"ISKRA" Medium Format Russian Camera: The
Best Kept Secret of USSR
Text and Photos: J.M.Serrano
This extraordinary Russian folding 6x6 rangefinder medium format camera,
fundamentally inspired on the formidable elite camera Agfa Super Isolette, made
between 1954 and 1957(known as Super Speedex in United States), owes its name
to the underground newspaper founded by Lenin in 1900, whose letters in
cyrillic characters appear engraved in red colour and in a prominent size on
the front of the camera, just on the block constituted by lens and bellows.
A total of 38,722 units were made
between 1960 and 1963.
The "Iskra" is a folding
camera for 6x6 format and 120 spool, equipped with a coupled rangefinder, not
rectangular but square, working through the very accurate system of overlapping of two images in one.
Its fabulous lens is the
Industar-58 75mm f/3.5, coated, Tessar
design of four elements, central shutter and shutter speeds between 1 sec and
1/500+B, with flash synchronization at all speeds, an enourmously useful
feature for fill-in flash and creative and artistic effects with flash.
Itīs an utterly mechanic camera,
without a meter, displaying automatic film advance by means of a round knurled
button.
Undoubtedly, one of the most
outstanding features of the "Iskra" is its almost imperceptible noise
on firing the shutter at any speed. It seems incredible that Russians,
traditionally with far fewer means than Japanese and Germans, have been able to
attain such a super loud noise on triggering the shutter, specially if we
realize that the unutterable "Iskra" is a medium format camera, with
a 6x6 negative being a 400% larger than a widespread 24x36.
In fact, regarding this aspect, it is
only slightly inferior to the marvellous rangefinder Leicas M(including the
current flagship Leica M6) and the Konica Hexar RF.
Probably, the "Iskra" is the
highest quality level camera(above all from an optical standpoint) ever made in
USSR and used by great photographers as Galična Loukianova, specialist on
Russian rural nostalgia and R.Ostrovskaïa.
There is another version of the
"Iskra", the "Iskra 2", identical to the standard model,
but with an uncoupled selenium meter and the word Iskra engraved in red, with smaller letters, just on the right of
the accessory shoe.
There was also even a subvariant of the
"Iskra 2": the Iskra 2 "Microscope", in which the bellows
was replaced by an adapter plate for the combined microscope viewfinder.
To sum up, the "Iskra" camera
is the historic Jewel of the Crown of the KMZ factory at Krasnogorsk, in the
suburbs of Moscow.
The body is entirely metal, made in
aluminum.
Itīs a rangefinder camera featuring a
very light weight and a great ability for hand and wrist shots without a tripod
at slow shutter speeds, due to the lack of a tilting mirror and pentaprism.
Its relevant portability and
convenience of transport becomes rather enhanced by the fact that both the lens
and the bellows are retractable, noticeably folding towards the inner camera
body and lens remaining kept enough by the metal protective plate with latch.
The minimum focusing distance is 1 m
and the manual focus is made by rotating towards the left or towards the right
a grooved silver focusing ring(1 mm in front of the metal ring in contact with
the bellows) that allows a very precise focusing when you achieve to merge in
one the two initial images appearing in the viewfinder.
The image quality is excellent at all
the distances.
An unnusual innovation is the very
practical interconnection between the rings of shutter speeds and f stops,
letting to maintain an initial exposition, modifying speeds and f stops.
After the manual advance to the next
frame using the round knurled button of the right top side, it is necessary
before each shot to cock manually the shutter lever, situated immediately
behind the shutter speeds ring.
The fact of being bound to cock the
shutter lever of the five blades FXCh-18 shutter of the "Iskra"(a
gorgeous copy of the mytic shutter Synchro Compur RMX/RMXV of the Solinar 75mm
f/3.5 lens of the Agfa Super Isolette) is a currently almost non-existing
feature, with the exception of the Hasselblad Arcbody, in which before every
shot you must cock the shutter with the help of its lever situated just before
the diaphragms ring of its RODENSTOCK Apo-Grandagon 45mm f/4.5 lens and the
same applies to the other two available lenses.
