Cameras made in the Soviet Union (USSR)
“Donut bokeh”…. …once you see it, you instantly know you’re talking about an image shot with a catadioptric lens. Catadioptric lenses are as unmistakable themselves as the images they make with their large dimeter barrel with a noticeable round obtrusion right smack in the center of the front element. Catadioptrics…
This is a KMZ Horizont (Горизонт), produced in the former Soviet Union between the years 1967 to 1973 by Krasnogorsky Mekhanichesky Zavod (KMZ). This was the first model in a long line of successful swing lens panoramic cameras that were produced until well after the collapse of the Soviet Union. …
This is a Salyut (Салют), a medium format SLR produced at the Arsenal plant in Kyiv, Soviet Union between the years 1957 and 1972. The Salyut was the first Soviet made medium format SLR, and is very similar, but not an exact copy of the original Hasselblad 1000 F. It…
This is the Voskhod (Восход), a 35mm scale focus camera built by Leningradskoye Optiko-Mekhanicheskoye Obyedinenie (LOMO for short) between the years 1964 and 1968. The Voskhod was a well built and uniquely designed camera with an arrangement of controls that made it ideal for both landscape and portrait orientation. It…
This is a Zorki rangefinder camera, built in the former Soviet Union by Krasnogorsky Mekhanichesky Zavod (KMZ). Although not marketed this way when it was new, this example is known today as the Zorki 1C as it was the original generation Zorki rangefinder, and the third major variant. The Zorki…
There’s a saying that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and when it comes to prestige products like handbags, watches, and cameras, there are whole industries of companies looking to counterfeit those products and sell them as the real thing. For cameras, the most commonly imitated examples are screw…
This is a KMZ Ajax-12, a subminiature camera that shoots images 18mm tall by 24mm wide on bulk loaded unperforated 21mm film. The Ajax-12 was built specifically for the Soviet Union’s intelligence agencies and is commonly referred to by it’s KGB name, which is F-21. It uses a spring wound…
Earlier this week, Aidas Pikiotas, the owner of the excellent Soviet camera site, SovietCAMS.com announced he would be taking the site offline before the end of the year. Aidas first created SovietCAMS in 2006 as a resource for cameras produced in the Former Soviet Union and over the next decade,…
This review is part of the Cameras of the Dead series which I have been publishing every year on Halloween and “Halfway to” Halloween, featuring three cameras that I’ve wanted to review that either didn’t work, or was otherwise unable to shoot. I am republishing each of those individual reviews…
This is a Smena-8 (Смена-8), a 35mm scale focus camera produced by LOMO in St. Petersberg in the former Soviet Union between the years 1963 and 1971. The Smena-8 was part of a long running line of simple Smena cameras that saw many iterations over the course of several decades…
This review is part of the Cameras of the Dead series which I have been publishing every year on Halloween and “Halfway to” Halloween, featuring three cameras that I’ve wanted to review that either didn’t work, or was otherwise unable to shoot. I am republishing each of those individual reviews…
In October 2018, I reviewed the KMZ Zenit-E, one of the most well known and identifiable cameras to ever come out of the former Soviet Union. Millions of Zenits were produced from 1952 – 1996 and many of them were the Zenit-E. When they were first released, the Zenit used…
