A Soviet SKD Space Camera along with its complete set of lenses and accessories is going under the hammer at the Leitz Photographica Auction in Germany in November.
The camera, built by Arsenal in Kiev for the Soviet lunar space programme in 1968 includes three lenses and a host of ingenious accessories intended to help cosmonauts to take pioneering images of the Earth and Moon in space.
The camera was produced in small numbers in 1968 and 1969 and is based off the Kiev-6C medium format SLR, itself a derivative of the East German Pentacon Six. Instead of 120 film the normal Kiev cameras used, the SKD was converted to shoot perforated 70mm film. Leitz Photographica said this example of the camera is still capable of taking photos in manual mode.
Leitz Photographica Auction said in the listing: “The SKD is a highly specialised single-lens reflex camera designed for perforated 70mm film, producing 50 × 50 mm negatives. Each magazine accommodates approximately 100 exposures, or up to 180 when loaded with special thin-base film. A polished glass pressure plate ensures precise film flatness.”
The set includes three lenses, which are:
- Vega-12S 4/90 mm, No. 69010
- Mir-3S 3.5/65 mm, No. 69012
- Tair-33 5.6/300 mm, No. 68003
Apart from full complement of lenses, the set also includes incredibly rare accessories produced for the camera’s intended space missions – including a miniature clock in a gold case that was used to make exact timings of the camera’s shots.
Leitz Phographica added: “Also included are the original cable shutter release and the original rubber protective rings for the lenses. These rings allowed the front of the lens to be placed directly against the spacecraft window, protecting both the optics and the window while helping to stabilise the camera and reduce unwanted reflections during photography.
“A foldable pointing sight is mounted above the reflex finder. The focal-plane shutter provides speeds from 1/2 to 1/1000 second, plus B. The offered camera remains fully operational in manual mode, with all shutter speeds running accurately and consistently.”
“One of the SKD’s most remarkable features is its integrated data-recording system. Four small optical windows around the image frame imprint technical information directly onto the film, including the exact time of exposure from a miniature battery-powered analogue clock, the selected colour filter, aperture and shutter speed. The offered camera still retains its original miniature analogue clock, housed in an apparently solid-gold case, a delicate component often missing from surviving examples.”
The camera goes under the hammer on 28 November at Wetzlar in Germany, and has a starting bid of €50,000 (£41,575/455,620). It is expected to sell for as much as €100,000 (£83,150/$110,850).
I'm a New Zealander who has been living in London since the mid-1990s, shooting film seriously since the year 2000. Kosmo Foto was launched in 2012 and has since become a film brand, with the release of my first films Kosmo Foto Mono 35mm (2017) and Kosmo Foto Mono 120 (2019).
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