1950 Kiev 2 Rangefinder
In 1925 the Leitz company introduced a 35mm Leica camera which kicked off the small camera revolution. The Karl Zeiss Foundation responded by buying up a number of smaller companies and merged them all to form Zeiss Ikon AG, which then attempted to produce alternatives to the Leica; initially not very successfully
In 1932 Zeiss Ikon released the Contax 1 which on paper looked excellent, but in reality featured a shutter from hell that failed almost as often as it worked. Back to the drawing board and in 1936 came the Contax 2.
The shutter problems were fixed, in fact the Contax 2 offered a better shutter than the Leica, plus a more accurate rangefinder, a higher shutter speed, and a wider range of tasty lenses. Zeiss Ikon were well positioned to take over the lead from Leitz as the premier camera company. Then came the war and accidents of geography.
Both companies suffered camera production reductions as they were re-directed into supporting the war effort. Leica production was based in Wetzlar and, although the city was heavily bombed, the Leica factory escaped with only a few blown out windows. Zeiss Ikon, being based in Dresden, were not so lucky, and their production facilities were heavily damaged by bombing. Post war, both cities initially fell under American control, but the boundaries were shifted and Dresden then belonged to the Russians. With more than twenty million war dead, Russia was certainly entitled to reparations, and this camera company was a small part of that. The Russians therefore planned to move their new acquisition to a factory in Russia
As a precursor to the move, everything was taken to a factory near Jena in East Germany where three production lines were set up. One of these was intended to continue the production of the Contax in Germany; and other two were for the production of the same camera for Russia, initially to be called the Volga and then finally the Kiev. In the event; all the production lines were moved to Kiev and the Germans had to start up Contax production at a later time elsewhere.
In the post ware period of 1947-1949, small batches of cameras were produced in Jena. Some were called Contax, some were called Kiev. Some had Contax front plates which were overwritten with “Kiev”. Parts left over from Dresden were mixed with parts produced in Jena (collectors can identify which bit is which) and the differences can be as subtle as the design as the arrow on the rewind knob. But the cameras were essentially the same machine; high-end expensive precision cameras that cost more than a Rolex watch at the time.
If you can find a 47-49 Contax or Kiev then you will be paying big money for a collector’s piece as only a few hundred were made.
Production of the Kiev (camera) in Kiev (place) finally started in 1950; and if you can find a model from this year you are getting something very close to the original Contax, produced at a time when German engineers were on site overseeing production. Quality stayed high till the mid-fifties and then started to decline as tooling was simplified and production targets became more important than quality control. So I was very happy to acquire a 1950 Kiev 2.
Everything works smoothly, much more smoothly than the 1960 and 1970 Kiev cameras that I also own. It’s heavy at 570 grams; and that’s because the insides are stuffed full of German engineering. I was so intrigued by the internals that I bought 5 broken cameras for $4 each and took them to pieces.
Beautiful, inside and out.