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 2A (1956) is a refined variant of the Kiev 2, produced by the Arsenal factory in Kiev, Ukraine. Its principal addition over the Kiev 2 is a **PC flash sync port**, allowing synchronisation with electronic flash and flashbulbs — an increasingly practical requirement as Soviet press and amateur photography expanded in the mid-1950s. The sync speed is approximately 1/25s.
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
The Kiev 2 with flash synchronisation added — a small but significant upgrade to the first Soviet Contax II clone.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 35mm |
| Mount | Contax/Kiev (Contax rangefinder bayonet) |
| Years | 1956–~1958 |
| Shutter | 1/2s – 1/1250s + B, mechanical vertical metal curtain |
| Flash sync | ~1/25s (PC port) |
| Meter | None |
| Modes | Manual |
| Weight | ~ |
| Battery | None |
Arsenal introduced the Kiev 2A in 1956 as a minor update to the Kiev 2 (1947–1955). By this period the factory was also producing the Kiev 3 (selenium meter, no sync) and preparing to launch the Kiev 4 series (1957), which unified the sync port and meter in a refined body. The 2A therefore represents the no-meter branch of the family tree receiving only the sync upgrade before the whole line was consolidated under the Kiev 4 designation.
Production was short — roughly 1956 to 1958 — and the 2A is less commonly encountered than the Kiev 2 or Kiev 4.
The Kiev 2A is primarily of interest to collectors completing the Kiev 2/3/4 family or to researchers tracking the incremental improvements Arsenal made to the Contax II design template. Shooters gain the practical benefit of electronic flash over the completely sync-less Kiev 2, while retaining the same fully mechanical operation, Contax mount lens compatibility, and long-baseline rangefinder. The body is otherwise identical to the Kiev 2 in use, making it a usable but not transformative upgrade.
For those committed to the Soviet Contax system, the 2A occupies the space between the spartan Kiev 2 and the more complete Kiev 4 — useful as an ultralight (relative to the metered variants) sync-capable body.
Contax/Kiev bayonet mount: Jupiter-3 50/1.5 (Sonnar copy), Jupiter-8 50/2 (Sonnar copy), Jupiter-12 35/2.8 (Biogon copy), Jupiter-9 85/2 (Sonnar copy). Genuine pre-war and post-war Zeiss Contax II lenses are fully compatible. LTM adapters available for Leica-thread lenses with finder parallax correction required.
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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