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The Chaika (Чайка) was a series of Soviet 35mm half-frame cameras produced from 1965 to 1974. The name came from the call sign of the first woman in space. Over 2 million Chaika cameras were made. There were 4 models:

Chaika (1965-1967) made by MMZ
Chaika II (1967-1972) also made by MMZ
Chaika-2M (1972-1974)
made by the newly founded BELOMO
Chaika-3 (1971-1973) with selenium meter (and without "B" speed) also made by BELOMO

The model presented here is the
Chaika 3. It is a completely manual camera, but it has a selenium meter to guide you. Nevertheless, focus, speed and aperture have to be set manually. It has a Tessar-type Industar 69 lens of good quality. The lens has a M39 screw mount, but the FFD is not compatible with other M39 lenses, it was meant to be used as an enlarger lens as well, but the enlarger has never been built.

Like most half frame cameras, the Chaika series cameras are vertically orientated, so it's portrait mode. They are similar to the Agfa Parat series, but no close copies.

The camera's main features are:


35mm film half-frame camera, picture size 24 x 18 mm
Lens: Industar 69 1:2,8/28 mm, 3 elements, F2.8-F16, min. focus 0.8m
Shutter: 1/250 - 1/30, no B setting
Strap/tripod socket on the side, flash cable socket, no cable release socket, accessory shoe, luminous frame finder with parallax indication, selenium meter
Size 113 x 83 x 53 mm, Weight 386 gr

Some pictures of the camera:

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Front. Big viewer and lens. Around the lens: aperture setting via the inner ring. Shutter button towards the top, flash cable socket near the bottom.

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Back view. Finder, luminous frame and parallax indications. Film advance via wheel under the camera.
Back opening tab on the left side.

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Seen from above. Accessory shoe. Speed setting via wheel. The wheel has 3 parts. Inside you have to set the film speed first, it's Gost only, close to ISO or ASA, 400 ISO would be 350 Gost, I tend to overexpose a bit, so for 400 ISO I set Gost 250. The middle part indicates the aperture, betwenn 4 and 5.6 in the picture. The basis sets the speed, 1/30 in the picture. Meter window.

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The meter on this one still works. This is very, very rare, nearly all meters are dead.

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Make the indicator and the needle match by moving the speed and the aperture scale on the wheel. When they match, read the aperture and set the according aperture on the lens.

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Seen from below. No tripod socket, as there is no B mode. You could use the strap socket. Film wind via wheel, no lever like on the II and the 2M. Rewind release. Film counter, 0 in the picture. Rewind wheel.

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Camera back open, there is a reloadable cartridge that was quite common in those days. The tripod socket is hidden behind the strap screw.

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Camera back open. There is plenty of room wasted, one could build smaller. The number does no longer indicate a production date.

The detachable lens has an impressing DOF. It sticks out less than 2 cm and it weighs only 45 gr. So it's an ideal street lens for a small electronic camera. However it has to be modified, if you are interested in more information, look at this site (link opens in a new window). Most of the lenses finished that way and that's why there are so many cameras for sale without lens.


The
Chaika 3 is a camera easy to handle. It takes sharp pictures. Spacing is not tight, so you get 72 photos from a 36 roll. It's mainly for outdoor photos as there are no longer speeds. There is a flash socket, so interior photos are possible with a flash. No night photos are possible, as there is no B mode. A working meter is very, very rare. If it works, it is a good help for even better pictures. But you lose B mode.

Seen today's film prices, a half frame is a nice idea. There is not so much choice if you want one. This one is one of the better choices if the meter works, not expensive and it's a real camera, not a Lomo style gadget. If the meter is dead, you better choose a meterless model with B mode. Without meter, you have either to install a shoe meter, use a smartphone app or rely to the sunny 16 rule. The latter is easy, just try it for one film. Modern film is very flexible, you will have results that are fine. So this is an easy camera and it's much fun to play around with it.

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3 Chaika models.

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