The grooved button(that must be rotated
towards the left or right until getting the two images of the viewfinder
overlap in one to obtain an exact focus) makes the whole block shutter/lens
move forwards or backwards, being attained with Iskra a great quality and
resolution from 1 m to infinity.
So, in this aspect, the improvement is
patent as regards to classic folding cameras as the Zeiss Super Ikonta IV,
whose focus is made moving only the front element of the lens, leaving the
shutter still.
Another interesting aspect of the Iskra
is the fact that the advance and rewind mechanism doesnīt work without a film
inside the camera. This system avoids casual exposures.
The "Iskras" were made in
USSR as heirs of the Moskvas cameras, a vast range of copies of the Zeiss
Ikonta(retractable folding medium format cameras, some of them with a rangefinder
and others without it), whose production came into being in 1947.
But when Moskva-5, the last of the
series, was discontinued in 1961, it was obsolete. In that period, professional
photographers used 35mm cameras as Leicas M3 or Nikons F, and not cumbersome,
big and heavy medium format folding cameras with small viewfinders and odd
rangefinder coupling devices.
Because of it, KMZ engineers created
the "Iskra" in 6x6 square format(Moskvas were 6x9 models), much more
easily handled and portable and with a lens of superior quality.
Besides, the introduction in the
"Iskra" of the previously cited FXCh-18 shutter, of outstanding
accuracy and reliability, entailed an important breakthrough.
Not in vain, the Russians had already a
vast and long expertise, knowledge and craftsmanship in mass production of very
good quality shutters for medium format cameras, mainly due to the fact that
with great practical sense and professionalism, they knew to accept from the
beginning the German superiority in photographic cameras bodies, lenses and
shutters.
This way, in 1946, just after the end
of the Second World War, when KMZ factory in Moscow couldnīt make all the parts
for a camera, they used the thousands of Zeiss-Ikon units captured in Germany
as a booty and they did consent being advised by a number of knowledgeable and
deft German technicians and opticians, undoubtedly the greatest worldly pundits
in the subject, chosen for that purpose.
So, within a short time, the USSR could
make the Moskva-1 6x9(1946-1949)(with parts from the Ikonta 6x9, Zeiss tooling,
folding Newton viewfinder and original German Compur shutter at the beginning
and a very good Russian copy afterwards) and the Moskva-2(1947-1956) equipped
with a coupled rangefinder(featured with a folding Newton viewfinder, parts of
the Super-Ikonta 6x9, Zeiss tooling and Compur shutter and much more frequently
Moment-1).
Thatīs why the Iskra FXCh-18 shutter,
silent as few and born in 1960, was a great achievement and the digest of
nearly two decades of endeavours and own designs, evoultioned from top-notch
original German concepts, both mechanical and optical, with which before the
appearance of the "Iskra", the Russians had already a reputable
prestige in the making of superb shutters for medium format cameras(together
with the previously cited, we should add the Moment-5D shutter of the
Moskva-3(1950-1951), the Moment-23S of the Moskva-4(1956-1958), the 24S of the
Moskva-5 1956-1960, the ZT 13 central shutter of the Estafeta-Gomz(1957-1958),
the ZT 14 of the Vympel "Ensign"(1958-59), the ZT-5 of the Lubitels 1
and 2, the ZT-11 of the Neva(1956-58), and so forth.
Furthermore, it must be underlined that
the FXCh shutter can practically compete on a par with both the Compur Rapid
and Synchro Compur featured by the prestigious uncoupled rangefinder folding
medium format cameras Agfas Isolettes III(getting ahead of them in terms of
shutter triggering smoothness and super low noise on shooting) and itīs far
superior in quality and reliability to the Prontor-SVS worn by many celebrated
rangefinder folding cameras.
And the same happens from an optical
viewpoint. The Industar-58 75mm f/3.5
lens of "Iskra" is even slightly superior in quality to the Solinar
75mm f/3.5 lens of the Agfa Isolette III, with an even bigger difference if the
comparison is made taking as a reference the three element Apotar lens which
was available as a second lens choice for the Agfa Isolette III.
