The Kiev 4 is a Russian produced rangefinder camera for 35mm film produced from 1957, although earlier relatives existed from 1946-48(sources vary). That short sentence hides a fascinating history though and it would be most remiss not to précis it. At the start of the 1930s the convergence of high quality panchromatic film emulsions, refined optics and manufacturing lead to the practical use of 35mm movie film for still cameras, as proved by the Leica. Add to this the immediacy of a coupled rangefinder allowed the camera to get the best out of what was a small negative. By the end of 1934 Kodak had introduced the Daylight Loading Casette, a 3ft length of 35mm film wound into a tin sealed with felt and known as 135 in Kodak parlance and the 35mm revolution was about to take off. Zeiss Ikon based in Dresden Germany elected to join the party early on in 1932, producing the the superb Zeiss Contax 35mm rangefinder that year. It was a no-compromise and expensive professional camera with a very long rangefinder base to give exceptional focus accuracy, bayonet mounted lenses and a vertically running metal roller blind shutter. The design evolved by 1936 to become the Contax II and things looked good for the Zeiss Contax... were it not for a certain major conflict that broke out in 1939. Five years later as Nazi Germany collapsed during 1945 the Soviet Red Army swept up Dresden and the plethora of German photographic and optical industries based there. Whilst much of what they found remained in Dresden, later forming the basis of VEB Pentacon, the tooling, unfinished components and even some of the staff of Zeiss Ikon were shipped to Kiev in Soviet Ukraine. All this was put to work at Kiev Arsenal where the first camera was built c1948, although some cameras were built in Dresden prior to the move to Ukraine. Unlike the efforts of FED to produce Leica clones, these Contax II and Contax III(metered) based Kiev's were in most respects Zeiss Contax cameras, built using the same tooling and techniques employed by Zeiss Ikon. The design evolved in detail respects, becoming the Kiev 4(metered) around 1957 but was recognizably the same up to the end of production with the Kiev 4M in c1987. Kiev 4 and 4A(no meter) are the most commonly found variants as these had the longest production run.

This example was built in second half of 1965, being exported to Belgrade in what was then Yugoslavia in October of that year. It had to wait some two years before someone bought it on 26th November 1967. It apparently saw little use judging from the film pressure plate and was discovered on a Belgrade market stall fifty six years later in November 2023, still in the original box with all paperwork and donated to the collection by M. Nguyen. Donations are always special, but this one more so than most, particularly as this same donor presented another Kiev 4 previously in 2001. All the original documentation for this camera can be downloaded from the thumbnail images.

Although cosmetically pristine the camera was mechanically dead, apparently sitting in a drawer unused for many decades had done it few favours. For this camera we elected to send it to Oleg Khaliavin, in Slovakia for a complete overhaul as we have no experience with Contax shutter blinds. Although we are UK based and Oleg can't accept cameras outside the EU we made it work by sending him the camera then travelling to Bratislava to collect it in May 2025. Oleg has done a fine job and this Kiev is now perfectly functional once again, he even replaced the long dead selenium photo cell. For the purposes of history, the spelling of the the Ukrainian city used here is that in force at the time. Today the correct spelling is Kyiv.

Body No. 6510216 (hence the 10,216th made in 1965)
Shutter, speeds B, 2, 5, 10, 25, 50, 125, 250, 500 & 1250th
Lens, Jupiter 8M, 5cm f/2 Serial No.6515027
Condition, 5H

View other rangefinder cameras in this collection.