Lomopedia: Kiev 60

2

The Kiev 60 is a through-the-lens medium-format SLR manufactured by the Arsenal Factory in Kiev, Ukraine. This soviet camera had a production run from 1984 to 1999. It’s an upgrade to its predecessor and fellow medium-format camera, the Kiev 6C. This Russian copy of the Pentacon Six took on other SLRs, 35 mm or medium format with its hulking size and a slew of unique features.

Kiev 60 © Tom Hart via Wikimedia Commons, Image used under Creative Commons license

The Kiev 60 has a through-the-lens prism focusing system and came with the MC Volna-3 80 mm lens which can be easily compared to the MC Arsat-C lens. The pentaprism is removable, thus it can be shot with a waist-level viewfinder. It’s a manual focus SLR so the waist-level finder is a great shooting alternative for daily shooting. The Kiev 60 has a conventional right-hand-side shutter, a change from the Kiev 6C’s left hand-side shutter positioning.

At 1.95kgs (with the 80 mm lens attached,) the Kiev 60 is a heavy camera. It feels substantial to the hand when shooting and this added weight translated to a more stable shooting especially when paired with a solid tripod. As for size, the Kiev 60 is a hulk. A side-by-side comparison with other 35 mm SLRs can show the massive size difference. Rough and rugged users need not worry about the durability of this tank.

Lastly, one advantage that the Kiev 60 had over its medium-format counterparts was its price point. It was relatively more affordable, thus more appropriate for amateur photographers who are looking to venture into medium-format photography.

Photos Taken by Community Members

Credits: ck_berlin, penya, weidong, mapix, kingdjin, ohlordy, gorics & oriyagirl

Kiev 60 Technical Specifications

Lens: Arsenal Volna-3 MC 80 mm f2.8
Aperture: f2.8 to f22
ISO: ASA 9 to 1000
Focus: manual focusing, possible only when the shutter is cocked, the mirror goes down and diaphragm sets to full aperture
Focusing range: 0.6m to 10m to infinity
Shutter: curtain-type cloth focal plane shutter, 2 seconds to 1/1000th second, bulb mode
Weight: 1.95 kg with lens attached
Material: metal
Battery: 4.5v LR44, PX675, RM675 cells
Flash: cold-shoe on the special arm screwed to the front of the body, PC sync socket, x-sync 1/30
Film: 120 film


All information used in this article was sourced from Matt's Classic Cameras, Camerapedia, and Camera Manuals.

written by cheeo on 2017-01-09 #gear #lomopedia #medium-format #120 #camera #gear #kiev-60 #lomopedia

More Interesting Articles