Camera review: The Kiev 88

The camera

When you see a Kiev 88 the first thing you notice is how much it resembles a Hasselblad V series camera. This is not by accident. When Hasselblad introduced the 1600F model camera, built from 1949 until 1953 they introduced a new camera design. This was not lost on engineers in the Soviet Union and it was decided that the Arsenal factory in Kiev would develop a camera based on the Hasselblad 1600F design. In 1957 they came up with the Салют (Salyut) camera which was basically a reverse-engineered 1600F. At the time the similarity of the two cameras was explained by stating that both Hasselblad and Arsenal based their camera design on that of a camera prototype designed in Germany at the end of World War Two. A nice story but as this mythical prototype has never been found or shown elsewhere that is probably all it is. 

Now the Salyut and the Hasselblad 1600F look very much alike but the Salyut is no exact copy. Both are modular camera's with detachable lenses, film backs and viewfinders. The lenses and film backs however are not interchangeable with the Hasselblad versions. The viewfinder actually is compatible with not just the Hasselblad 1600F but also its V system successors. These are smaller differences too, for instance the fastest shutter speed on the first Salyut models was 1/1500th of a second whilst the Hasselblad had a 1/1600th of a second shutter speed (hence the name).

The original Salyut camera was produced between 1957 and 1972 and during its production run several changes were made. The first series had a self timer and a maximum shutter speed of 1/1500th of a second, the second series lost the self timer and the third series had a reduced maximum speed of 1/1000th of a second. All of these were supplied with the Industar-29 80mm f/2.8 lens. Export versions were built under the names of Zenith 80, Revue 6x6, Revue 80 and Vitoflex. Around 50,000 Salyuts of all versions have been built.

My Kiev 80 as bought

Next in line was the Салют-C (Salyut-S), an improved Salyut produced from 1972 until 1981. Around 30.000 were made. The main difference was the fully automatic diaphragm that the original Salyut lacked. It was standard equipped with a Vega-12B 90mm f/2.8 lens. Like the original Salyut, this camera was exported under different brand names like Soyuz, Zenith 80 (second use of this name) and Kiev 80. Some Kiev 80s were supplied with a different standard lens, the Volna-3 80mm f/2.8. My Kiev 80 however came with the standard Vega-12B lens.

My Kiev 88 as bought

The Salyut-S was succeeded on the production line by the Киев 88 (Kiev 88). These models were produced between 1980 and 1994. The biggest difference between the Kiev 88 and its predecessor was the addition of a hot shoe on the camera body. The Kiev 88 also came with a new TTL metering prism This combination was called the Kiev 88 TTL but as the viewfinder is detachable the only difference between the Kiev 88 and 88 TTL is the use of the metering prism. Its standard lens was the Volna-3 80mm f/2.8. Like its predecessors the Kiev 88 was also exported. In the US it was sold under the Cambron name but usually it was sold as a Kiev 88, the main difference was that this was written in Latin rather that Cyrillic script.

Last in the line was the Kiev 88CM. By now the Soviet Union had collapsed and Arsenal was now a Ukrainian company. The Kiev 88CM (by now Arsenal stopped using the Cyrillic script) was produced from 1994 up until the factory closed in 2009. The biggest difference between the Kiev 88 and the 88CM was the new lens mount. All previously built Salyuts and Kievs had a screw mount not unlike but different from the original Hasselblad mount. With the Kiev 88CM that lens mount was replaced with the Pentacon Six mount. This meant that beautiful lenses such as the Carl Zeiss Jena lenses built for the Pentacon Six could be used on Kievs. As Arsenal already produced their lenses in this mount for the Kiev 60 series of cameras both the original Soviet/Ukrainian lenses in Pentacon Six mount and other lenses who use the Pentacon Six mount can be used.

The closure of the Arsenal factory was not the end of the Kiev line of cameras. There were loads of unsold Kiev 88CMs around and companies like Hartblei and Arax took over that stock. Both companies already offered repairs and upgrades to this line of cameras and started producing their own versions using unsold Kiev 88CMs, upgrading them and selling them on under their own brand names. 

Arax offered the Arax CM and CM-MLU versions, the last one adds a mirror lock up (MLU) to the camera. Hartblei offered the Hartblei 1006 and 1006 Master models with the Pentacon Six mount with the Master version also receiving MLU and Hartblei 1008 and 1008 Master models with the original screw mount. Hartblei also offered a commonality with Hasselblad, theirs are the only Kiev cameras modified to take Hasselblad film backs. The Hartblei modified film backs can also be used on Hasselblad V type bodies, something that cannot be done with the original film backs. 

Unfortunately both companies no longer sell their brands of the Kiev 88 cameras. Hartblei stopped selling and servicing these cameras around 2018. A shame really, I would have loved to get my hands on one of those Hartblei 1006 Master cameras with that Hasselblad commonality. In 2021 Arax also stopped selling new cameras as their supply of Arsenal built bodies ran out. However Arax still offers repairs and modifications to all Salyut/Kiev models at this time (October 2021).

Back to the Kiev 88. My copy was built in 1985 and when I acquired mine (together with a 1976 Kiev 80) it was still in full working order. At that time I had just bought my first Arax version of the Kiev 88CM which I was very happy with. With Arax also servicing, repairing and upgrading all models of this design I decided a few months ago to send mine off to the Ukraine for servicing. I decided to have everything serviced and MLU added. It would also get a black coating replacing the silver look.

My Kiev 88 after servicing

Shooting

Shooting with the Kiev 88 (or any of the other camera models described above for that matter) is not for the impatient. Are you in a hurry? Go grab something digital. But if you're willing to spend the time then shooting with this camera is fun. Now when shooting with these Kievs there are a few things you'll always have to remember. By far the most important is to cock your shutter before setting the shutter speed. Doing it the other way around will most likely damage the shutter mechanism. Now, your shutter needs to be cocked before you can compose your shot anyway (cocking it also lowers the mirror) so it is best to just learn and use the mantra 'before doing anything else, cock the shutter'. My Kiev 88 came with both the folding view finder and the TTL metering prism. Working with the folding view finder takes some getting used to. You're looking at a mirror image and when composing moving the wrong way happens almost inevitably the first few times - or more... I opted to fit the TTL viewfinder that I bought together with my Arax after trying the folding view finder. Shooting handheld is no problem with these cameras but I would recommend a tripod when using the folding view finder or when using lower shutter speeds. So, you've set op your shot, cocked the shutter, composed, focused, selected the proper shutter speed and aperture and removed the metal sheet from the film back so you're good to go. One last focus check and CLACK, there the shutter and mirror go. A very satisfying sound.

Images

The Kiev 88 delivers twelve beautiful 6x6 images when using the standard film back. There is also a 645 film back that gets you sixteen 6x4.5 shots. I used the standard film back that came with my Kievs, fitted the Vega-12B 90mm f/2.8 lens and shot some black and white. A few examples, straight from the scanner: