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
B prefix s/n Kiev III (1954)
Known examples of B prefix s/n Kiev III:
B541254
B541476
B541663
B541675
B541862
B542003
B542635 - GOST meter
B542683
B542922 - GOST meter
B543151 - GOST meter (ebay)
B543224
B543341 - GOST meter , Michel's coll.
B544086
B544131
B544194
B544466
B544797 - GOST meter, okynek