Kiev-17

Arsenal · Nikon F mount · 24×36mm on 135 film; hinged back · 1975

via machine translation — corrections welcome

Also known as: Kiev 17 · Kiev-17 · Kiev17 · KIEV-17 · Kiew 17 · Kiew-17 · Kyiv 17 · Kyiv-17 · Arsenal Kiev 17 · Arsenal Kiev-17 · Kiev 17 SLR · Киев-17 · Киев 17 · Київ-17

Variants & identification

Variant	Mount	Years	Serial ranges	Production
Kiev-17 (film-speed dial on the back)	Nikon F	1975–1982	#75004 — a five-digit number, 1975; Abramov's 'one of the very first examples', photographed by Ivan Zotikov, with a Helios-81 2/50 numbered 750005 #802568 — 1980; back view on Abramov's page, with the dial #827930 — 1982; back view on Abramov's page, with the dial	No production figure has been published
Kiev-17 (memo holder on the back)	Nikon F	1982–1984	#829850 — 1982; back view on Abramov's page, with the memo holder	No production figure has been published
Kiev-17 (black)	Nikon F	—	—	No figure; one photographed example on record
Kiev-17 TTL	Nikon F	—	—	Unknown; probably a prototype or a small batch

The first Soviet camera with the Nikon F bayonet, which Soviet literature called the "N" (for Nikon) mount (Mike Eckman; sovietcameras.org; ru.wikipedia). The register is 46.5mm, the Nikon figure (manual; ru.wikipedia). Abramov says Arsenal first planned a Minolta-type bayonet and dropped the idea. ru.wikipedia gives one explanation for choosing the Nikon mount, the large stock of Nikon equipment Soviet state publishers had bought for hard currency, but the article flags that explanation as unsourced.
The first Soviet camera with a vertical-travel metal-blade focal-plane shutter (ru.wikipedia; Roman Yarovitsyn, Kosmo Foto). Yarovitsyn, who dismantled the shutter of a Kiev-19, says it is an original design, not the Nikkormat- or Konica-type unit Soviet photographers assumed. Each curtain has only two blades, and the two slot-forming blades slide on a guide axis rather than swinging on riveted arms. He says that sliding design needs lubrication, which makes the shutter temperature-dependent, and rules out fast curtains, so 1/60 sync is reasonable for it. ru.wikipedia says the shutter was developed at Arsenal under Anatoly Nosko. Yarovitsyn is more careful: the author's certificate names the designers but gives the enterprise only as a post-box number, and under the planned economy a first appearance in a Kiev does not by itself prove Arsenal's authorship. The same shutter went into the Kiev-19 and Kiev-20, and a modified, inverted version into LOMO's Almaz-103.
Kit lens. The manual and Abramov give the Helios-81M 2/53 or the Volna-4 1.4/50. Abramov gives the Volna-4 as 7 elements in 5 groups here, and 7/6 on his Volna-4 page. ru.wikipedia's infobox gives the Helios-81N or MC Helios-81N 2/53, and sovietcameras.org reports cameras with both the 81M and the 81N, with the Volna-4 much rarer. Abramov's Volna-4 page says that lens was never series-made, only trial batches at Arsenal in 1977–84 and at LOMO in the early 1980s, so a Kiev-17 with a Volna-4 is the uncommon kit. Abramov's Granit-11 page also shows a 1982 passport for a Granit-11 zoom made for the Kiev-17.
Prices. ru.wikipedia gives 270 roubles "in the 1980s", nearly twice most Zenits but well below a Praktica, with no footnote. sovietcameras.org gives 280 roubles in 1983 for the camera with the Helios-81N, also without a source. Both would be Soviet state retail prices. No period price list has been seen, so no structured price is given.
The Kiev-17M is a prototype, not a production variant. ussrcameras.ru dates the project to January 1977 under lead designer L. E. Korchnoi and shows a black body #7900003 (1979), engraved КИЕВ-17М, with a Volna-4 #790003. It calls the camera 'the rarest', with only a few known, and says it is the prototype of the Kiev-20; Abramov says only that it is believed to be. Its later samples gained a meter and a battery compartment in the base plate. It is covered on the Kiev-20 page.
Successors. The Kiev-20 (1982–86 per Abramov, 1983–86 per ru.wikipedia) added TTL metering at open aperture to this design and kept the 1–1/1000 range. The Kiev-19 (from 1985) was, in ru.wikipedia's words, a simplified and cheaper 20; Eckman notes it dropped the 1 s and 1/1000 speeds the 17 has, and that its speed dial is still on the front.
The camera's reputation. English Wikipedia says only that the 17 "is said to be a really unreliable camera". Abramov is more specific: the faults he lists are those of the first batches, and he reports that later bodies are generally held to be largely free of them. The one owner's account listed below is sovietcameras.org's.
The film-speed setting. Abramov's spec line gives "8 to 1000 GOST", but the camera has no meter, and what the manual describes is a reminder dial in DIN and ASA on the back of early bodies. The figure is a memo range, not a meter range.

