Kiev 88CM

There is a new post showing this camera!

I have an Arax conversion that I love. Mine was made from a Salyut S.
It was made beause I wanted a better shooter. I love it it is really well made. In fact it is better made and works smoother than any of the other Salyut/Kievs that I own.

Is there any proof that it was a factory product such as a manual?

Nathan,

Here is a photo of the camera with the box and a link to what appears to be the manual.



http://mockba123.250x.com/photo/manuals/kiev88cmmanual.htm

So, if you think that these things show it is an Arsenal product, you may want to re-edit the WIKI entry by David and take your editorial question about proof of Arsenal origin away.



Regards, Bill

Verrrrry Interesting! It appears to be a real product. I will post a picture of my Salyut for comparison. and add details tomorrow!

Nathan,

+I think Arax probably worked / works closely with Arsenal, in the sense that they have personal and business interactions and so Arsenal knows of improvements made by Arax, possibly to incorporate some of them into new models ... so, if you had Arax make a custom camera for you it may have had influences on the designs of later Arsenal cameras.

Regards, Bill

Hi Nathan and Bill

Thanks for your input. Just to add the bits of information that I have gleaned.
I visited the Arsenal factory at Kiev in February 2006. I was told that they had temporarily stopped production of cameras the previous year. (I don't think that they have restarted production yet!) The Kiev 88CM came about after Hartblei approached Arsenal to make some modifications (I am not sure when this was).
While in Kiev I also met up with Gevorg Vartanyan, who runs Arax. He told me that he used Arsenal engineers who did the work on the Arsenal factory premises.
So, I think that the answer, Nathan, is that the cameras are certainly made at Arsenal, but some may be produced from parts manufactured before the close-down. But, even these are assembled at Arsenal, probably by the original engineers.
Sorry, that all this is rather vague, but getting information out of Arsenal turned out to be more difficult than I imagined.

David.

Here are the Images of the camera that I had modified. I bought the camera after someone at a camera show had jammed it. I got it for less than the cost of the backs so It was planned as a parts camera. It sat around for a couple of years and miraculously self healed! I decided that the problem was lubrication and since it was gorgeous sent it to Arax for CLA and modification. I then decided to have it modified to breach mount so I could use all my Pentacon mount lenses as well as the Soviet lenses.

It want with one of my 3M-3b mirror lenses which had the rear optics go cloudy for repair.
I have not been happier with any of my Saluit/Kiev6? cameras it is every bit as good as a Hassy. I can not say too much good about Georg and Arax work! Every lens fits, all of the Pentacon mount and Kiev b mount!