the Kiev-80 (ie. Salyut-S) repair instructions book

removedacct2 · May 18, 2020

a duplicate of a message I posted on USSRphoto forum too.

I am servicing some Salyut bodies and one Kiev-88 I have (jammed shutter, banding, 1/2s speed fix and in general that could have a cleaning).
It's a bit tedious to screw these boxes when done just once in a while and it's good to have a technical summary, some instructions here and there, and the whole diagrams of assemblies and parts.

the Tento booklet for the Kiev-88 is available online since long but it's quite succinct.
I have otherwise a mint exemplar of the booklet published back in the time in Moskva for the Kiev-80 which was the rebadged for export Salyut-S.

for practical reference while tinkering the camera, I use instead prints of a scan I made of it.

I thought it may be of some interest for the few around there who are addicted to the Salyut.

it's a high-resolution scan, cleaned of transparency scanned artifacts (text from the other side of the sheet, paper structure and tint). I will put it on some site I have but in the meanwhile I loaded it on Yadisk:

https://yadi.sk/i/P8FOhqwVThBl-Q

i am also thinking of OCR'ing it, so the text will be usable in more practical way, and a PDF redone with much smaller size.

neilt3 · May 19, 2020

Thanks for uploading this .
Does "OCR" mean that I could copy and paste the text into a translator so I could read it in English ?
That would be very helpful if so !

Also I presume your familiar with this website ;
https://www.kievaholic.com/
Another good source of information on these cameras .

The body of my Kiev 88 is in good working order , but a couple if if the backs need a bit of adjustment as the frame spacings are erratic , sometimes overlapping , sometimes with a big space .

tlloydau · May 19, 2020

Great timing; thanks for uploading this. I've got a disassembled Kiev 88 I'm working on getting back into working order I imagine this'll be good help along with the Steve Ash repair guide.

removedacct2 · May 19, 2020

neilt3 said:
Does "OCR" mean that I could copy and paste the text into a translator so I could read it in English ?

exactly.
OCR takes a bit of time as the results must be checked against the actual text and corrected.

Also I presume your familiar with this website ;
https://www.kievaholic.com/
Another good source of information on these cameras .

they provide an overview. In fact there's quite some information spread around the web in different languages but no comprehensive indexing site.

the site of Gevorg Vartanyan, araxfoto.com, has the Tento repair summary in english, but that's not a detailed howto:

https://araxfoto.com/manuals/kiev-88_repair_en.pdf

The body of my Kiev 88 is in good working order , but a couple if if the backs need a bit of adjustment as the frame spacings are erratic , sometimes overlapping , sometimes with a big space .

this page is dedicated exactly to repairs of the back, you can try a translator. For frame spacing check the lever 43 in the bottom right diagram. In the Kiev-80 manual that I uploaded it's the diagram 33 page 46, lever 3. But then also the whole gearing has to be clean for dust. Backs can collect some dirt over time from the slit for the mating gear to the body.

http://fotorem.narod.ru/mag.htm

as for what I mentioned about resources spread all around, this page for instance, in french, is about non working advance of the film in the back:

https://www.suaudeau.eu/memo/rep/R%E9paration_dos_Kiev_88.html

and this about another cause of broken back (english):

https://marcocastelvecchio.wordpress.com/2013/03/12/fixing-a-kiev-88-back/

etc

removedacct2 · May 19, 2020

tlloydau said:
I've got a disassembled Kiev 88 I'm working on getting back into working order I imagine this'll be good help along with the Steve Ash repair guide.

the Steve Ash guide listed on Kievaholic.com, araxfoto.com, etc, is very well done, it explains the winding/speed selection mechanism, and shows where curtains tensioning is done ( http://kiev88.atwebpages.com/page2.htm ) but stops short, doesn't go into the details of the right-hand wall gearings and rest of the assemblies.

The small Tento booklet isn't a howto but provides hints. Btw. it is available in text with diagrams (instead of scanned text) on fotorefit.ru site:

http://fotorefit.ru/remont_kiev-88/1.html

this Kiev-80 booklet is more verbose, more detailed technical diagrams (refers often to specialized tools used but the soviet repairmen but that's not critical). The Salyut-S was older than the Kiev-88 but I an not sure there are much differences.

these technical manuals help tremendously of course, yet what I did was to get a couple cheap bodies, a broken one and the cheapest working one available, in order to play with and become familiar with the beast.

neilt3 · May 19, 2020

Thank you for all the extra information .
Some good things to look through .
I think 3 of the 4 backs I have are good as I had all 4 loaded with different film when I went away on a holiday last year , but I can't remember which back was duff .
So a bit more testing us needed !
I changed all the light seals on them , so that cured those problems .