How to tell them apart (expand)

Shutter-speed dial on the FRONT plate beside the lens, and no meter: the Kiev-20 and Kiev-19 that share the layout have TTL meters with LED indication in the finder, and the Kiev-19's dial stops at 1/500
Self-timer lever on the front, to the left of the mount as you face the camera
Speeds 1 s – 1/1000 on the dial
КИЕВ-17 nameplate on the prism; a Nikon F bayonet with a lens-release lever beside it

Kiev-17 (film-speed dial on the back):

A round film-speed reminder dial set into the middle of the back door. Abramov calls its scales DIN and GOST; the dial in his photographs and the manual's description read ASA (outer scale) and DIN (inner)
КИЕВ-17 nameplate on the prism front; satin-chrome top and base plates, black leatherette
Shutter-speed dial on the front plate, to the right of the lens as you face the camera (Abramov: 'left of the lens', from the photographer's side)
A socket marked F low on the front plate, right of the lens as you face it, for bulb flash; the X contact is in the hot shoe

Kiev-17 (memo holder on the back):

No dial on the back door: a square, ribbed holder for the end flap of the film box takes its place
Abramov: on later bodies the F (bulb-flash) socket moved from the front plate to the pentaprism housing. He does not date this change, so it is a separate check from the back

Kiev-17 (black):

Black top plate, prism housing and base plate, with the КИЕВ-17 nameplate in white on black and the same front speed dial as the chrome body
Not to be confused with the black Kiev-17M prototype, which is engraved КИЕВ-17М (see the table notes)

Kiev-17 TTL:

No identification points are on record. No photograph of a metered Kiev-17 has been published, and a meterless body cannot be told from it in a listing photo without the meter controls being visible

Kiev-17 (film-speed dial on the back): Abramov says that cameras up to about 1982 inclusive had the dial on the back, and reports that bodies made after 1981 are generally held to be largely free of the faults the first ones were criticised for: stiff lens-release and depth-of-field levers, a speed dial that did not click firmly into place, a rewind button that could not be pushed home, a very stiff multiple-exposure release, and a mirror that left a strip of the screen uncovered, so that light from the eyepiece flared into the centre of the frame. The first example he shows carries a Helios-81 engraved 2/50, not the Helios-81M 2/53 of the manual.
Kiev-17 (memo holder on the back): Body #829850 (1982) has the holder while #827930 (also 1982) still has the dial, so the change came during 1982, which fits Abramov's 'up to about 1982 inclusive'.
Kiev-17 (black): Known from a single body, shown on Abramov's page in a photograph from sovietcams.com that carries its watermark. The lens on it is a Helios-81 2/50 engraved АВТОМАТ, numbered 750022 (a 1975 lens). No source discusses a black finish, so whether it was a factory option, a small batch or a later refinish is unknown. Treat a black body with caution.
Kiev-17 TTL: Abramov writes that a TTL version had a metering system with two CdS cells. ru.wikipedia, citing Sovetskoe Foto 1978 No. 1, p. 40, says the prototype with a TTL meter had the factory designation Kiev-17B. These may be the same camera. The Kiev-17M of 1977–79, whose later samples gained a meter and which ussrcameras.ru calls the Kiev-20's prototype, is another candidate. A camera offered as a metered Kiev-17 is a rarity to be proved, not a model to expect.

