Soviet cameras in the UK - 1960

[Jocko]

Today I bought a copy of the Amateur Photographer camera guide, published in June 1960.

Two Soviet RF are listed - the Kiev 4 (£58 19s 6d) and Zorki 6, the latter with a I-50 (£23 12s 7d). By comparison, a Leica IIIg with f2.8 elmar cost £88.11s and a Contax III with f2 Sonnar £122 19s 11d.

It's normally said that the Kiev sold in the USSR for roughly 4/5 weeks wages and that this held good for most serious Soviet cameras. What I find interesting is that this was also true in the UK. The same magazine has job advertisements for experienced senior salesmen (£60 per month), qualified scientific photographers (starting at £21 p.m, rising to £35) and similar posts anywhere in between.

Even with postage, those cameras are very cheap today!

Cheers, Ian

[xayraa33]

pityful wages.
I am very surprised by the high cost of the Kiev 4.
maybe the good old days were not so good.

[raftman]

Originally Posted by xayraa33

pityful wages.
I am very surprised by the high cost of the Kiev 4.
maybe the good old days were not so good.

Important to recognize that not only were wages really low in the USSR, but the cost of living was generally much lower as well. For instance, when I lived in Siberia, we paid the equivalent of $0.02 a month for electrity (maybe up to $0.07 in the winter when you ran the heat a lot more), around $19.00 a month for our house.