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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slr-medium-format
The Kiev 60 is a Soviet 6x6 medium format SLR produced by Arsenal in Kyiv (Kiev), Ukraine from 1984 onward. It is a direct derivative of the East German Pentacon Six, sharing the same Pentacon Six (P6) lens mount and general mechanical layout. The standard kit lens is the Arsat 80mm f/2.8 (a Ukrainian-made optic that itself draws lineage from Carl Zeiss Jena designs). The camera is entirely mechanical with a cloth focal-plane shutter, and operates fully without batteries; the built-in TTL center-weighted meter is battery-dependent but the shutter is not. The Kiev 60 is large and heavy by medium format SLR standards - heavier than a Hasselblad 500CM and comparable to a Mamiya RB67 without a lens - but its wide availability of P6-mount lenses and relatively low used prices made it a practical working camera.
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Recommended film stocks for the — 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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Kodak Portra 160 is a professional C-41 color negative film with fine grain, soft contrast, and natural color.
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Kodak Ektar 100 is a fine-grain C-41 color negative film with saturated color and high sharpness.
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About this camera
Arsenal's Soviet 6x6 SLR - a Pentacon Six clone built in Kyiv, taking P6-mount glass from East Germany and beyond.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 120 (6x6 cm frames) |
| Lens mount | Pentacon Six (P6) |
| Standard lens | Arsat 80mm f/2.8 |
| Focus | Manual |
| Shutter speeds | 1s, 1/2s, 1/4s, 1/8s, 1/15s, 1/30s, 1/60s, 1/125s, 1/250s, 1/500s, 1/1000s + B |
| Flash sync | 1/30s (PC socket) |
| Meter | Center-weighted TTL (battery required) |
| Modes | Manual |
| Viewfinder | Pentaprism, split-prism + microprism focus aids |
| Body material | Aluminum + plastic |
| Weight | ~1300 g body only |
| Battery | 2x AA (meter only) |
| Frames per roll | 12 (6x6) |
The Pentacon Six was developed in East Germany in the late 1950s at VEB Pentacon (Dresden); the original Pentacon Six appeared in 1956. Arsenal, the Kyiv optical-mechanical plant, began producing its own variant, the Kiev 6C, in the early 1970s. The Kiev 60 (1984) was a revised model with a redesigned top plate, built-in TTL metering, and a simplified film transport mechanism. Arsenal continued production through the Soviet period and into the post-Soviet era; exact discontinuation date is uncertain but production had largely ceased by the late 1990s-early 2000s. A TTL variant (Kiev 60 TTL) with a more prominent meter display was also produced.
The P6 mount ecosystem includes lenses from Carl Zeiss Jena (East Germany), Schneider-Kreuznach, Pentacon, Meyer-Optik, and Ukrainian-made Arsat and Mir glass. This wide lens compatibility is a primary practical advantage of the Kiev 60 platform.
The Kiev 60 offers one of the lowest cost-of-entry points to a P6-mount medium format system. The Pentacon Six mount's wide flange-to-film distance also makes it adaptable to large format lenses with appropriate boards. For photographers who want access to Carl Zeiss Jena P6 glass - the 50mm Flektogon, 80mm Biometar, 120mm Biometar, 180mm Sonnar - without paying Hasselblad or Rollei prices, the Kiev 60 body has been a viable budget entry point since the 1990s.
The camera's reputation is mixed: Arsenal quality control was notoriously inconsistent, and many Kiev 60 bodies left the factory with shutter timing issues, film transport problems, or film flatness issues. This has spawned a cottage industry of refurbishment services - notably the Arax Camera workshop in Ukraine - that CLA and refurbish Kiev 60 bodies to more reliable standards.
Mount: Pentacon Six (P6). Not to be confused with Exakta 66 mount (similar but incompatible without adapter).
Native P6 glass:
Adapters: P6 to Hasselblad V, P6 to 4x5 lensboard adapters exist.
Accessories: Waist-level finder (replaces pentaprism), 45-degree prism finder, close-up extension tubes.
BW
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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