Kiev-20
Arsenal · Nikon F mount · 24×36mm on 135 film; removable back · 1982
via machine translation — corrections welcomeAlso known as: Kiev 20 · Kiev-20 · Kiew 20 · Kiew-20 · Kiev 20 SLR · Arsenal Kiev 20 · Киев-20 · Киев 20
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kiev-20 (chrome) | Nikon F | 1982–1986 | #840224 — ussrcameras.ru's catalogued example; a 1984 body on the two-digit year rule Arsenal used | No production figure has been published |
| Kiev-20 (black) | Nikon F | — | — | No production figure has been published |
- The sources here describe it as Arsenal's first production Nikon-mount SLR to meter at full aperture through AI coupling (ru.wikipedia, which cites Sovetskoe Foto 1984 for the AI transfer). ru.wikipedia calls it the second Soviet camera with the Nikon F bayonet and says the Kiev-17 before it had no meter; Abramov, against that, records a Kiev-17 TTL version with two CdS cells. That question belongs to the Kiev-17 page, but it means "first metered Kiev F-mount body" should not be claimed for the 20.
- The Kiev-17M, believed to be the prototype (Abramov), is a black body engraved КИЕВ-17М and fitted with an MC Volna-4N in Abramov's photographs. ussrcameras.ru calls it "the rarest" prototype, with only a few known, and dates the project to January 1977 under lead designer L. E. Korchnoi; later Kiev-17M samples gained the meter and a battery compartment in the base plate. It is not a production variant of the Kiev-20.
- The Kiev-18 (1978?–1988?, Abramov) is a separate Arsenal project that never went into series production beyond small batches: electronically controlled metal shutter 4s–1/1000, X 1/60, aperture-priority automation with ±2 stops of compensation, the speed dial in the usual place on top (Abramov adds that a version with the dial left of the prism, in another body, was also prepared), provision for a motor and an MC Volna-4 1.4/50. A camera offered as a Kiev-18 is a prototype-level rarity, not a Kiev-20 variant.
- Price: ru.wikipedia states that the Kiev-20 cost 400 roubles and was dropped for economic reasons in favour of the cheaper Kiev-19 (150 roubles, from 1985). The figures are not footnoted and no period price list has been seen here, so no structured price is given.
- The camera came with an adapter for M42 thread lenses (ru.wikipedia). Because the N bayonet's register is about a millimetre longer than M42's before the adapter is added, Zenit lenses on it work only for close-up and portrait distances, not to infinity.
- No production figure for the Kiev-20 has been published, and no review of the camera itself has been found. What a user has to say about it comes through Kiev-19 reviews, which describe the 20 as the predecessor the 19 was simplified from.
How to tell them apart
- КИЕВ-20 on the prism nameplate. The front speed dial and front self-timer lever together rule out a Kiev-19 (dial but no self-timer), but the Kiev-17 has both as well
- Top speed 1/1000 (the Kiev-19 and 19M stop at 1/500; the Kiev-17 also has 1/1000)
- Nikon F bayonet with an AI feeler; open-aperture LED metering
Kiev-20 (chrome):
- КИЕВ-20 (KIEV-20) nameplate on the front of the prism housing; satin-chrome top and base plates, black leatherette
- Shutter-speed dial on the FRONT of the body, to the right of the lens as you face the camera — the same unusual place as on the Kiev-17 and Kiev-19
- Self-timer lever on the front, to the left of the lens as you face it; the Kiev-19 has none
- A separate black meter-on button on the front of the top plate, below the release (item 5 in the 1984 manual's diagram; ru.wikipedia's gallery calls it the button beside the release)
- AI coupling: a feeler at the mount picks up the lens's set aperture (item 3 in the manual's diagram, marked 'AI')
- Shutter speeds to 1/1000 on the dial; the Kiev-19's stop at 1/500. The Kiev-17 also reaches 1/1000 and has the same front dial and self-timer, so read the nameplate
- Film-speed dial marked ГОСТ (GOST) under the rewind knob
Kiev-20 (black):
- Black top plate, prism housing and base plate, with the same КИЕВ-20 nameplate in white-on-black and the same front-mounted speed dial and self-timer lever
- Not to be confused with the black Kiev-17M prototype, which looks very similar but is engraved КИЕВ-17М
- Kiev-20 (chrome): Supplied with the MC Helios-81N 2/50 (in its several versions) or the MC Volna-4N 1.4/50, per the 1984 manual Abramov quotes. Bodies turn up with the earlier, non-AI Helios-81M as well (one is pictured on Wikimedia Commons below); the 81M mounts but its aperture is not read by the AI feeler, so check which lens a kit actually carries.
