interesting to me that every one of these articles refers to them as “Russian”, rather…
This is a Kiev-19, a 35mm Single Lens Reflex camera made by the Arsenal Factory in Kiev, Ukraine between the years 1985 to 1994. It was a replacement to the earlier Kiev-17 which was the first Soviet camera to use Nikon’s F bayonet mount. Most Nikon F-mount lenses will work…
In the last couple of decades, Soviet era cameras and lenses have enjoyed a generally positive reputation, making lenses like the Jupiter-8 and Helios-44 sought after by people searching for cost-effective alternatives to German or Japanese models. Even the lower end Industars can be good options for people looking for acceptable…
This is a Zorki 5 rangefinder camera made by Krasnogorskiy Mechanicheskiy Zavod (KMZ) in Krasnogorsk during the years of 1958 – 1959. This particular camera is an early and much less common variant with a red Zorki-5 logo engraved into the body, and a square rangefinder window. Later Zorki 5s had a…
Unless you have a strong interest in history, specifically the US/USSR Cold War, most people under the age of 40 will never remember the back and forth competitiveness of the American and Soviet space race. Both countries realized after World War II that the space beyond Earth’s atmosphere was a…
This is a Leningrad 35mm rangefinder camera made by Gosularstvennyi Optiko-Mekhanicheskii Zavod (GOMZ for short) between the years of 1956 and 1968. Although using the same M39 screw mount as many other Soviet rangefinders, the Leningrad is not based off any existing German design like the Zenit or FED rangefinders that…
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The first 5 words of the article below from the February/March 1962 issue of Camera 35 magazine are: The Alpa Reflex is expensive… Talk about the understatement of the year! According to this article, in 1962 an Alpa 6C with 50mm f/1.8 Macro-Switar Apochromat lens retailed for $469. When adjusted…
This is an Ikko Sha Start 35 K-II 35mm camera made by Ikko Sha Co. Ltd. of Japan starting in 1958. It was the second to last model in Ikko Sha’s lineup of inexpensive Bakelite bodied 35mm cameras which started with the original Start from 1950. Although using 35mm film and…
If you’re a frequent reader of this site, I have to imagine that you likely have a passing interest in the history of the stories behind the cameras I write about, after all, it is usually a major part of most posts here. I’ve always been fascinated with history. In…
This is a Zeh Goldi, made by Paul Zeh Kamerawerk in Dresden, Germany starting in 1932. The Goldi was a compact folding camera that made 3cm x 4cm images on 127 roll film. Zeh produced the Goldi for other companies and it was sold under a variety of “white label” and…