Another very important aspect in the
"Iskra" is its viewfinder, because it uses a very similar system to
the one incorporated in 1956 to the 35mm Russian camera Zorki-4, with its
binomial rangefinder/viewfinder and blueish tinge, albeit in Zorki-4 the
rangefinder patch was the traditional rectangle while in the "Iskra"
it is a slightly greenish tonality square.
Itīs a viewfinder with great
transparency, sharpness and trifling distortion.
The mentioned rangefinder patch is
coupled to the retractable lens by means of an ingenious system.
Just as in Zorki-4, the
"Iskra" viewfinder lacks framelines, though it is better delimited.
The "Iskra" has a film
advance system that blocks the spool reel when reaching the next frame, warning
us that when we feel that resistance we must stop spinning round the knurled
button and cock the shutter before triggering the shutter release.
Likewise, it has an automatic exposure
counter, whilst Moskvas had the old red windows system, that left in the hands
of the photographer both the initiative and the advance of each frame.
The high production cost and massive
spreading of 35mm cameras were the main reason for the discontinuity of
"Iskras", genuine elite Russian cameras, with an optical-mechanical
quality standard very superior to the customary photographic matériel both in
medium format and 24x36.
The "Iskra" was the last KMZ
mass produced medium format camera, before the subsequent prototypes
Reporter(1960-1961), Zenit-70(1970), Horizon-205 pc(1994), etc.
It is provided with a self timer.
With "Iskra" you can obtain
12 photographs in 6x6 format with a 120 spool, not being feasible the use of
220 film.
Itīs a very reliable and sturdy camera
in line with the traditional Russian axiom of constructing photographic cameras
in the T-34 tank way as a raison dīętre.
The quality image achieved with
"Iskra" is superior to that one obtained with other Russian medium
format cameras both rangefinder(all the range of Moskvas, Vympel-Estafeta,
Vympel, Estafeta-Gomz "Courier", etc), TLR(Komsomolets(1946-1950), Lubitel(1949-1956),
Lubitel 2(1955-1980), Neva(1956-1958), Lubitel 166(1976-1986), Rassvet(1960),
etc) and reflex( the Saliut(1957-72), Saliut-S(1972-1980), Kiev-6C(1971-1980),
Kiev-6C TTL(1980-1986), Kiev-60 TTL(1984-1992), Kiev-80(1975-1980), Kiev-88 TTL(1980-1990),
Kiev-90(1987-1990), etc), above all in big enlargements from 30x40 cm upward.
Everything seems to indicate, including
the deepest research in nineties, that due to prestige reasons, the Russians
used the last hidden batch of the magnificent Carl Zeiss Jena glass taken to
the Germans as a booty after the Second World War, to make the superb
Industar-58 75mm f/3.5 lens(a four
element Tessar design of 1900 by the optical genius Paul Rudolph Zeiss) of the "Iskra",
also superior in resolution and sharpness to the classic Pentacon 6x6 and many
traditional and modern medium format cameras.
In order to actually realize the
optical quality of this lens, we should highlight the synchronic piece of
information that also in 1960, the Russians incorporated the Industar-58 75mm f/3.5 in the semiautomatic TLR
"Rassvet", with mat lens focusing screen of Fresnel and automatic
paralax correction, another of the few elite Russian cameras, with which the
Krasnogorsky Mechanical Zavod in Moscow tried to achieve the mass production of
a TLR of outstanding quality level, in agreement with the technical and
liability standards of the "twin lens reflex" models of Mamiya,
Rollei, etc, although very few units were made and they had to drop the
production because of the high production cost(about 180 rubles, approximately
the salary of a Russian worker in that period) and the impossibility to
get an important figure of anticipated
sales so as to guarantee the amortization.
The "Iskra" is one of the
most up-to-date and advanced folding rangefinder cameras ever made.
Some of these cameras can have problems
to evenly space the negatives as also with the exposure counter functioning.
To change f stop, itīs necessary to
pull the diaphragms ring about two mm out. In the beginning it takes a bit
effort to get the hang of it, but it allows us to keep a constant exposures
with different apertures and shutter speeds as well as diverse depths of
fields.
