The Kiev III rangefinder camera is a near carbon copy of the pre-war German Contax III camera. The Soviets seized The Zeiss Ikon plants in Dresden and Jena totally intact at the end of the war. Some of the Zeiss manufacturing equipment was shipped to the Soviet Union. Production of the Kiev III began in 1948 with a lot of "liberated" German parts.
Cameras made before 1950 were assembled from Contax parts at Jena in DDR and, according to sources at Arsenal the first cameras were made in Kiev in 1950. This was a small production run and production didn't begin in serious form till 1952. The DDR cameras were stamped or engraved with the Kiev logo, some had Carl Zeiss lenses and some were fitted with KMZ ZK or Zorki lenses.
Produced: 1948-1958
Name: „„Киев“
Producer: Arsenal
Frame size: 24x36.
Lens: Jupiter-8 2/50.
Shutter: 1/2, 1/5, 1/10, 1/25, 1/50, 1/125, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1250 and B.
Quantity: ±120.000 units (unconfirmed).
50072 from first Arsenal production run
A series prefix 1951/53
A 51799 A.Nikitin
A511469
A511570
A511956
A521157
A522055
A525242
A527594
A532400
A532872
A533194 napchop
A541939
A543854 J-8 N°5411311 (Elmar Lang)
A548167
A555422
A555863
B prefix s/n Kiev III (1954)
Known examples of B prefix s/n Kiev III:
B540221
B540264
B540489-Gost meter
B540538
B540589
B540803 -DIN meter, A.Nikitin
B540951-Gost meter
B541139
B541254
B541476
B541663
B541675
B541862
B542003
B542004
B542140 - GOST meter
B542598 - GOST meter, SovieCams
B542635 - GOST meter
B542683
B542922 - GOST meter
B543151 - GOST meter (ebay)
B543224
B543341 - GOST meter , Michel's coll.
B544086
B544131
B544194
B544206
B544466
B544688
B544719 - GOST meter, not filled KIEV engraving.
B544743
B544797 - GOST meter, okynek
B544919 - GOST meter, A.Nikitin
B545163
B545494
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