Serial-range notes

the first two digits: Arsenal numbered its cameras year-first from 1947, so #802568 is a 1980 body and #827930 and #829850 are 1982 bodies. The earliest example on record, #75004, has only five digits: the year and a running number of three figures. Read the year off the front of the number, not by counting from the end.
body and lens: The lens is numbered separately and dated the same way. Abramov's first example pairs body #75004 with Helios-81 #750005, which is how an untouched early kit looks. A 1980s Helios-81N on a 1975 body is a later marriage, and so is a Helios-81M on a camera numbered 75.

Specifications

Format: 24×36mm on 135 film; hinged back
Finder: fixed pentaprism, instant-return mirror; Fresnel screen with split-image (Dodin wedges), microprism ring and matte collar · 93% coverage
Shutter: focal-plane, two pairs of metal blades travelling vertically (bottom to top along the short side of the frame) · 1s – 1/1000, B · flash sync 1/60 for electronic flash; X contact in the hot shoe, F contact for bulb flash on the front plate (on the prism on later bodies, per Abramov). An insert in the translated manual says that on some cameras the front F contact was removed and a cable socket added on the top cover; ru.wikipedia says the cable M contact was not fitted to every camera · self-timer
Film advance: single-stroke lever with a stand-off and a working position; a button disengages the transport for multiple exposures
Back: hinged, with a concealed latch; opening it resets the frame counter
Meter: none on the production camera (see the TTL variant)
Designed by: Nosko Anatoly — named first on Soviet author's certificate SU 609104 (published 30 May 1978) for the shutter, per Roman Yarovitsyn in Kosmo Foto; ru.wikipedia says the shutter was developed at Arsenal under his direction · Bandura Nikolay — co-author of the shutter certificate SU 609104 (Kosmo Foto) · Zolotarevsky Yakov — co-author of the shutter certificate SU 609104 (Kosmo Foto) · Korchnoi Leonid — co-author of the shutter certificate SU 609104 (Kosmo Foto); the lead designer made responsible for the Kiev-17M project in January 1977 (ussrcameras.ru) · Serov Nikolay — co-author of the shutter certificate SU 609104 (Kosmo Foto)
Weight: 1100 g
Dimensions: 90 × 96 × 145 (Abramov and ru.wikipedia; neither says whether the lens is included, nor does either say so for the 1100 g weight) mm
Country: Ukraine (Ukrainian SSR)
Accessories: Case, front and rear lens caps, UV-1× and ZhZ-1.4× filters, cable release, shoulder strap (the manual's delivery list) · M42 adapter: ru.wikipedia says the N-mount Kiev cameras came with one, limited to close and portrait distances with Zenit lenses because the N register is longer

Field 23×35mm, 93% of the frame (Abramov; the manual). The translated manual gives a 4× magnification for the viewing system.

Figures we worked out rather than found: The years of the serials (#75004 as 1975, #802568 as 1980, #827930 and #829850 as 1982) are read from Arsenal's year-first convention; the sources picture the numbers but do not date them. · The 1982 end of the early variant and start of the late one are set from those two 1982 bodies and Abramov's 'up to about 1982 inclusive'.

Where sources disagree

Years

1975(?)–1984 — Abramov (photohistory.ru), who pictures body #75004 as one of the very first
1975 introduction — Mike Eckman; Kosmo Foto ('appeared in 1975', in production 'for a decade' before the Kiev-19 of 1985)
1977–1984 — sovietcameras.org
1978–1984 — ru.wikipedia, citing Ryshkov (1993), Princelle (2004) and 1200 фотоаппаратов из СССР (2009), although the article's own category files it under cameras introduced in 1977
The Kiev F line available 'since around 1980' — English Wikipedia

Better supported: 1975 for the first bodies, on the evidence of #75004

A body numbered 75 with a lens numbered 75 is strong evidence that cameras existed in 1975. It does not prove series production that year, and early bodies may have been a pilot batch. The later dates may mark the start of full production or of retail sale, but no source says so. Everyone who gives an end date gives 1984; Kosmo Foto's decade implies 1985.

