ARAX CM ARSAT 30mm

[Attila]

#1

[stingOM]

Hi Attila.
Long time no talk...

Is that the Russian answer to a Mamiya 645? Looks great.

[iangreenhalgh1]

It's a development of the original Salyut which was a copy of the Hasselblad 500CM.

That lens is the real gem, I want one!

[pich900]

That's a beautiful combo !....and that's also a nice presentation/picture, do you have your own studio for all your equipment's shots?

[Aanything]

Beautiful.
I bought a Kiev-88 adapter only to try that lens.
Couldn't keep it, sadly: so I bought a volna3 to use with that adapter.

[Attila]

[martinsmith99]

[fotomachi]

[kansalliskala]

Really cool looking combo!

You don't want to take a portrait with that although. Subject always takes one step back.

[Attila]

[Orio]

wowow!

[petr22]

Salyut is direct copy of Hasselblad 1600 (the one with shutter in body that never work correctly)

Hasselblad abandoned it 60 years ago, Arsenal made this camera until last possible moment (2-3 years ago). This means 60+ years without single effort to fix well-known problems.

Russian answer to Mamiya 645 and Pentax 645 is Kiev 90 (6x4,5), limited pre-production only - maybe few hundreds. Very rare and very expensive on ebay.

[kansalliskala]

[Attila]

[Attila]

[petr22]

There are some faults in camera design, specially in shutter mechanism. Because of low-quality soviet steel, I am afraid is only matter of time when shutter cocking mechanism break - could be years, could be months, could be days. Nothing can be done from user's side, when it break, it break. It is almost always the same fault - loud cracking sound when cocking shutter, and from this time it is not possible to cock the shutter (both curtains go at same time). I already have 15+ broken Kiev and Salyut cameras for parts. Rotating exposure time change wheel to the left (anti-clockwise) greatly increase the change of break (it is designed to rotate only to the right - and is written in the manual and on every Kiev site on web). This is one of the problems never fixed by Arsenal facility. Other problem are reflective metal shutter curtains (this problem is solved by Arax and Hartblei).

It is possible to check each camera by trying to rotate exposure time change wheel without pulling it, there should be no movement to each side (I already saw new cameras with this problem). When there is, shutter will propably break soon, because one important part is already damaged. My first Kiev camera break after 6 rolls of film. I have better experience with older Salyut cameras, as these are made from military supply steel and made entirely by hand.

In second hand camera shops in Prague original Kiev lens and bodies are very cheap, because these are not very reliable (I already saw customer damaging the camera when it was showed to him) and there is no way to get it repaired. I know only one repairman, who is able to repair Kiev camera - but he didnt do it anymore, because it take long and it is necessary to get whole new shutter cocking mechanism (most parts are not interchangeable, because they are slightly different sizes) and there are no parts available, except other broken bodies).

As with 30mm Arsat lens - when buying one (this lens is great), make sure there is at least one filter in lens case - there should be three, one transparent and two color. This filter is a part of the optics and one of them must be on the lens. I dont recommend to buy this lens without a filter.

With adapter, it is possible to use Kiev mount lenses on Pentacon Six mount camera.