Pekka Buttler, 12/2024
Specifications
The table below summarizes the lens’ key specifications (measurements based on pictured sample):
| Brand: | MIR | Lens name | 1 AUTOMAT |
| Focal length(s) 1 | 37 mm | Angle-of-view 2 | 60 ° |
| Maximum Aperture | f/2.8 | In Production | 1954-1990s, |
| Lens mount (this lens) | Kiev Automat | Other lens mounts | M42, Z39, Soviet-DKL |
| Length 3 | 49,2 mm | Diameter 4 | 55,3 mm |
| Filter ring diameter | 5 mm | Weight | 220 grams |
| Lens element count | 6 | Lens group count | 5 |
| Aperture blades (S/R/C) 5 | 5 S (Automat version) 10 S (M42 and Z39 versions) | Focus throw | 280 ° |
| Minimum focusing distance | 24 cms | Maximum magnification | 1:3,9 |
| Has manual aperture ring | NO (Automat version) YES (M42 and Z39 version) | Has Manual focus ring | YES |
| Aperture ring type | N/A (Automat version) Preset (M42 and Z39 version) | Aperture click stops 6 | N/A |
Further technical notes:
• Originally designed in 1954 (“on the basis of theEast German Flektogon”), the MIR-1 was the stereotypical Soviet moderate wide-angle which outlasted the Soviet Union itself (the last samples I’ve seen were manufactured in the early 90s)
• The lens’ focal length is a but narrower than the standard 35 mm focal length and documentation systematically refers to the angle-of-view as 60°
• The lens offers a rather short minimum focusing distance (at only 24 centimeters) which widens the lens’ use cases by a bit.
• The name ‘MIR’ is not a brand, nor a manufacturing organisation. Instead, ‘MIR’ identifies the lens as a retro-focus wide-angle lens. The Soviet logic was different, and in very many ways. Read more here.
• There are three main variants of the MIR-1: An M42-mount version manufactured at VOMZ (Russia), a Z39 variant manufactured at ZOMZ (Russia) and a Kiev Automat mount version manufactured at Arsenal (Ukraine). Reportedly, all versions have exactly the same optical design.
Versions
In its almost 40-year manufacturing run, the MIR-1 was cosmetically modernised several times. Even so, there are some major versions to be identified:
MIR-1 – The original version intended for the Zenit SLR, using the early Zenit’s Z39 lens mount. Manufactured at least into the mid 70s. Preset aperture, no multicoating. Early prototypes manufactured at KMZ, later versions at ZOMZ (Zagorsk Optical and Mechanical Plant)
MIR-1A – A version with an adapter ring.
MIR-1B – A variant for the M42 mount, named ‘B’ (which is Cyrillic for ‘V’) to indicate manufacture at VOMZ (Vologda Optical and Mechanical Plant). M42 mount. Preset aperture, no multicoating. Manufactured at least until 1992 (but unclear to JAPB when manufacture began)
MIR-1C – Rare variant for Zenit 4-5-6–series of leaf shutter SLR cameras (Soviet-DKL)
MIR-1W – A ‘School’ version (unclear what that means).
MIR-1 AUTOMAT – version for the Kiev Automat (Kiev 10/15) series of cameras. Manufactured at least7 1971–1984 at Arsenal plant in Kiev (Ukraine)
Adapting
This chapter will discuss adapting the Kiev Automat version of the lens. If you want to adapt an M42 mount version of the lens, see the JAPB article on the M42 mount. If you want to adapt a Z39 mount version of this lens, your best bet is a Z39->M42 adapter ring and then treating it as a M42 mount lens.
Should you want to use this lens in its original environment, you need a functioning Kiev 10/15 series SLR body. This will not be easy as a) the Kiev 10/15 cameras were never manufactured in high numbers; b) most bodies have suffered substandard maintenance.
You can adapt Kiev Automat lenses to all mirrorless cameras assuming you can procure (or make) an adapter. Such adapters can either be based on parts from a Kiev 10/15 camera body, or 3D-printed. Cottage industry 3D printed adapters can be found on online sales platforms for many mirrorless mounts.
Using Kiev Automat lenses on SLRs and dSLRs is troublesome. Technically there are only a few SLR mounts that have both a shorter Flange focal distance than that of the Kiev Automat mount and a throat diameter sufficient for the mechanics an adapter would necessitate, namely Canon FD and Konica AR. Of these The Canon FD-approach is proven to be workable.
Footnotes
- Focal length is (unless stated otherwise) given in absolute terms, and not in Full-frame equivalent. For an understanding of whether the lens is wide/tele, see ‘Angle-of-view’. ↩︎
- Picture angle is given in degrees and concerns the diagonal picture angle. Rule of thumb:
> 90 ° ==> Ultra-wide-angle
70–90 ° ==> Wide-angle
50–70 ° ==> Moderate wide-angle
40–50 ° ==> ‘Standard’ or ‘normal’ lens
20–40 ° ==> Short tele lens
10-20 ° ==> Tele lens
5-10 ° ==> Long tele lens
< 5 ° ==> Ultra-tele lens ↩︎ - Length is given from the mount flange to the front of lens at infinity. ↩︎
- Diameter excludes protrusions such as rabbit ears or stop-down levers. ↩︎
- S=straight; R=rounded; C=(almost)circular at all apertures. ↩︎
- Numbers equal aperture values on aperture ring; • intermediate click; – no intermediate click. ↩︎
- This is based on the serial numbers of online samples. ↩︎