Once you have put the correct
exposure(indicated by a hand meter, the estimation metering with a certain
experience or the trick of previously metering with a reflex 35mm TTL and
transfer the shutter speed and f stop to the "Iskra"), if you change
the diaphragm, itīll also change the shutter speed at the same time, always
maintaining an identical EV, though the apertures and speeds may be
different(for instance: 8/30, 5.6/60, etc). This interesting enough matching of
f stop and shutter speed is a very relevant and useful feature, shared by the
Hassies with central shutter CF series Carl Zeiss lenses, which speaks us
clearly in favour of the "Iskra" quality.
Moreover, the "Iskra" has a
sophisticated transport mechanism that feels the end of the guide paper just
before commencing the very 120 film and automatically begins counting the frames.
Itīs a system akin to the "autofilm start ID" of the Agfa Super
Isolette, with which the photographer hasnīt to line up the arrows on
introducing the 120 film spool, being the very camera that spots the film
beginning, a feature perhaps only found in Rolleis.
Studies made on the thousands of Iskras
available worlwide have revealed that in a little percentage of them the
automatic advance film system doesnīt
work and they must be repaired by an expert.
Sometimes, in some units, due above all
to extensive use during decades, the grooved focusing ring is very rigid and
stiff and the rangefinder is a bit misaligned, with the focusing distance
varying slightly from one side to the other of the square patch of the
rangefinder(the most frequent thing is that when the two images overlap in the
central part of the square, the sides of it appear a bit out of focus). In
these cases you must be more than ordinary careful with the focus, specially in
the shortest distances, doing your best to focus with the central area of the
square patch of the rangefinder.
Nevertheless, theyīre a few cases,
logical in a 40 years old camera and generally reparable, apart from the fact
that the effective rangefinder base of "Iskra" was widened with
regard to the existing one in Agfa Super Isolette, it resulting in a better
accuracy and focusing quickness in the Russian device.
Closed for transport, "Iskra"
is more compact than many professional 35mm cameras, its measures being:
Height: 10.7 cm.
Width: 15.4 cm.
Weight: 875 gr.
Thickness: 4.5 cm in the
central area including the lens protection and 3.3 in both sides.
On the left of the shutter release(with
a hole on top of it for a triggering cable) you find the small button for
releasing the block bellows/lens.
It is true that the circular window of
the rangefinder viewfinder(on the left of the back of the body) is very small,
but itīs enough and reduces drastically the risk of scratches and dust.
The knurled big round button on the
right on top of the camera body, shows engraved a red colour arrow, whose sharp
end indicates the direction in which you must turning it around until obtaining
each frame advance.
Another prominent aspect in this camera
are the two very hard metal neckstrap lugs, a sadly negligent aspect in a lot
of modern autofocus cameras made in plastic or polycarbonates.
A very little window(situated between
the shutter release button and the big round knurled button for film advance)
points us out the frame number.
The removal system of the back of the
camera body is very easy and convenient. You must only press the silver metal
rim situated in the lower left part of the body camera back.
On the upper left side of the camera,
we have another metal knurled button(of smaller diameter and thickness than the
one existing on the right of the shutter release button). by means of it we
choose the GOST(Russian terminology for film sensitivity, roughly equivalent to
internationally widespread ISO), with the options 32, 45, 65, 90, 130 and 180,
albeit in practice it dawns on you that it isnīt worth, cause on being a 100%
mechanical camera without any meter, weīll have to calculate the correct
exposition preferably through one of the three methods previously quoted.
Unlike the vast majority of current cameras,
both in 35mm and medium format, the accessory hotshoe situated on the central
top area of the camera body(just on the word "ISKRA" engraved in
cyrillic characters) it doesnīt also work as a hotshoe for dedicated flash(as a
matter of fact, if we insert the flash, cock the shutter with its lever and
press the shutter release button to shoot, the flash wonīt activate and will
not emit any light beam).
To make flash photography with
"Iskra", weīre bound to insert it on the quoted accessory hotshoe, by
means of the suitable standard base with synchronization cable. One of its ends
must be connected to the flash unit and the other one must be inserted within
the very thin golden and thin tube for synchro cable, situated on the lens,
about 2 cm on the right of the shutter lever.