Contax Cousins

The Soviet-era Kiev rangefinders were close copies of the German Contax cameras.  In fact, since the Russians had carted off the Contax factory to Ukraine as WWII war booty, the early model Kievs actually had many German-made parts.

When I acquired my Kiev IIa about twenty years ago it was not because of its Contax heritage but rather because of its modest price and its resemblance to another Contax copy, a Nikon S which I had foolishly disposed of twenty years earlier.  Having now put aside my reluctance to spend what it takes to own the Nikon, I'm pleased to have the opportunity to compare the two Zeiss-inspired designs.

 While both cameras clearly show their relation to the original Zeiss Contax, the Nikon exhibits an evolution toward post-war design trends including compactness.  The Nikkor 1.4/50mm lens is a stop faster than the Kiev's Jupiter 8, but both are coated Sonnar-type 7-element designs and are interchangeable between the two cameras.  The shutter in the Kiev II goes up to 1250/sec while the Nikon tops out at 1/500.

Top: Kiev IIa        Bottom: Nikon S

Both cameras have fully removable backs.  The Nikon features a fixed take-up spool and a Leica-style horizontal-travel cloth shutter.  The Kiev, like the Contax, has a vertical-travel metal slat shutter.  Both cameras have combined viewfinder-rangefinder windows.  While the front vf/rf widows on the Kiev are larger and wider spaced than those of the Nikon I see little difference in the clarity of the view or rangefinder accuracy.

The Kiev IIa Album

In looking at the pictures the two cameras have produced for me I can really see no great differences in the cameras' handling or in the quality of the images.  At the same time I have to admit that the two cameras have been used by me in very different ways. 

I've owned the Kiev IIa for about 20 years and it has been pointed at quite a large variety of subjects, sometimes with the Jupiter 8, but most often using the 35mm Jupiter 12 lens, a Zeiss Biogon copy, along with a brilliant wide-angle accessory finder.

 

The Nikon S Album

 My first Nikon S was used for only about a year in the late 1960s; I initially made a few portraits with it, but most of the pictures from it were hip shots on the streets of Brooklyn and lower Manhattan.  All those early pictures came from the standard 50mm Nikkor lens.

My goal now will be to give the Nikon S the chance to see a much broader view of the world than it got in the 1960s.