News from Russia

Elmar Lang

Elmar Lang

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I've just read a press release from both Russia's news agencies Interfax and Itar-TASS:

Moscow - In order to achieve the increasing demand of photographers for reliable and good-quality traditional cameras, the Committee for Technical Development at the Ministry of Industrial Production of the Russian Federation, delivered a plan for the issue of two film cameras.
They shall be the improvement of the well-known Zenit reflex camera of an early type, with selenium-cell operated exposure meter and a limited edition of the Kiev rangefinder camera (a production of 10.000 pcs. only is planned).
Both cameras shall be put into production after May 1st 2014, to celebrate the Labourers' Day, at the Krasnogorsk Production Plant N°3. The technicians and specialized workers are enthusiastically finishing to rebuild the tools and lines that made worldwide famous the former-Soviet optical industry.
"While for the Zenit we have no problem encountered into putting the lines ready-to-production" -says V.A. Khrominskij, Deputy Minister of the Industrial Production- "for the Kiev camera we need to undertake a complete restoration of the production line and tools, still sealed in crates and boxes, since the early '50s, when sent from Dresden to a special depot in Krasnogorsk: we are optimistic, because all parts appear to be complete and in fine condition. For reasons of opportunity, we think that the name of the new camera won't be that of the Ukrainian capital city, but a new one will be given. We hope to be able to introduce these new products to the Moscow Expo of Industry, early in November, 2014".
The "Vavilov" High School for opticotechnic will train the personnel to start the production. "We are highly proud of this opportunity" -says K.S. Prokhudin, Director of the School- "and I am sure that Teachers and Students shall create a new standard in the production of high-ranking fine mechanics.".
 
Let's call it Первоапрельская шутка.

on any other day of the year, such news would have been a dream came true!

Best April 1st,

E.L.
 
That would be interesting, a new Kiev/Contax. I wonder if the quality would be like an early Kiev or the last ones.
 
I want the commemorative and inscribed in red cyrillic letters "Crimea owned in 2014" version of that Kiev.
 
Good notion, that. I suspect the cost of the spiral border crossings doesn't sit well with the stereotypical Scots character though- a more thrifty approach may be required.

Back in the 70's the Rhinoceros Party, a joke political party, was created in Canada in an effort to raise public opinion of the political process all the way up from totally stultifying to moderately boring. They had a number of brilliant planks in their platform; for instance lowering the boiling point of water to 90C by statute in order to save energy and equipping all vehicles with larger wheels in the back so they would always be going downhill- another clever conservation measure. Their most outstanding proposal was to embrace Canada's British roots by shifting all traffic onto the left side of the road. This were obviously a very practical group, and it was realized that such a transition was difficult to implement, so it was to be phased in, with only trucks and buses changing the first year.

They ran a number of candidates and one, in a riding near Ottawa, actually came close to winning to his great dismay.

Cheers,
Dez
 
I was actually thinking that, depending on events to come, we would be reading about the Kiev camera tooling and parts being crated up and taken to Moscow as reparations.
 
The story of the tools made in Jena and sent to the USSR could be matter for a novel.

I've just imagined an unknown production line (perhaps the one for the "Volga" project?), sent to Krasnogorsk from Jena/Saalfeld and "forgotten" until recently.

What a dream: a re-edition of the Kiev/Contax-II/III, made with serious controls...

E.L.
 
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