Sputnik-4 4.5/20

Checked the KMZ archive site, the lens was only made as a prototype, none were issued. They decided to produce the 20mm Russar instead, but ONLY in 39mm thread mount. There are some around in Kiev mount but these have been modified by plumbers in Poland. :rolleyes:
 
I want one of them to go along with the Record 4 52/.9 that I'll get when I win the lotto... :D

William
 
It would have been an affordable alternative to the 21mm rf Nikkor or even the Zeiss offering.
 
You can still get a Nikon F to S-Mount adapter and use the F-Mount 2.1cm F4 with the RF camera. No RF coupling, but with a 21mm lens' DOF, it should not be missed.

Of course now that the Cosina 21mm/F4 is below $400, that is the way to add a wide to S-Mount and Contax.
 
Oh, trust me, I've seen that one. Also the shots in Princelle... Would have been fun if they had put it into production. I'm sure it would have had the same limitations as the Canon 50/.95, but still...

Given the propaganda value I have always wondered why they didn't produce at least a limited run of the lens - probably production issues they couldn't overcome. Not enough of the right glass perhaps? Or grinding issues? Probably never know.

William
 
Perhaps they just realized the limitations of the lens and had more sense than Canon!
My own Canon Dream lens was more of a nightmare!!
 
Heh. May well have been that. But normal considerations didn't seem to apply when refering to Soviet production requirements. OTOH, considering that even in _that_ economy they couldn't sell the Kiev 5 to begin with...

Pity that, mine is an exquisite, if decidedly non-petite, camera. Perhaps most weren't good and I got a really rare one, but when I got it, there was a really nice brassing on the appropriate places to show that it had been in serious use long before it arrived in my hands. It's an amazingly sweet camera that would be the last one I would ever consider selling.

William
 
John, according to the photohistory site (where the image is located) this lens was issued by GOI in Leningrad, not by KMZ, in a "small experimental batch". Dunno which of the sources is correct; either way its production was apparently way too low to find any sample these days :/

William, Kiev-5 has received lots of criticsm when it was issued into domestic market. The main points were:
1 Quality/reliability
2 The absence of the inner bayonet - big disadvantage for those with the 50/1.5
3 The ugly, ugly look :)

But since you've got a very good functioning sample it is indeed wise to keep it. Not many of these cameras are still around these days, and even less are reliable users.
 
varjag said:
John, according to the photohistory site (where the image is located) this lens was issued by GOI in Leningrad, not by KMZ, in a "small experimental batch".
Click to expand...
Actually the image clearly shows "GOI" inscribed in cyrillic on the lens, and the s/n is not "round" one, suggesting than more than one sample was produced.
 
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