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KGB KMZ ← NEOZIT
The camera measures 95 x 65 x 28 mm, rougly the same size as the
F-27 Neozit,
and is driven fully electronically, using the same electronics
as the earlier F-27. It has an electronic shutter that consists of two groups
of three shuttter blades and supports speeds from 1/60 to 1/1000 s [1].
Zakhod was developed especially for surveillance and inconspicuous
photography. It was suitable for application in a wide variety
of concealments, such as inside
a handbag, inside a car or a piece of furniture,
behind the button of a coat or somewhere else on the body of an operative.
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The camera has a 3-element f2.8 - 25 mm lens and features automatic exposure
control with a through-the-lens (TTL) measuring system.
Around the lens is a 14 mm threaded ring that can be used for the attachment
of special lenses.
At the side is a fixed cable of aprox. 20 cm length with a 14-pin
subminiature plug, for connection to a wide variety of (remote) control devices.
The camera uses 16 mm non-perforated film and has a frame size of
21 x 14.8 mm, slighty smaller than that of the F-21. The fixed-focus lens
allows pictures to be taken at a distance of 3 - 7 m.
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The camera is delivered by the factory in a
grey wooden box that measures
28 x 20 x 5.5 cm. The camera is stored inside a
leatherette zipper bag
and comes with a wealth of battery-powered
remote control units, film cassettes, cables,
a battery tester and a charging cable. It also contains a cleaning
brush and a cleaning cloth.
The camera is powered by rechargeable 3V and 5V NiCd batteries
that reside inside both remote control units.
The batteries can be charged by connecting the supplied charging cable
to an external dual-voltage power suply unit (PSU). 3
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A later version
of the Zakhod camera needed only a single 6V power supply [1].
Zakhod is the last surveillance camera that was used by the
KGB before the intelligence agency was
renamed 4 and split into FSB (federal security)
and SVR (foreign intelligence)
following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. After the dissolution of
the Soviet Union, KMZ introduced a consumer variant of the Zakhod, which
became known as the MA-2.
The Russian word Заход (Zakhod) means Sunset.
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Zakhod is sometimes written as Zahod or Zachod.
It means Sunset.
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Neozit is sometimes written as Neosit, Neotsit or Neocet.
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A suitable PSU in not supplied with the complete kit.
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In Belarus, the intelligence agency kept the name KGB.
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The diagrams below show the front and the rear side of the Zakhod camera
with the film cassette removed. The film cassette is released by pushing the
З/О-lever at the bottom to the О-position. The small 25 mm lens has
a threaded ring that allows adapters and mountings to be attached.
Below the lens is a cut-out bay that accepts the
lens concealment nozzle with its angled bracket.
Before placing the nozzle in front of the lens,
a locking lever at the bottom of the camera should be pulled-out. Once
the concealment nozzle is in place, the lever is pushed inwards again and
the nozzle assembly is held in place by a locking stub just above the lens.
The nozzle assembly is constructed in such a way that the
concealment control pin,
just above the lens, can open the two shutter blades
of the nozzle just before making a photograph and close it again afterwards.
The diagram above show the camera as seen from the rear top, with the
film cassette removed. A small button
at the bottom right (left in the
picture) can be used to incease the exposure counter. At the rear left
of the camera are two metal stubs
to which a mounting bracket can be attached.
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The Zakhod is supplied with two Remote Control units (RC) that also
act as the power source for the camera. Each of the RC units contains two
sets of rechargeable NiCd cells for the two voltages that are required by
the camera: 3V DC for the motor and 5V DC for the electronic circuits.
The diagram below shows both remote control units, either of which can be
used to turn the camera on or off, and make a picture by pressing the
large recessed brown bakelite knob at the far end.
On the extended remote control unit, the ON/OFF switch
has been moved to the side. The leftmost slide switch on top of the unit
is now used to select between continuous (НПР.)
and single-shot (ОДН.) exposure.
In addition, the extended remote control has a socket at the far end
that allows an extra remote shutter-release button to be connected,
as shown in the image below.
The image above shows the extended remote control unit with the optional
shutter-release button attached. The
extra button has a rather long cable
with a 2-pin plug at the end.