Id markers (back dial scales)

DIN and GOST — Abramov's text
ASA and DIN — the dial in Abramov's own photographs, and the translated manual

Better supported: ASA and DIN

What reviewers say

Stepan Ayvazyan (sovietcameras.org) (blog) — "A very good Soviet SLR camera", whose advantages outweigh its drawbacks: the 1–1/1000 speed range, a large, bright finder showing 93% of the frame with split-image and microprism, and the Nikon mount, which takes many Nikon lenses without an adapter. The biggest drawback is that there is no meter at all. Sample frames are shot on a Helios-81N.

History

The Kiev-17 is the camera with which Arsenal gave up its own 35mm SLR system. The Kiev-10 and Kiev-15 before it had a fan-bladed shutter and a bayonet that nothing else took, and they were the bulkiest Soviet SLRs of their day. The 17 replaced both with things the rest of the world used. Its lens mount is the Nikon F bayonet, which made it the first Soviet camera on that mount, and its focal-plane shutter has metal blades travelling vertically, the first of that type in the USSR. It is a purely mechanical camera with no meter, speeds from 1 s to 1/1000 and B, flash sync at 1/60, a self-timer and multiple exposure. Abramov dates it 1975(?) to 1984. An early example he shows, body #75004 with a Helios-81 numbered 750005, supports the 1975 start, though other sources give 1977, 1978 or about 1980.

The shutter is the part most worth knowing about. Roman Yarovitsyn, who dismantled a Kiev-19 shutter for Kosmo Foto, found that it is not the Nikkormat- or Konica-type unit Soviet photographers assumed. It is an original design, covered by an author’s certificate published in 1978 and, according to ru.wikipedia, developed at Arsenal, with two blades per curtain and the main pair sliding on a guide axis. He says that sliding design needs lubrication, which makes the shutter sensitive to temperature, and keeps sync at 1/60. The same unit went into the Kiev-20 and Kiev-19, which kept the body and its odd shutter-speed dial on the front plate beside the lens. The 20 added a TTL meter working at open aperture, and the 19 was a simpler, cheaper camera with a 1/500 top speed.

Production bodies differ in small ways. Up to about 1982 there is a round ASA/DIN film-speed reminder dial on the back door. Later bodies have a plain holder for the end flap of the film box, and serials #827930 and #829850, both 1982, fall either side of the change. The bulb-flash F socket started on the front plate and, according to Abramov, moved to the prism housing on later cameras. One black body is pictured, unexplained. Abramov also records a TTL version with two CdS cells, and ru.wikipedia names a TTL prototype the Kiev-17B; the two may be the same camera, and no photograph of either has been published. The black Kiev-17M of 1977–79, engraved КИЕВ-17М, is a separate prototype, which ussrcameras.ru calls the forerunner of the Kiev-20, not a Kiev-17 variant.

The camera’s poor reputation comes mostly from its first batches. Abramov lists their faults: stiff levers, a speed dial that did not click firmly into place, a rewind button that would not go down, a stiff multiple-exposure release, and a mirror short enough to leave a strip of the screen uncovered, so that light from the eyepiece could flare into the middle of the frame. He reports that cameras made after 1981 are generally held to be largely free of these, so the serial matters more than usual here. When buying, check every speed on a test roll, especially 1 s and 1/1000, and check that the dial clicks firmly at each setting. Look for a flare spot in the centre of frames from an early body, and see that the multiple-exposure button and self-timer both work and return. The kit lens was the Helios-81M 2/53 or, rarely, the Volna-4 1.4/50, and later cameras were also sold with the Helios-81N. Date the lens from its own serial, because lenses move easily between bodies. Nikon F-mount lenses fit the bayonet, and Arsenal’s N lenses (Mir-20N, Mir-24N, Kaleinar-5N, Telear-N, Granit-11N) were made for this camera and its successors.

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This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Photographs

Kiev-17 with a Helios-81M 2/53. The speed dial is the round knob right of the lens, and the socket marked F below it is the front bulb-flash contact — David Wright, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

More sample photos elsewhere

These photographers keep all rights to their work — enjoy it at the source.

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