Kometa (camera)
The Kometa is a camera prototype from the Moscow company KMZ ( Mechanisches Werk Krasnogorsk ) from 1957, which was presented at the World Exhibition in Brussels in 1958 .
history
The designers were engineers GM Dorksy, VI Pluschnikow and AP Orlow under the direction of chief engineer Yuriy Soloview. He is said to have told his people: "Build a camera like the Contax, the Leica M3 and the Nikon, all in one - only better!"
Only two copies of the camera were produced for the world exhibition in Brussels. There the camera was presented to the international specialist audience and received a lot of attention. After the end of the world exhibition, despite its great success, the decision was made in the factory not to build the "Kometa" in series. The basis for this was the decision of the Soviet Union to give preference to providing its citizens with good quality amateur cameras for everyone over top performance in terms of camera technology.
construction
The camera is a large, heavy, professional 35mm viewfinder camera, which was structurally based on the Leica M3 released in 1954 . Like the Leica M3, the Kometa has a horizontally running cloth focal plane shutter up to 1/1000 sec. And a bright rangefinder with viewfinder magnification about 0.9x. Similar to the original, the matching light frames (f = 50mm, f = 85mm and f = 135mm) are displayed as soon as the corresponding lens is inserted. In addition, the Kometa has a built-in and coupled selenium exposure meter .
equipment
Seven lenses were to be provided for the camera, the focal lengths of which ranged from the MP-2 20 mm f / 5.6 to the Tair-11 135 mm f / 2.8. Some of the lenses have been redesigned for the camera, such as the standard lens "Merkuri - 1" 1: 2 f = 50mm (double Gauss type, seven lenses in five groups), the ultra-wide-angle lens "Russar MP-2" 1: 5.6 f = 20mm (independent lens type, invented by Prof. M. Russinov in 1935, six lenses in four groups, symmetrical, first and last lens convex-concave and strongly protruding), and also the "Helios-40" 1: 1.5 f = 85mm (classic, symmetrical double Gauss type, six lenses in four groups, calculated in 1950), all, as usual in the Soviet Union, constructions of the State Optical Institute in Leningrad .
particularities
The special thing about the Kometa is the internal direct coupling of the aperture (optics) mechanics of all interchangeable lenses with the built-in exposure meter - just like the rangefinder of the camera works with all of its interchangeable lenses. For this purpose, the aperture ring has its own control curve at the rear, which is scanned by a lever in the lower part of the bayonet connection of the camera (analogous to the known scanning of the position of the distance setting ring of the respective lens for distance measurement located in the upper part of the bayonet connection). This means that by moving the shutter speed dial or, alternatively, the aperture ring, two pointers in the exposure meter window can be brought into line (the exposure meter needle on the one hand and the tracking pointer controlled by the aperture and shutter on the other hand), whereby a correct exposure is already set - while with all others Similar rangefinder cameras of the time, the measurement result of the exposure meter had to be transferred manually to the lens, as was the case with the Leica M3 (where you had to manually set the aperture indicated by the exposure meter attached to the shutter speed dial) and the Contax IIIa. The then new so-called “cross coupling” was realized here purely mechanically by means of a tiny differential (similar to the differential of a car) made of steel - a first achievement at the time, today the (albeit electronic) cross coupling of the exposure meter is common.
Data
Dimensions (W × H × D in cm, approximate): 14.5 × 11 × 4.5 (8 with standard Merkuri-1 lens), weight with Merkuri-1 lens in kg: 1.15. Opening of the four-wing Kometa bayonet: 42/45 mm (for comparison: opening of the four-wing bayonet of the same shape on the Leica M: 40 / 42mm).
literature
- Jean Loup Princelle: The Authentic Guide to Russian and Soviet Cameras . Le Reve Edition, 2004.
- Simon Nathan: Good Photography's Handbook (A Fawcett How-to Book No. 392)
- SW Kulagin: "Photography and Cameras", 1963.
proof
- ↑ a b c sovietcams.com: Soviet and Russian Cameras - Kometa , accessed November 13, 2015
- ↑ sovietcams.com: Original Kometa brochure , accessed on November 13, 2015