removedacct2 · May 20, 2020

neilt3 said:
I changed all the light seals on them

yes this too is a routine to acquire, and you know how easy it is. Sometimes, backs that had been maltreated a bit more may have some slight planarity deviation on the matting plate enough for light to come in. Often a strip of some material glued on the exterior of the matting plate itself does cure the problem. Like this:

https://nox007.livejournal.com/2952.html

a cheap source for backs is to just buy them on the main russian ads website: avito.ru, or sometimes on the polish allegro.pl. You shortcut the often too excessive Ebay prices.
So for avito you search for кассета or задник Салют/Киев-88, for instance, on allegro in polish for magazynek/magazyn Kiev-88/Salut. An average russian price for a working back is 1000 rub, and postage isn't expensive. Communication in russian though, payment best with Webmoney.

in my experience, what WILL happen sometime is shutter banding, which requires curtains retensioning.

these cameras are good for people who are comfortable with some mechanical tinkering, so you can correctly care them and service the most yourself when needed. They are to the old Hasselblad what Fed and Zorki are to the old Leica.

removedacct2 · May 21, 2020

btw. I have just dismantled a non working Kiev-88 I got, for parts. The speed selector of the knob, the fast speed and slow speed mechanisms can be further disassembled.
Everything is there, not so much:

Max_ver1 · Mar 17, 2021

antonio_b said:
I thought it may be of some interest for the few around there who are addicted to the Salyut.

it's a high-resolution scan, cleaned of transparency scanned artifacts (text from the other side of the sheet, paper structure and tint). I will put it on some site I have but in the meanwhile I loaded it on Yadisk:

https://yadi.sk/i/P8FOhqwVThBl-Q

i am also thinking of OCR'ing it, so the text will be usable in more practical way, and a PDF redone with much smaller size.

Thank you for the manual,but there is no page number 15. Please could you post it here?

removedacct2 · Mar 18, 2021

Max_ver1 said:
Thank you for the manual,but there is no page number 15. Please could you post it here?

да, забыл эту страницу (
я бы сделал фаил снова ... но сейчас пожалуйста:

Max_ver1 · Mar 24, 2021

antonio_b said:
да, забыл эту страницу (
я бы сделал фаил снова ... но сейчас пожалуйста: View attachment 269866

Спасибо!

flavio81 · Jun 14, 2022

antonio_b said:
the Steve Ash guide listed on Kievaholic.com, araxfoto.com, etc, is very well done, it explains the winding/speed selection mechanism, and shows where curtains tensioning is done ( http://kiev88.atwebpages.com/page2.htm ) but stops short, doesn't go into the details of the right-hand wall gearings and rest of the assemblies.

The small Tento booklet isn't a howto but provides hints. Btw. it is available in text with diagrams (instead of scanned text) on fotorefit.ru site:

http://fotorefit.ru/remont_kiev-88/1.html

this Kiev-80 booklet is more verbose, more detailed technical diagrams (refers often to specialized tools used but the soviet repairmen but that's not critical). The Salyut-S was older than the Kiev-88 but I an not sure there are much differences.

these technical manuals help tremendously of course, yet what I did was to get a couple cheap bodies, a broken one and the cheapest working one available, in order to play with and become familiar with the beast.

This is excellent information.

You're doing us a big service.

Check out my thread on the Kiev 88 as well!

removedacct2 · Jun 16, 2022

flavio81 said:
Check out my thread on the Kiev 88 as well!

thanks Flavio! good this Kiev-80 tech manual could be of some use. In fact I mentioned earlier I would make a plain text PDF of it, and well I didn't take the time and forgot, so will see if there are some rainy days for this....
Actually I have kept using the Salyut-S but I got in love with the Bronicas S2 at some point. I really enjoy the Salyut because couple lenses: the Vega-28 120mm the Kaleinar 150mm and the Zodiak 30mm. (they are in Pentacon mount also).

But mostly I have been using LF for more than a year, I went from the Salyut and Bronica to a Horseman 6x9 for the wide angle lenses and bellows movements, also the flexibility in backs from 6x4,5 to 6x9, and because the Horseman I bought came with a 4x5 extension I was bitten by LF and now I spend a hell of a time with 8x10 (and soviet lenses). I'll have to give some time for the MF and after a ton of 8x10 sheets developed, back to the little MF spirals will feel nice

yes I went to your other main thread about the Kiev-88. Very interesting. In fact there's no where some kind of comprehensive portal about this system, the little useful know-how, the small variations.

removedacct2 · Jun 16, 2022

and btw. we photo hobbyists have now another problem: availability.
Ebay shot down all russian listings (they are there but frozen in limbo) and the availability is mostly from Ukraine, some Moldova, sometimes Kazakhstan, Belarus and very unusually the Baltics or western Europa. For some reason there are more Kiev-88 than older Salyut on ukrainian Ebay, but on Avito there are often older and newer models. Point is: we in Europe can't buy with euro-yanqui payment systems, so need some kind of bridging....
I keep buying old stuff on Avito sometimes because I have the required "bridge", but then it's overwise very weird: underground, off, non-official way to do shopping in the hidden staying away from the big eyes of the "Empire".

flavio81 · Jun 17, 2022

antonio_b said:
and btw. we photo hobbyists have now another problem: availability.
Ebay shot down all russian listings (they are there but frozen in limbo) and the availability is mostly from Ukraine, some Moldova, sometimes Kazakhstan, Belarus and very unusually the Baltics or western Europa. For some reason there are more Kiev-88 than older Salyut on ukrainian Ebay, but on Avito there are often older and newer models. Point is: we in Europe can't buy with euro-yanqui payment systems, so need some kind of bridging....
I keep buying old stuff on Avito sometimes because I have the required "bridge", but then it's overwise very weird: underground, off, non-official way to do shopping in the hidden staying away from the big eyes of the "Empire".