This plug mates with a 2-pin socket that is
located next to the cable entry at the far end of the unit, and is normally
protected with a plastic cover. Once the plug is inserted,
a metal locking bracket
prevents it from falling out. The extra button can be very useful
when carrying the camera on the body (e.g. in a belt concealment).
It is led through the sleeve and held in the palm of the hand.
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Just like the older mechanical F-21 Ayaks camera and
the electronic F-27 Neozit,
the Zakhod is intended for inconspicuous photography
and will therefore often be integrated in some kind of
concealment, like a woman's handbag, a belt, a piece of furniture or behind
the button of a coat.
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Basically, the same types of concealments were available for the Zakhod
as for its predecessors. In order to conceal the most obvious part of
the camera (i.e. the lens) a
special nozzle with two shutter blades,
mounted on an angled bracket,
was used. It is shown in the image on the right.
The bracket with the nozzle can easily be mounted in front of the lens,
by inserting the bracket
into the cut-out at the bottom of the camera and
locking it in place with the small lever. The two shutter blades
of the nozzle are controlled by a small pin,
just above the lens.
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When making a photograph, by
pressing the large brown knob on the remote
control, the camera will first open the nozzle's shutter blades,
then take a picture and then close the nozzle again. All this happens so
fast and silently,
that in practice nobody will notice that a picture has been taken.
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When using the camera inside a concealment such as a woman's handbag,
it will commonly be mounted inside some kind of protective frame.
Two small brackets are supplied, that allow the camera to be attached to
such a frame without loosing the ability to quickly remove it again.
The two mounting brackets
are shown further down this page. Only one
such bracket is needed for fixating the camera. At its right side, the
bracket has two slotted holes that allow it to be fixed to the
two mounting stubs
at the camera's rear left, as shown in the image on the right.
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A messing spring blade, that is attached to the mounting bracket, prevents
the camera from separating itself from the bracket once it is installed.
The messing blade needs to be lifted
before the camera can be shifted sideways and removed. Multiple nozzles
and mounting brackets are supplied, to allows the camera to be easily
swapped between different concealments.
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The Zakhod camera was usually supplied by the factory in a grey
wooden storage box, such as the one shown above. Only one technical manual
was supplied with every 10 units. According to the checklist [2] inside
the wooden box, the following items should be present:
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The camera is supplied in the leatherette zipper bag shown in in the
image on the right. It is for storage only and offers no space for any
of the accessories.
When the camera is delivered by the factory, it is stored inside this case
and packet inside the rear left slot of the
storage box.
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This is the standard remote control unit that was used with the Zakhod
camera. It is connected to the camera's fixed cable and allows it to be
switch ON and OFF with the leftmost slide switch. The large brown bakelite
button is used for releasing the shutter and taking a picture.
The double slide switch at the right (i.e. both switches are moved together)
are used to select between automatic exposure and fixed 1/30th sec. exposure.
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For advanced applications, this extended remote control unit was available
as well. It has similar features as the standard one, but the
ON/OFF switch has been moved to the side.
Instead, the leftmost slide switch is used to select between single
(ОДН.) and continuous (НПР.) shooting.
Apart from the large button at the far end of the unit, the camera's shutter
can also be released by an optional button that can be connected to a 2-pin
socket next to the cable entry.
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When using the extended remote control unit (above), an external shutter
release button can be connected to it, which can be useful when carrying the
camera, say, on the body.
In this case the cable can be lead through the sleeve of the operative's
coat and connected to the extended remote control unit,
which in turn is connected to
the camera. A spare one is supplied for the event the cable gets broken
after frequent use.
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This small battery checker was supplied with the set,
to test the state of the 3V and 5V batteries inside the remote control
units. For each voltage, an LED is present at the front of the device.
At the bottom are 3 thicker pins, for checking the 3V line, and 3 thinner
pins, for checking the 5V line. The pins mate with the
holes at the bottom
of both remote control units.
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In order to ensure that sufficient film is present during a surveillance
operation,
three film cassettes are supplied with the kit. One cassette is fitted
inside the camera, whilst the two other ones are stored in the wooden box.
The two additional (spare) film cassettes are each stored inside a small
leatherette bag, as shown in the image on the right,
so that the operative can easily carry them in his pocket.
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Three nozzles, each with two movable shutter blades, are supplied
with the kit. They are mounted onto an angled bracket that
can be fitted
at the front of the camera, in front of the lens. The shutter blades are
operated by a moving pin, just above the lens.