- Kiev-20 (black): Known here only from Abramov's Kiev-20 page, which shows a black body in two photographs: one bare and worn at the edges, the other with an MC Volna-8N 1.2/50 and a dealer's watermark (they may or may not be the same camera). Abramov's text does not mention a black finish, and no other source here does, so whether it was a factory option, a small batch or a later refinish is unknown. Treat a black body with caution and compare the engravings closely.
Serial-range notes
- the first two digits
- Arsenal numbered its cameras with the year first from 1947, so ussrcameras.ru's #840224 reads as a 1984 body. The body and the lens on it are dated separately: a Kiev-20 with a Helios-81M numbered 78… carries a 1978 lens on a camera that cannot be older than 1982.
Specifications
- Format
- 24×36mm on 135 film; removable back
- Finder
- fixed pentaprism; Fresnel screen with split-image (Dodin wedges), microprism ring and matte collar · 93% coverage
- Shutter
- metal focal-plane shutter, vertical-travel blades (ru.wikipedia: two pairs of metal blades) · 1s – 1/1000, B · flash sync X, 1/60 (ru.wikipedia); hot shoe and PC socket · self-timer
- Film advance
- single-stroke lever, with a stand-off and a working position; the advance can be disengaged for multiple exposures
- Back
- hinged, with a concealed latch; the back can be removed (ru.wikipedia)
- Meter
- TTL at full aperture, two CdS cells, set by turning the aperture ring until the centre LED lights (semi-automatic, i.e. match-LED manual exposure); 16–2000 GOST. Stop-down with lenses that lack the AI coupling. Four SC-32 / MC-0.105 cells, the LR44 size (ru.wikipedia).
- Designed by
- Korchnoi L. E. — lead designer named for the Kiev-17M technical project of 1977, which ussrcameras.ru calls the Kiev-20's prototype; no source credits him with the production camera itself
- Weight
- 1100 g
- Dimensions
- 90 × 96 × 145 (ru.wikipedia infobox, unsourced, and it does not say whether the lens is included; the 1100 g weight is from the same infobox). Abramov gives exactly the same 90 × 96 × 145 mm and 1100 g for the Kiev-17, so the infobox figures may be carried over from the 17 rather than measured on a 20 mm
- Country
- Ukraine (Ukrainian SSR)
- Accessories
- M42 adapter, supplied with the camera (ru.wikipedia) · Leather ever-ready case with a red lining (pictured on Commons)
93% of the frame per the 1984 manual (Abramov); ru.wikipedia gives the field as 23×35mm. Three LEDs in the finder: + over, centre correct, − under.
Figures we worked out rather than found: The 1984 date of #840224 is read from Arsenal's year-first serial convention, not stated by ussrcameras.ru.
Where sources disagree
- Years
- 1982–1986 — Abramov (photohistory.ru), with the TU approved 20.10.1982 and a 1984 manual
- 1983–1986 — ru.wikipedia infobox
- 1978–1986 — ru.wikipedia text, citing '1200 фотоаппаратов из СССР' (2009), p. 487
- 1978–1987 — ussrcameras.ru
Better supported: 1982–1986
The 1978 starts may run the Kiev-17M development project (begun 1977) into the production camera; a specification approved in October 1982 makes series production before late 1982 unlikely. No source gives a dated first production body.