You can't buy with PayPal? I'm in south america and buy from everywhere with Paypal.

removedacct2 · Jun 19, 2022

flavio81 said:
You can't buy with PayPal? I'm in south america and buy from everywhere with Paypal.

on Avito.ru, no, impossible, PayPal is a front-end to Visa, Mastercard, etc, and these did leave russian market. Russia navigates now on its own banking system (Mir cards ) + chinese one (UnionPay cards). Too bad because there's always a choice.
for instance search "салют" in Электроника > Фототехника
Объявления по запросу «салют» в России
or
Объявления по запросу «Киев-88» в России

it's possible to buy through some 3rd parties with bank accounts on both sides of that new Iron Curtain, but then I will not tell.

I guess you find enough on Ebay anyway, despite not so much choice these days, most still in Ukraine. Also there's always some selling in USA/Canada. Even broken bodies can be good as junkyards for parts if you like to tinker.

flavio81 · Jun 20, 2022

antonio_b said:
on Avito.ru, no, impossible (...)

Why buy from (sanctioned) Russia when the cameras are Ukranian and available by Ukranian sellers on eBay? Not to mention sellers of other countries.

removedacct2 · Jun 20, 2022

flavio81 said:
Why buy from (sanctioned) Russia when the cameras are Ukranian and available by Ukranian sellers on eBay? Not to mention sellers of other countries.

I provided links that show why: many Salyut and Kiev-88 are available on the russian market.
These cameras were manufactured in SSR Ukraine, ie. USSR, thus distributed all around USSR where the main SSR was Russia, hence the biggest market was the russian one and so is the 2nd hand market.

what was specific to post-USSR Republic of Ukraine, is the stock remaining in the Arsenal factory where the cameras and lenses where manufactured. Couple guys, like Vartanian of AraxFoto who bought remaining stocks and parts, kept selling it and selling improved variants. So for a while Kiev was source of a pile of "old new" stock. This was going on for many years. No idea how much depleted since then, because well it's now maybe 15 or 20 years Arsenal factory closed.

then prices: sellers on Ebay use(d) to put typically bigger prices for the same stuff sold domestically. Much bigger prices sometimes. Last month I bought couple LF lenses and an Elektra-112 RF from Russia, twice cheaper than on Ebay. Also Ebay does bill and collect import VAT, but if you buy directly from sellers, they agreee to ship as "gift".

postal service was also faster from Russia than from Ukraine.

Anyway by now these cameras that were abundant in the 2000's /2005's are now becoming slowly a niche rarity.
Actually I am considering to buy couple extra bodies so to have spares.

Something related, last week I saw on the swedish auction site Tradera a Hasselblad 1000F, ie, the successor of the Hasselblad 1600F copied with slight modification, into the Salyut 1500. It was sold for cheap compared to what is asked when you spot one on Ebay.

flavio81 · Jun 20, 2022

antonio_b said:
I provided links that show why: many Salyut and Kiev-88 are available on the russian market.
These cameras were manufactured in SSR Ukraine, ie. USSR, thus distributed all around USSR where the main SSR was Russia, hence the biggest market was the russian one and so is the 2nd hand market.

what was specific to post-USSR Republic of Ukraine, is the stock remaining in the Arsenal factory where the cameras and lenses where manufactured. Couple guys, like Vartanian of AraxFoto who bought remaining stocks and parts, kept selling it and selling improved variants. So for a while Kiev was source of a pile of "old new" stock. This was going on for many years. No idea how much depleted since then, because well it's now maybe 15 or 20 years Arsenal factory closed.

then prices: sellers on Ebay use(d) to put typically bigger prices for the same stuff sold domestically. Much bigger prices sometimes. Last month I bought couple LF lenses and an Elektra-112 RF from Russia, twice cheaper than on Ebay. Also Ebay does bill and collect import VAT, but if you buy directly from sellers, they agreee to ship as "gift".

postal service was also faster from Russia than from Ukraine.

Anyway by now these cameras that were abundant in the 2000's /2005's are now becoming slowly a niche rarity.
Actually I am considering to buy couple extra bodies so to have spares.

Something related, last week I saw on the swedish auction site Tradera a Hasselblad 1000F, ie, the successor of the Hasselblad 1600F copied with slight modification, into the Salyut 1500. It was sold for cheap compared to what is asked when you spot one on Ebay.

Thanks for this information dear and esteemed Antonio.

the Kiev-80 (ie. Salyut-S) repair instructions book

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency