Kiev SLR Cameras
Kiev SLR cameras were produced at the Arsenal plant and were, in fact, slightly more professional cameras than Zenit cameras, which were produced at the KMZ plant.
The fact is that there was no market economy in the Soviet Union, which means that there was no competition, and there was no point for factories to compete with each other and create any competitive cameras.
Such a situation could lead to the fact that factories from year to year would produce extremely outdated cameras, which, moreover, would lose quality every year, because due to the lack of competition, the buyer will be forced to buy the only available product.
To avoid such a situation where there is only one camera on the market that is not capable of producing any outstanding pictures, the Soviet government ordered the creation of different factories that would produce cameras of different levels.
Thus, in the Soviet Union there was the LOMO plant, which mainly produced entry-level cameras, the KMZ plant, which produced medium-level cameras, and the Arsenal plant, which mainly produced higher-level cameras.
Unlike cameras manufactured at the KMZ plant, Kiev SLR cameras, among other things, were equipped with lenses of a higher level, such as the wide-angle Mir-24H f2.0/35, Helios-81H f2.0/50 and Kaleinar-5H f2.8/100.
In addition, since Kiev SLR cameras use the Nikon F-mount, you can use Nikon lenses without any adapters.
The team of our site believes that Kiev SLR cameras are the best SLR cameras produced in the Soviet Union.
The convenience and build quality of these film cameras, combined with the high quality of the lenses, gives an excellent result that can compete with Japanese and German cameras of the same years.
Combined with the low price and the fact that these cameras are still easy to find, Kiev SLRs are the best Soviet SLRs you can buy today.