- Order of the Kiev-19 and Kiev-20
- The 20 came first and the 19 is a simplified 20 — Abramov ('пришедшая на смену Киеву-20 (упрощенный вариант)'), ru.wikipedia, a Kosmo Foto reader (Mikhail Mandrigin) and Tim Lewis (Snaps From Paps)
- The 20 adds aperture coupling and a self-timer to the 19 — English Wikipedia's Kiev (brand) article
Better supported: The 20 came first
Abramov's dates (Kiev-20 1982–86, Kiev-19 from 1985?) and the 1984 Kiev-20 manual both predate the 19; English Wikipedia's wording describes the feature difference, not the order.
- Type
- 'шторный металлический' — a metal focal-plane shutter, in the 1984 manual as Abramov quotes it
- a lamellar shutter with two pairs of metal blades travelling vertically — ru.wikipedia
Not a real conflict: a vertical metal-blade focal-plane shutter fits both descriptions.
What reviewers say
No reviews aggregated yet — this family is still in the research queue. Written one? We'd love to index it.
History
The Kiev-20 is the best-equipped 35mm SLR Arsenal put into series production. It had open-aperture TTL metering through Nikon’s AI coupling, a metal focal-plane shutter from 1 s to 1/1000, a self-timer and a split-image and microprism screen, all on the Nikon F bayonet, which Soviet literature called the “N” mount. Abramov dates it 1982 to 1986, with the specification approved in October 1982. Its own 1984 manual told owners that Nikon interchangeable lenses could be used on it as well as Arsenal’s N lenses. It came with the MC Helios-81N 2/50 or the MC Volna-4N 1.4/50, and the rest of the N range (Mir-20N, Mir-24N, Volna-8N, Kaleinar-5N, Telear-N, Granit-11N, the Yantar zooms) was made for it and for the Kiev-17.
Abramov says it is believed to have grown out of the Kiev-17M, and ussrcameras.ru calls the 17M its prototype: a project Arsenal started in 1977, of which only a few examples are known. It kept the Kiev-17’s oddest feature, a shutter-speed dial on the front of the body beside the lens, and added open-aperture metering through the AI coupling: two CdS cells and three LEDs in the finder, worked by a separate button on the front. Abramov also records a TTL version of the Kiev-17 with two CdS cells, so the meter itself was not new to the line. The Kiev-20 did not last long. ru.wikipedia gives its price as 400 roubles and says it was dropped for economic reasons. Its replacement from 1985 was the Kiev-19, a simplified 20 that kept the body layout but lost the 1/1000 speed, the self-timer and the open-aperture coupling. Tim Lewis, writing on the Kiev-19, says the 20 had a reputation for unreliability and that those features were blamed for it. That is one owner’s account, not a factory record, but it fits the short production run.
To tell a Kiev-20 from its relatives in photographs, look at the nameplate on the prism, then the front of the body. A self-timer lever to the left of the mount together with the speed dial on the right, and a dial reading to 1/1000, means a 20 or a Kiev-17, which shares that layout, so the nameplate decides. A Kiev-19 has the dial but no self-timer and stops at 1/500, and a Kiev-19M has plastic covers. The usual body is satin chrome with black leatherette. Abramov pictures a black body as well, but no source explains it, so be careful with a black 20 and do not mistake it for the black Kiev-17M prototype, which carries its own name.
When buying, check every speed, especially 1/1000, and check that the self-timer runs and returns, since these are the parts the camera’s reputation rests on. Check the meter with fresh LR44-size cells and an AI lens. The AI feeler reads the aperture only from lenses with the AI ridge: an 81N meters at full aperture, while lenses without the coupling meter stopped down, according to ru.wikipedia. Kits are not always original, and the Helios on a body may be the earlier 81M. The manual says Nikon interchangeable lenses can be used, and ru.wikipedia records an M42 adapter in the kit. On that adapter, Zenit lenses do not reach infinity.
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
More sample photos elsewhere
These photographers keep all rights to their work — enjoy it at the source.
Live listings
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