The FT-2

I think this page needs a bit of explanation. Normally when I write camera articles, I own the camera in question and keep it next to the computer as I'm writing, so I can inspect it as I go along. This page is different, in that I don't own any cameras of the FT series, and haven't even had the chance to use one. The closest encounter I've gotten is looking at them through a shop window.

So why this page? Because much of this info used to be on the Horizon-202 page, as a slow and tortured introduction to the Horizon-202. I was telling the whole story about KMZ's panoramic cameras, from the FT series to the Horizont and finally the Horizon-202, without realizing at the time that the FT series isn't so terribly interesting for someone who only wants to know whether the Horizon-202 is a good camera. So I decided to scrap the information I had on the FT series from the Horizon page and give it its own special location.

In case you're wondering where the graphic to the right came from, it's redone from the FT2 manual at Marco Pauck's site. Actually, Kevin Kalsbeek, who provided Marco with the scans, sent me a bigger image, so I should thank him too. Thanks, Kev!

Sources

Like Erik Fiss once quipped, "I don't know anything, I just read stuff." It occurred to me that I could say that about virtually all of my knowledge on Soviet-Russian cameras, and definitely about what I know about the FT-2.

For this article I'm relying on two major sources. The first is a Russian article titled "Secrets of the Horizon Camera" by S. Gorjainov, that was published in issue 41, 1997, of the magazine Nedelya ("Week"). I reckon this article is rather obscure, but luckily it's been transcribed and can be found on the Internet at the Zenit R&D Department's website. Good work, Dmitry! I had to translate it to English via translate.ru, after which I had a rough but somewhat comprehensible copy that I could work with.

The article contains by and large the memoirs of former Chief Designer of Photoengineering at KMZ, E.V. Soloviev. He was a young engineer when the FT series was in the making, and this article tells of its conception.

The second source is of course Princelle's book on Russian cameras, which is a good place for specs and lists as usual, but a bit lacking on anecdotes and good hard facts. Soloviev does a much better job at both.

So, armed with this information, I'll piece the story together.

Fotoapparat Tokareva

It all began on the day when a magnificent ZIS limousine drove through the gates of the Krasnogorsk Mechanical Plant. In the limousine was a representative bald old gentleman in an expensive, perfectly tailored suit - one of the few people for whom without incident defense and factory doors opened. The gentleman carried the unofficial, but then most honorary title "personal friend of Stalin", and his shining ZIS was a gift of the Leader. The owner of all possible awards and ranks, the well known Head Designer of Soviet small arms, Feodor Vasilyevich Tokarev, had brought to Krasnogorsk the latest development, which was unparallelled worldwide -- a camera.

It was a panoramic camera with a shooting angle of 120 degrees. In the best traditions of arms (pistol "TT" - "Tula-Tokarev"), the product carried the index "FT" - "Fotoapparat Tokareva". For the occasion of the powerful visitor's visit, a representative consult of the best experts of the enterprise had gathered, among whom was E. V. Soloviev, later to become the Head Photo-Engineering Designer at KMZ. We have spoken with him.

"It became clear to us at once - Tokarev's design was frankly unsuccessful. The worm mechanism "zamedlitelya" did not provide the required stability and accuracy, furthermore the idea of the diaphragm slit was basically vicious, the design most primitive - a box. In short, an impractical camera. But Tokarev is an authority, he's a legend! So you don't easily get rid of him. Besides he arrived with support from ZAV. A department of industry MGK of CPSU Lyubimov also were all bases to consider, that this camera already had the approval of "the personal friend".

The creator - the ingenious inventor and the engineer, necessarily expected objective proofs, after all. I have set up a series of experiments, and have evidently shown it's a bad design. To show the influence of a lobby diaphragm, it was necessary to create artificial "fog". Everybody understood, even Lyubimov. But Tokarev took offence. He muttered, "well, a fog in my eyes has started!". He also left in an appreciable irritation.

The situation became very unpleasant for all involved, and eventually Lyubimov urged Soloviev to go to Tokarev's apartment to appease him and say that the design could be taken into production.

The apartment was huge for those times - eight rooms, it seemed. And one room was completely blocked with photoequipment, cameras, enlargers - what not. Till then, "the personal friend" from the weapon has put the old man already has set aside, but the designer is the designer - without an affair to sit sickeningly. We argued and argued, but everybody held their ground. At parting he presented me some pictures, taken with his camera. Despite of the courtesy, it was clear to me that the outcome of the discussion would be solved in high circles and, most likely, not in our advantage.

So it happened. An expert council under presidency of the minister of trade Zhavoronkov - the person close to most Kremlin "vercham" - gathered. Till then we had received a negative response on Tokarev's camera from the State Optical Institute (GOI) - the country's leading enterprise in this area. And all other responses too were negative. Zhavoronkov these responses looks through, and I see - it(he) on a platoon. The representative of the ministry prods me in the side - give, appear, act, say, that the camera is worthless. And I push him - you do it! While we were pushing, Zhavoronkov says: "GOI has sent a response on Feodor Vasilyevich's camera. A bad response. And what it for GOI?! No, it is necessary to understand, who there sits, it in GOI!". This statement of his struck me - he does not know, whether see, who in GOI sits. There worked about a dozen academicians. Well it is clear, was sonorous - or Laurentiy, or "the personal friend" himself. And, despite of all the negative responses, the expert council made a decision - the camera is remarkable, we shall produce it. Tokarev kept silent, but it could be read immediately from him, "Those little boys!". To us he was since then - a leg. And the camera was started to be made in small series, some hundreds in all.

To dive into the Soloviev back story: Princelle has a different take on the design of the FT cameras. He mentions that Soloviev worked for EFTE/ARFO before the war, and that he created the first FT panoramic camera in 1948 at KMZ in collaboration with ARFO. I doubt that that he created the first FT camera independently of Tokarev, because of the way the cameras were named. What I think is that Soloviev honed Tokarev's initial design. Also, Princelle probably bases his date of 1948 for the FT1 on the FED-Zorki lens used, which in itself says nothing, because KMZ could have used an older batch of lenses.