Moskva-3

Moskva-3 is a folding scale-focus camera designed for photographic plates and produced at KMZ from 1950 to 1951.

Moskva-3 is a very unusual camera, because, unlike other models of Moskva medium format cameras, this device shoots not on 120 format film, but on photographic plates, and it has a frame size not of 6×9, but a very strange frame size for many modern film photographers of 6.5×9.

Moskva-1 Specifications

Type: 6.5х9 scale-focus plate camera
Manufacturer: KMZ plant
Production period: 1950-1951
Format: 6.5x9cm
Lens mount: fixed lens
Lens: Industar-23 f4.5/110
Shutter: leaf shutter with speeds from 1 to 1/250 sec.
Viewfinder: optical parallax viewfinder
Lighmeter: none
Flash synchronisation: none
Selftimer: none
Weight: 963 grams

Moskva-3 is a folding camera with ground glass, folding front stand and conical bellows. Due to the fact that this camera has a single bellows expansion, you cannot shoot objects at the closest possible distance of 1.5m.

In addition, you should know that the Moskva-3 camera is a very rare device, and in our time it is very difficult to find this camera in good condition. If you find this camera in good condition, you are unlikely to find photographic plates in the size of 6.5×9.

The Moskva-3 camera is equipped with an Industar-23 f4.5/110 lens. Almost all cameras of the Moskva series, except for Moskva-5, were equipped with this lens.

As we have already said in other articles about Moskva-1 and Moskva-2, we consider the Industar-23 lens to be very good, as it produces a truly beautiful and truly vintage soft image.

Unlike other plate cameras, in Moskva-3 the lens cannot be moved up or down, it is fixed like in all other models of this series.

Moskva-3 is equipped with a Moment-3 shutter, which has shutter speeds from 1 to 1/250 sec plus “Д” and “В”. Shutter speed “Д” is for focusing with a ground glass.

This camera is designed for shooting with a tripod, like all cameras designed to work with photographic plates and ground glass.

This camera is made of aluminum alloy and covered with a very good leatherette. This Soviet film camera is very pleasant to hold and use.

Taking pictures with such cameras is a very meditative process, because you first need to put the camera on a tripod, then you need to unfold the camera, open the shutter and focus, use an external exposure meter to set the desired shutter speed and aperture on the camera, then change the ground glass to a photographic plate and then just take a picture.

But if you suddenly want to shoot some scene very quickly (as fast as you can with a camera like this), then you can try to take a picture using the distance scale framing through a small folding window on the side of the camera.

In addition, you can put the camera at hyperfocal distance. To do this, set the aperture to a value between f11 and f16 and the distance between 8 and 15 meters. Thus, the lens will be focused at the hyperfocal distance and the entire space from about 4.5 meters to infinity will in focus.

Conclusion

Moskva-3 is one of those Soviet film cameras that you shouldn’t buy unless you’re an avid collector.

The Moskva-3 camera does not have any advantages over the Moskva-4 or -5, and at the same time, this camera is very rare on the photographic equipment market and costs unreasonably a lot of money. For this money you can buy a plate camera with the ability to move the front or even rear standards or several Moskva-4 or -5 cameras.