In my position, cheap is appealing. But, what do you lose?
As I mentioned before, Russian cameras are wonderful if you get a good one. Quality control is, admittedly, not too awesome. Frame spacing problems are common, off shutter speeds a routine concern, and that cute little quirk where you have to cock the shutter before you set the shutter speed or you’ll break some part of it is just something to keep in mind. They’re quirky, and in the same way you can call a house a “handyman’s dream”, you can call some Russian models a “tinker’s dream”. They’re cheap enough you can go through three learning how they work. I am, admittedly, a tinker.

But, if you can get through these problems you will have a perfectly usable, inexpensive, and well-equipped camera. Russian lenses can be very impressive and perfectly comparable to their German and Japanese counterparts too – here is an example for a 1959 Jupiter-3 50mm f/1.5 lens with a 1986 front element:
1959 J3 with 1986 Front Element – anachronist_user, flickr

Mr. Sweeny, as well as making lens testing look rather pretty, has written an article on servicing a J-3 lens. Available on the [Pentax-Manuals site] under “repairs”, or [direct link here (.pdf)]. It’s pretty interesting reading.

So, as you can see, you can’t discredit Russian camera and lenses. The most widely known Russian cameras are Leica copies, Rangefinders made throughout the mid 20th century. They began as simple Leica copies, but as they progressed their made their own innovations and started to come into their own, to the point that you couldn’t call them Leica copies more than you could call a Canon a Nikon copy. But, they are known collectively as Russian Leica Copies.
There are quite a lot of them – the most common brands are Zorki, Fed and Kiev.

The Zorki cameras were made by the KMZ factory, “Krasnogorskiy Mekhanicheskiy Zavod”, in Krasnogorsk, Russia. [You can find the company history here]. The most popular (and most usable) was the [Zorki 4].

FED Cameras were made by, obviously, the FED Factory, in the Ukraine. They started copying the Leica in 1934, and were in business right through to around 1990. They made some very interesting designs, but film loading is notably a bit odd and complicated, similar to the original Leicas.

Kiev Rangefinders were actually Contax copies, and use the Contax lens mount. They were produced by the Arsenal factory in Kiev until the 1980′s, but they still make other cameras today. They also made the Jupiter series lenses. As a historical aside, much of the Contax factory was taken from Germany after the war and brought back to Russia, so they may be considered more than just Contax copies.

So those are the most common Russian Rangefinders. They all have their own quirks, and around half a dozen different models to each brand, so there really is something for everyone. And with the advent of eBay, anyone can own one – but again, it is the luck of the draw with what you get. Anyone who ever got a dud lens or body is putting them on eBay too – so the odds have gotten slightly worse.

You can take the guess work and disappointment out of it though, either by making your own repairs and adjustments or sending it to someone who can do it for you. Oleg Khalyavin Photocameras, or [OK Photocameras] can repair many Russian Rangefinders, servicing them and bringing them up to scratch, or sell you one they have in inventory for a good price. Buying from a reputable source guards against a lot of the problems you may run into.

But what if you don’t want a Rangefinder? What about an SLR?
Well, the KMZ Factory has you covered here too. The Zenit series of cameras evolved out the Zorki Rangefinder, and even used the same M39 screw mount. These lenses are not at all compatible with rangefinders because their design needed to accommodate the extra space needed for the SLR’s mirror. They later progressed to the M42 mount, and then the (Pentax devised and supported) K-mount – there’s a lot of lenses that you can attach to these models, so they’re a decent investment. You can [find more here, on camerapedia]. KMZ ceased camera manufacturing in 2005, but there’s plenty of these cameras around second hand, or New-Old-Stock.

But Medium Format, I hear you ask? As in, 120 film? BIG negatives? From Russia?
Yep, [the Kiev-Arsenal] factory also makes medium format cameras. The Kiev 88/88CM, and the Kiev 60.

The Kiev 88 is essentially a clone of the original Hasselblad 1600F/1000F. It has a similar screw lens mount (designated “Kiev B”), but lens compatibility is suspect at best. It’s your standard medium format SLR, it has a body, film back, lens and finder. As you can see, the image above is branded ARAX, I’ll explain that in a moment.
The Kiev 88 became the Kiev 88CM in 1999, adding the ability to use Pentacon 6 lenses.

The Kiev 6, and later Kiev 60, are copies of the Pentacon 6, Made in Germany by Pentacon. So, it’s a Russian copy of a German camera again – but in this case, the Russian copy has outlived it’s German counterpart. This camera also uses the [Pentacon-6 Lens Mount].
The Kiev 6 had support for 220 format, but this was dropped with the revised Kiev 60. Despite this, all the other advantages and better quality build of the revised design make it the one to look for. You can tell them apart easily enough – on the original Kiev 6, the shutter release is on the left, on the 60 is is on the right.
Quirky Russians.

There are is also a common after-market modification of these cameras, the Kiev 645 – reworking the camera to take 4.5×6 photos instead of 6×6. I might add that because the film rolls left to right, the frame is in portrait format instead of landscape like on most (all other?) cameras of this format.

But the same problem of quality control comes back up again – it’s hit and miss, even with buying straight from the Kiev factory you’re not guaranteed a perfect camera. Remember, these cameras are still available new, the Arsenal factory is alive and well in Russia – [check out their home page here]. But looking at the prices, you can get a new Kiev 88 kit for half the price of a used Hasselblad. You can understand their following – despite their issues, they’re still a viable and much loved camera.
When you get them working how you want, of course – That’s where after-market companies come into it. [ARAX] seems to offer the best deal. They pretty much do a complete rebuild on the camera. In the case of the Kiev 88:
-Rebuild shutter, replace metal shutter with a black cloth focal plane curtain shutter. Side shutter release button installed.
-Mirror lock-up function stalled
-Pentacon 6 Lens mount installed (replacing Kiev B mount)
-Special tripod plate fitted
-New, brighter focusing screen
-Newly designed film advance crank
-Frame spacing and film advance mechanism corrected.
-New paint job, light absorbing paint inside, ARAX logo

You can find the full process [here], and the work on the [Kiev 60] and [Kiev 88CM].

All in all, it’s a pretty impressive job they do, really a whole rebuild and test to make sure it works properly. Also, there’s a 1 Year guarantee to back it up. After all that their prices are still very appealing. While there seem to be plenty of second hand medium format outfits, designs like the Kiev 60 are still very unique. Remember the Pentacon 6 lens mount means Carl Zeiss lenses are available too, so if you need reassurance of lens availability there it is. Not that the Kiev lenses are anything to turn your nose up at – and, a [40mm medium format fisheye] for less than 300US? I’m there.

Well, still out of my price range unless I starve and don’t pay rent for a while, but definitely something to keep in mind. Russia makes great cameras, both in the past and in the present, they’re just…special. If you put in the time to learn their quirks, correct their faults and use them well, you’ll have a unique friend with you for a long time to come. Remember, all those Zorkis have lasted half a century, and the only thing wrong with some of them is they don’t really work.