What is the cheapest used Kiev IIa in the UK?

The cheapest used Kiev IIa currently listed is £42.55 at eBay, based on 4 listings compared across 1 UK retailers.

How many used Kiev IIa are for sale in the UK?

There are currently 4 used Kiev IIa listings available across 1 UK retailers on UsedLens, updated daily.

Used Kiev IIa for Sale — From £43

£42.55 Low price

£179.00 High price

4 Listings

1 Retailers

1 New this week

1 Reduced

Great for: general street travel

Kiev's meterless Contax copy — 35mm rangefinder on the Contax RF bayonet from Zeiss tooling, 1956.

The Kiev IIa is a Soviet 35mm rangefinder made at the Arsenal plant in Kiev, a development of the Contax II copy that the factory produced from Zeiss tooling brought to the USSR after the Second World War. It reached production around 1956 as a meterless model within the Kiev rangefinder line. Like its predecessor it carries the Contax bayonet mount and the mechanical layout of the pre-war Zeiss camera.

This is a 35mm coupled-rangefinder camera on the Contax RF bayonet, with an inner mount for the standard lens and an outer mount for other focal lengths. It uses a vertical-travel metal focal-plane shutter of the Contax type and a combined rangefinder and viewfinder window. Focusing is via the coupled rangefinder; exposure is set manually. This IIa version has no built-in exposure meter.

The Kiev IIa suits photographers who want the Contax rangefinder handling and lens system without a meter to complicate the body. It pairs with Soviet Jupiter lenses and period Zeiss optics, and its all-mechanical operation means it fires without batteries. The wheel-focusing pre-war Contax layout gives it a distinct handling character among 35mm rangefinders.

On the used market the Kiev IIa is inexpensive and offers strong value, though the sample-to-sample quality-control variance typical of former-Soviet-Union bodies means each one should be checked individually. Inspect the rangefinder patch for contrast and vertical alignment, examine the metal focal-plane shutter curtains for capping or damage, and confirm the slow speeds are accurate. A serviced example is worth the premium given the age of the mechanism.