Start - the dream that was too good to be true

This message is a tribute to the best SLR the soviets could manufacture.
The start was manufactured between 1959 and 1961 by KMZ. It was intended for the pro market and wasnt a success do to high price.About 80,000 were made.There was a Start 2 prototype with the release on the body and some rumors say TTL metering.
The start has a 1-1/1000 cloth shutter which syncs at 1/30 and a unique bayonet mount which uses a breech lock.The problem that only one lens was made in this mount,the 58/2 Helios 44.It could use m39 lenses via an adapter but you lost diaphragm automation.It doesnt have an automatic mirror return(you cock it and then it goes down).The focusing screen is around 90-92%(compare to the 62) of the much later zenits).It has a removable prism(could be replaced by a waist level magnifyng finder).It has a knife to cut the film inside the camera and in cassete to cassete method.It needs a special leader.The mirror slaps like a bucking bronco.
I got mine from my girlfriend grandfather,broke it and got it fixed by Oleg Khalyavin.I use it rarely and with BW only - the Helios 44 I have looks horrible with slides and color print.The lens is soft and warm.I use it rarely but love to use it for people shots.
The pictures here are old.The girl in the picture is Orly - a girl that served in the army with me(she was an Air Traffic controller and I was the Tower's technician) with pan F in d76.The light is a lighting tower useed to illuminate hangars.The grave photo is ilford pan 400 in tetenal at a british WW1 graveyard we have in my city