The Moscow 2 is a well executed close copy of Zeiss Super Ikonta C. The earliest Zeiss Cameras predate WW2 and much of what remained in the Dresden works was swept up and whisked away to Russia when the Soviets took the city in final stages of the war. The Ikonta material was entrusted and KMZ (Krasnogorsk Mechanical Factory) to produce the Moscow series whilst the Contax tooling went to Kiev Arsenal, who went on to produce Kiev series.

This Moscow 2 was introduced in 1947 and adopts most of the practice of the Super Ikonta including the coupled rangefinder arrangement. The camera makes eight exposures on 120 roll film 6 x 9cm, later models from Moscow 4 had a film plane mask to allow twelve 6 x 6cm images. The construction closely mirrors the Zeiss, consisting of steel inner trays riveted into aluminium outer trays to form the main body, finished with black enamel and real leather. Further adornment came in the form of riveted metal plates with raised chromed ridges and leather inserts, necessary as aluminium won't accept chrome electro plate. The self erecting mechanism is released by a button to the right of the rangefinder where you might expect the shutter release to be. The erecting mechanism is propelled very positively and needs to be restrained to prevent the film being partly sucked into the bellows ruining the focus. It's good practice anyway to prevent disturbing the dust that hides in the linen bellows liner. The action of releasing the front also serves to pop up the viewfinder optics from their stowed position in the top of the rear rangefinder housing. The lensboard/hatch is a steel pressing. Mounted on the front is a "Moment-1" leaf shutter and the front assembly of the rangefinder. Very early examples may come with genuine F. Deckle Compur shutters, robbed from the Dresden works. The standard of construction is generally very good. Collapsing the camera starts by unlocking the diagonal struts, pressing firmly rearwards at their base. The rangefinder is a rather complicated solution to the coupling requirement. Rather than a mechanical linkage running back to movable prisms (tricky in a folder) the Moscow inherited the Super Ikontas arrangement where a glass wedge rotates in a spectacle driven by an intricate array of gears to the objective lens group. A thumb wheel is used to move both and sits in the middle of the gear train to even out the effect of any backlash in the system. From the user's perspective the result is similar to any other rangefinder where a small circular portion of the image is superimposed on a wider view, moving the thumb wheel to bring the images coincident will focus the camera at that point. The only difference being that the front component needs to be swung out from the stowed position as shown in the main image. It's vital you remember to swing it back before closing the camera to avoid damaging anything. The image is composed via the pop up viewfinder and focus with the rangefinder window. With some practice it's possible to frame up, hold the camera with the left index finger poised over the shutter while the right hand braces the camera with the right index finger performing the focus function.

This particular camera was bought by the collection in March 2025. The focus was seized but otherwise it was just in need of a good service. This camera went into the workshop, disassembly being restricted to screwed components, as much of the camera is permanently riveted together. The culprit in the focus threads was verdigris. This took some careful cleaning out along with the gear train for the front rangefinder assembly. All the optics were in fine shape and the the camera is now working smoothly and lightly once again. The black enamel was a bit battered in places so we elected to repaint the shell. One leather panel was badly damaged and needed replacing. Prior to coming to the UK the camera had spent it's life in the Soviet Union in the ownership of the deputy head of Soviet Naval Aviation. Given our other principle interests include aviation, the camera is a most welcome addition.

Body No. 5410366
Shutter, Moment-1, serial 5410820, B, 1, 2, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 & 250th
Lens, serial 5412621, KMZ Industar-23 11cm f/4.5
Condition, 5F

View other rangefinder cameras in this collection.

View other 6 x 9cm folding cameras in this collection.