Kiev 2A (1954–1956)

Name: Kiev 2A
Brand: Kiev

The Kiev 2A is a 35mm rangefinder built at the Arsenal factory in Kiev. It descends directly from the Contax II, and the Soviets took the tooling for that camera as war reparations after WWII. The 2A is basically the pre-war German design reissued under a Soviet name, with a few changes. The biggest are a synthetic rubber focal-plane shutter in place of the cloth type, and no slow-speed dial like the one on the Contax II.

Collectors and shooters today generally think well of it. Vintage Camera Digest called it well-built and capable of excellent photos, with the Jupiter-8 50mm f/2 lens sharp and contrasty. The shutter is quiet and accurate at normal speeds, and the combined rangefinder/viewfinder offers 1:1 magnification. It has quirks, though. The film advance lever is non-ratcheted and can feel stiff. The rangefinder patch is dim in low light, the viewfinder is small, and the fastest shutter speeds are known to be unreliable. Film loading, via a removable bottom plate, is fiddly. Shutter speeds are set on a top-plate dial, the lens mounts via the Contax/Kiev bayonet, and there's a PC socket for flash.

Surviving documentation is thin on a few points. Production dates are usually given as 1954-1956, though at least one source stretches that to 1955-1958. The original price isn't recorded, and no dimensions or weight are documented. The lens is consistently listed as a 50mm f/2, but sources disagree on whether it's the Jupiter-8 or the Jupiter-8M. The two are closely related, so the discrepancy is flagged here rather than guessed at.

Expect to pay roughly $100-$250 for a working example. Things to check: shutter capping at high speeds, rangefinder misalignment, separation or coating scratches on the Jupiter-8, and a jammed advance mechanism. The rubberized fabric shutter can dry out and crack, and replacing it is difficult and often not worth the cost. Parts are scarce. The 2A shares many components with the Contax II, which can sometimes serve as donors. Don't try to oil the shutter yourself - it needs a specialist.