The Best Soviet Cameras

In this article, the team of our site will tell you about the best Soviet cameras that you can buy in our time.

As in the case of other our articles about the best cameras, in this article about the best Soviet era cameras, we will not talk about those cameras that cannot be bought in our time or those that, for some reason, are only of collector’s interest.

General Information

In Soviet times, a huge number of cameras of various formats and for a wide variety of audiences were produced, from the simplest ones to cameras for professional photographers.

In this article, we will tell you about the best Soviet film cameras in each category.

The Best Soviet Scale Focus Camera

The best Soviet film scale-focus camera, in our opinion, is Smena-Symbol. This camera collects everything that can be in a sacle-focus camera. Firstly, it is a very interesting lens, the Triplet T-43 f4.0/40, which is made according to the Cookie triplet scheme, and produces a very atmospheric vintage image. Secondly, the camera is very comfortable and assembled quite well for a device of this price category.

The Best Soviet Rangefinder Camera

The best Soviet rangefinder camera, in our opinion, is Kiev rangefinder cameras produced at the Arsenal factory. These cameras carry the genes of Carl Zeiss, and in many ways are not even inferior to their German ancestors. Kiev cameras are very well assembled, they have an excellent park of optics, an excellent set of shutter speeds, a very convenient and clean viewfinder with a very accurate rangefinder and a bright spot of the rangefinder.

The Best Soviet SLR Camera

The best Soviet era SLR camera is Kiev-19, which was also produced at the Arsenal plant. This Soviet film SLR camera, like rangefinder cameras from Arsenal, has a very good build quality and a wonderful set of optics. In addition, this camera differs from SLR cameras manufactured at the KMZ factory by a more reliable and accurate shutter and a more convenient viewfinder.

The Best Soviet Folding Camera

In Soviet times, many folding cameras were produced, but the best of them is Iskra. This 6×6 folding camera has very comfortable ergonomics, a wonderful sharp Industar-58 f3.5/75 lens, a very good set of shutter speeds by the standards of a medium format camera, a large and clear viewfinder and a very accurate rangefinder. Also, unlike most other folding cameras, Iskra has a frame counter that even works nowadays.

The Best Soviet Medium Format Camera

In Soviet times, different factories produced a lot of different medium format cameras with different looks, but in our opinion, the best of them is Kiv-60. This camera looks like a normal SLR, and operates in exactly the same way, but shoots on medium format film. Kev-60 has a very good set of lenses, a very bright viewfinder for a medium format camera with which it is very easy to focus, very comfortable and familiar ergonomics. In addition, the camera has such useful features as, for example, the ability to change viewfinders.

Conclusion

So, as you already understood, a lot of good cameras were created in Soviet times, and you have the opportunity to choose among them the one that is most suitable for your photographic purposes.