C41
Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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rangefinder-35mm
The Kiev 4 (1957) is a Soviet 35mm rangefinder built in the Arsenal factory in Kiev, Ukraine. The body is a direct descendant of the **Contax II** design — Soviet engineers acquired Contax tooling as WWII reparations and produced near-identical cameras through the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Vertical-travel metal-curtain shutter (the Contax II's signature feature, distinct from the cloth horizontal shutters of Leica), 90 mm rangefinder baseline (longer than Leica's M-series, theoretically more accurate), Contax-bayonet lens mount.
Reference
Recommended film stocks for the 35mm format your camera takes.
C41
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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Ilford HP5 Plus is a flexible ISO 400 black-and-white film with classic grain and strong push-processing tolerance.
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Kodak Tri-X 400 is a classic black-and-white film known for strong tonality, visible grain, and documentary character.
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Before you buy used
About this camera
Soviet clone of the prewar Contax II. Vertical metal shutter, long-baseline rangefinder, made in Ukraine for 30 years.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 35mm |
| Mount | Contax/Kiev (Contax rangefinder bayonet) |
| Years | 1957–1986 (Kiev 4 / 4A / 4M / 4AM) |
| Shutter | 1/2s – 1/1250s + B, mechanical vertical metal curtain |
| Flash sync | 1/30s |
| Meter | Selenium uncoupled (4M / 4AM); none (4 / 4A) |
| Modes | Manual |
| Weight | 800 g |
| Battery | None |
Production began at the Arsenal Plant (Kiev) in 1947 with the Kiev II (Contax II clone), refined through the Kiev 4 (1957) and continued through the Kiev 4M (1976, with selenium meter). Production ran nearly 40 years, producing roughly 1.5 million bodies. After 1986, the Arsenal Plant continued making cameras (Kiev 60 medium-format SLR, Kiev 88 Hasselblad-clone) but the rangefinder line ended.
For photographers interested in the Contax II / Kiev rangefinder ecosystem (Sonnar 50/2, Sonnar 50/1.5, Biotar lenses adapted to the mount), the Kiev 4 is the affordable entry point. Pre-war Contax II bodies are collector items at $1,500+; Kiev 4 clones at $80–250 deliver the same shooting experience with similar lens compatibility.
The Soviet Jupiter-3 50/1.5 (Sonnar copy) and Jupiter-8 50/2 (Sonnar copy) lenses are particularly excellent and inexpensive on the Kiev mount. Trade-off: Soviet quality control is variable, and the mount is finicky to adjust if rangefinder calibration drifts.
Contax/Kiev rangefinder mount: Soviet Jupiter-3 50/1.5, Jupiter-8 50/2, Jupiter-12 35/2.8, Jupiter-9 85/2, Helios 53 ;58/2 (rare), Industar-26M 50/2.8. Pre-war Contax lenses (Zeiss Sonnar, Biotar) also fit.
C41
Kodak Portra 160 is a professional C-41 color negative film with fine grain, soft contrast, and natural color.
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Kodak Gold 200 is a daylight-balanced C-41 color negative film with warm color, moderate grain, and a classic consumer-film look.
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