Industrial

Kiev rangefinder cameras are practically a true copy of German Contax II and III
cameras. Contax was built in 1930's and was a great competition for Leica at the time.
The camera was produced by a respectable company Zeiss Ikon in Dresden, Germany.
The camera was sold with a number of Zeiss lenses (with a focal length up to 500 mm)
and other auxiliary equipment (such as a reproduction set). To its main features belong:
a silent vertical metallic blind shutter to 1/1250s., precise rangefinder with a very large
base, a double bayonet system (inner for standard lenses and external for others),
precise and handy manual focusing, built-in exposure meter for standard lenses,
selenium exposure meter (Contax III), solid body. After the II world war, the whole
production line was captured and transferred from Germany to the city of Kiev. This is
how the history of the Kiev cameras begins. For the 40 years of production, the Kiev
cameras did not change at all. In the Eastern Germany the production of high-class
rangefinder cameras was not commenced again (Altix or Werr fall into completely
different level). Or perhaps there was some kind of a ban introduced by the Big Brother?
The production of Contax cameras came back to life on the West. And, like before the
war, Contax was again competing with a rangefinder Leica. Unfortunately, in the 1960's
the Zeiss Ikon collapsed. Contax trademark has been bought by the Japanese (Kyocera)
and so it is up to now. The Contax rangefinder cameras were copied after the war also
by other companies, including Nikon. The Japanese introduced some improvements, e.g.
possibility of using additional engine (3 frames per second), film advance lever or a
viewfinder fitting different lenses (SP) and a whole range of Nikkor lenses (for Contax
bayonet of course). Unfortunately, in 1967, the production of this type of cameras was
given up. It's been a paradox that Contax survived in the form of Soviet Kiev, which had
been produced until 1985. Despite the fact that it had never been updated, it still
remains an interesting piece of construction which except the quality of work and optical
system does not differ much from Leica M6 or MP (except their price).