Kiev/Arax – The Beast From the East
My new Arax 88-CM arrived in the post last week, and since then I have already run a roll of film through it, with some pleasing results.
A little history about the Kiev 88-CM:
The Kiev story begins more than 50 years ago with the Arsenal Factory in Kiev, who first began producing the Salyut, a medium format camera which was a very close copy of the Swedish Hasselblad 1600F, with both cameras having focal plane shutters and interchangeable backs, the Russian designers also managed to include the additional feature of a self timer lever. The first Hasselblad 1600F proved to be delicate and unreliable, mainly due to the large range of shutter speeds (from 1/2 second down to 1/1600 second), this was later revised with the Hasselblad 1000 which removed the top shutter speed and greatly improved reliability.
The Salyut closely followed suit with the Hasselblad development, again removing the top 1/1600s shutter speed and reducing it down to 1/1000s in order to improve stability, with both cameras taking pre-set (stopped down) aperture lenses. The Salyut-C later improved on this with the addition of an aperture lever, allowing viewfinding at maximum brightness and stopping down the aperture in order to take the photo. The original Salyut was fitted with lenses that took the “B” type screw mount.
Development of the Hasselblad eventually moved onto leaf shutters (with shutters incorporated into the lens), while the Salyut eventually graduating into the Kiev 88 while keeping it’s focal plane shutter. The Kiev-88 again made some improvements over the existing Salyut-C, with the addition of an electronic hotshoe for flashes. The design was improved again with the Kiev 88-CM, with the CM denoting the addition of the Pentacon Six mount, as well as other minor improvements including the replacement of the winding knob with a crank, the redesigning of the film back to allow easier loading, and with later models the installation of the Pentacon Six breech lock, making the camera compatible with all Carl Zeiss Jena lenses as well as Schneider and lenses designed for the Exakta 66 medium format system.
However, due to the lack of quality control in the Arsenal factory, many Kievs which left the factory experienced a slew of issues, mostly related to the shutter mechanism and the improper fitting of the film back to the camera. What was more an annoyance was that these Kievs were often issues with exchange warranties, meaning that if your camera had a fault, they would simply swap it for another one, which may have a whole different set of problems.
In steps Arax:
Arax Photo is a long established company run by businessman Gevorg Vartanyan. Much like the Shelby car tuning companies in the United States, Arax takes Kiev cameras direct from the assembly line in the Arsenal Factory (although this is no longer the case as the Arsenal Factory is no longer operational) and rebuilds them to be more reliable before rebranding them and selling them internationally. Their rebuilding process includes (italics indicate only applicable to Kiev 88 (not CM) models):
- Swapping out the original bronzed shutter curtains (known to cause internal reflections) for a quieter black cloth shutter.
- Rebuilding of the shutter mechanism with sturdier and higher quality parts, and retuning of the shutter to ensure top accuracy.
- Rebuilding of the film advance mechanism (one of the more likely points of failure in original Kievs) and lubrication to ensure smooth film advancing.
- Removing the original screw mount and replacing it with a Pentacon Six twist mount
Improvement on the reliability of the Pentacon Six breech mount - Internal flocking of the camera body to reduce reflections
- Rebuild of all the film backs to ensure no light leaks
- Checking that the film back mates with the camera body to ensure no light leaks
- (Optional) Modification to install the MLU system
- Replacement of the original focusing screen with a brighter focusing screen, it includes border markings and a split prism/microprism focusing aid
- Disassemble, relube, readjustment of the stock Arsat 80mm f/2.8 lens
- (Optional) They also remove the original chrome finish and repaint it with a black finish
Arax also rebuild and recalibrate all the accessories (including importantly the spot meter), which is very useful as these are 100% compatible with Hasselblad bodies. As you can see, the amount of effort required in the refurbishment is quite considerable, and the end result is a reliable, smooth and highly professional product. Some of the outer cover and the paint is starting to peel on my Arax, but for me these things can easily be fixed and therefore not a concern with me. I have played with both the Hasselblad 500 C/M and now the Arax.
Features I prefer on the Hasselblad:
- Flash sync at every flash speed
- No limitation on adjusting the shutter speed after I wind the film
- Shutter speed/aperture coupled on the lens meaning I can change the shutter/aperture without affecting the exposure level.
- NT (New Technology) backs is easier to load than the OT or Hasselblad backs
- Larger shutter release button, also conveniently repositioned to one side of the body to accomodate larger lenses
- Hotshoe mount is included in the camera body with X-sync cable
- Ability to mount and dismount lenses with the camera in any state (in some circumstances on the Hasselblad this can break the camera)
- A new Arax is half the price of a used Hasselblad!
- Compatibility with Carl Zeiss Jena, and Schneider lenses designed for the Exakta 66
Features I prefer on the Arax:
In conclusion: If you want to get into square format and are not really akin to TLRs then an Arax is a good way to buy an affordable high quality camera. If you’re not looking for interchangeable backs and would prefer something more portable, Arax also offer their reworked Arax 60 SLR in both 6×6 format or 6×4.5 portrait formats.
Categories: Gear, Photography, Uncategorized
Tags: arax, kiev, medium format, review, ukraine
Comments: 1 Comment.
You should buy the tilt adaptor for your DSLR and then you can use your Arax lenses with it. I have a stack of brown snake PVC if you want to pimp your Arax