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Kiev
Zavod Arsenal
Kiev - Ukraine

The Arsenal history dates as far back as to 1764, when it were a service and repair facility for Russian army equipment. In fact ever since then, the company has been divided into a military branch and a more civilian branch, the latter being the one manufacturing the Kiev range of cameras. During the II World War, the factories in Kiev were severely damaged by the Germans in 1941-42, and production were temporarely moved. In 1946 the factories were rebuild in Kiev, and restructured and re-organized under the Zavod Arsenal name. The original Kiev from the late 40's were in fact not Contax copies, but genuine Contax'es assembled in Russia from parts that had been recovered, or should I say "stolen" from the Contax Zeiss factory in Dresden by the Red Army, and shipped back to Russia. Arsenal began the full scale production of its own Contax copies in 1950, and continued production af these rangefinder in various types and models until 1986, which is quite remarkable. Even today the Arsenal company manufactures cameras, namely the medium format Kiev 60 TTL and Kiev 80 CM. The quality of the cameras manufactured by Arsenal have been very inconsistent, and some research is recommended before you buy one of these cameras. The following links might turn out to be useful and helpful:

Wrotniak about the Kiev cameras

Kiev rangefinders by Peter Hennig

Kiev 4-AM (1984-1986) RF
Serial nr.: 8135820
Format: 24 x 36 on 35 mm film (135)
Optics: Helios 103 1:1,8 53mm (Contax bayonet)
Shutter: Vertical metal focal plane B + 1/2 sec. => 1/1000 sec. and selftimer
Accs.: Jupiter 8M 1:2,0 50mm
Jupiter 12 1:2,8 35mm
Misc.: Coupled rangefinder, interchangeable lenses

To be quite honest, I was at some point in doubt whether I would feel comfortable with a Contax II or III. As mentioned several times on this website, I have rather big hands, and in order to feel comfortable with a Contax you'll have to apply the famous "Contax grip", which means focussing with your middle finger, releasing with your index finger and most important: keep the other fingers well out of the way of the rangefinder window !. When ordering some LTM M39 lenses from one of my trustworthy contacts in Ukraine, I also ordered this Kiev 4AM in order to try whether the Contax would also suit me. I'm glad to say, that I can just manage to fit my fingers around the body. The idea of trying things out by getting a low cost russian copy of either Leica or Contax is not bad at all. For at relatively small investment you can get both the feel, or at least an idea of the feel and some valuable experiences before going for "the real thing", and when you DO get the genuine Leica or Contax you can always sell the Kiev, FED or Zorki to a newcomer, collector or even just keep it as a spare/extra camera when going places where you will not bring the Leica or Contax. This particular Kiev 4 are a late model, and quality is NOT Contax quality, but it's nevertheless just acceptable and useable. The specifications are quite good, but as it is the case with all Russian cameras with focal plane shutters: NEVER change the shutter speed settings without cocking the shutter/advancing the film first !. If you do, it will almost certainly damage the shutter mecanism!

I want to emphasize, that you should have no illusions as to the quality of any Kiev camera compared to the real thing; a German built Zeiss Ikon Contax. Don't fool yourself into believing that a Kiev are almost as good as a Contax, or a Zorki or FED are almost as good as a Leica. They are NOT !. Allthough the russians had all possibilities to benefit from the situation after the war when they seized machinery, parts etc from Zeiss Ikon, they blew it, and never ever managed to produce anything that equals the real thing. You get what you buy, a cheap russian copy that is nowhere near the build quality, tolerances, materials or finish. Period.