Start (SLR)
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The Start is an early 35mm SLR camera introduced by KMZ in 1958. Its design is remarkable and clever, being of such early Russian origin. The mechanical construction is quite ambitious. A few features may be traced back to Exakta Varex, while some similarity exists to several 35mm SLR cameras introduced at that time, and therefore not likely to have been of influence.
Although quite different, there is a general but striking similarity to the 1957 Topcon R and the 1958 Zunow. However, the 1952 Praktina and 1955 Miranda T could certainly have been studied closely at KMZ, as well as by the other camera designers in Japan. Seen are the slide off finder prism and the front mounted shutter release. The breech-lock lensmount hails from Praktina, but it's narrower. The film cutting feature is surely from Exakta, while the back locks are of Zeiss design. The external Exakta lense aperture mechanism is identical.
The shutter and mirror design is presumably a continuation of the Zenit's, but extended to 1/1000 sec. with flash synchronized at 1/30 sec. The surprisingly bright viewfinder has a central split-image rangefinder. The standard lens is a bright aluminium barrel Helios-44 2/58. Cameras for export has the name written in roman italics, Start, while those for the domestic market has cyrillic style, Старт.
The Start takes 24x36mm frames on 35mm film, including using two Kiev cassettes, and is equipped with a knife to cut the film[1].
source
- Start on rus-camera.com
- Start on Sovietcams.com
- Andrzej Wrotniak's review A Vintage Russian Start SLR Camera
- Start User Guide on zenit.istra.ru (Russian)
- Start User Guide (PDF English translation of Russian)
- Start on www.collection-appareils.fr by Sylvain Halgand