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Two metal support brackets are supllied with the kit.
Only one of them is needed to fixate the camera in a certain position
when it is built inside a concealment. The other one is a spare.
The two slotted holes in one of the arms of the bracket can be fitted
onto the two metal stubs
at the rear left of the camera body.
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These two tiny little film spools are supplied as spares.
They are used inside the film cassettes for winding the film onto.
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Both the camera and the remote control units have a relatively short
cable. Although in practice this should be long enough for most types
of concealment, there might be situations in which the cable is too short.
For this reason a 30 cm extension cable is supplied. Is has a 14-pin male
plug at one end and a 14-pin female plug at the one.
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The batteries that are mounted inside the two remote control units
need to be (re)charged from time to time. For this purpose a charging
cable is supplied with a 15-pin male connector at one end and 4 banana
plug at the other one.
The two shorter wires are mared + and - 3V, whilst the two longer wires
are marked + and - 5V. Both voltages (3V and 5V) need to be supplied when
charging the batteries.
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This wired 14-pin male plug, was supplied as a spare for the
camera's fixed cable. If the camera is used a lot and is frequently moved
from one concealment to another, the existing cable may eventually break,
rendering the camera useless.
The plug has 7 numbered wires plus a shield (ground), which indicates that
only 8 of the 14 pins of the connector are used. The cable carries
the two voltages and the control signals.
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This soft brush, originating from a woman's beauty case, was supplied
to keep the camera clean and remove and dust and dirt from its body.
The brush is stored at the right of the storage case, below all other items.
The brush does not have an official inventory number, probably because it
wasn't a military item. According to the checklist
it is made of squirrel hair.
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Apart from the cleaning brush (above), a large piece of soft
cloth was supplied as well. It could be used for cleaning the camera
in case it got wet or dirty.
It might have been intended for cleaning the lens as well, but this is
not recommended, as it might cause small scratches to the coating of the
lens.
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The camera is delivered by the factory in a grey wooden storage box,
such as the one shown here. When first issued, the box is
secured with two lead seals, which have been removed here.
Inside the compartmented box are the camera, the remote control units,
spare films and several accessories, all of which are listed above.
A checklist shows the full contents of the box.
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The technical manual for the camera is rather rare, as only one copy
was supplied with every 10 cameras. The manual consisted of a stack of
blue-print copies with real photographs inserted at the appropriate places.
The complete original manual, including all images, is available for
download below [A].
The manual of the later model will be made available later.
➤ Original manual
➤ English translation
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The camera has a short fixed cable with a subminiature 14 male plug
at the end. It is just 8 mm wide and mates with the 14-pin female plug
on the cable of either of the two remote controls.
The camera is controlled via this cable,
but also receives its 5V DC and 3V DC through it.
A spare camera cable
is supplied, just in case the original one gets broken.
Looking into the female plug:
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- S1a-Auto (connected to A1a-common in Auto-mode)
- S1a-common
- -5V (ground)
- S1b-Auto (connected to S1b-common in Auto-mode)
- Shutter release (when connected to +5V)
- -3V
- +3V (switched)
- not connected
- S1b-1/30 (connected to A1b-common in 1/30 mode)
- S1b-common
- not connected
- +5V
- not connected
- +3V (direct)
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Nearly all Zakhod cameras that have surfaced over the years are of the type
shown here. The remote control units of these cameras supply two voltages
to the camera (3V DC and 5V DC). These cameras have serial numbers in the range
91xxx, which means they were built in 1991.
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The camera featured on this
page has serial number 91104 and was supplied with both variants of the
remote control/supply unit.
A later version of the camera came with a single, differently-shaped,
remote control unit that only needs a single 6V power supply.
It is thicker and has a rounded grip that contains the circular NiCd
battery cells. At the front is a flattened part that holds
a rectangular plastic shutter-release button and a slide-switch,
as shown in the image on the right.
The serial numbers
of this version are in the 92xxx range, meaning 1992.
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Also note the presence of two circular sockets at the front of the remote
control unit. They are for the connection of an external shutter-release
button or a wireless remote control unit.
A good example of a later version of the Zakhod,
is the camera with serial number 92576
that used to be in the collection of Detlev Vreisleben in Germany
and which is shown in the image above [3].
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Device Operative surveillance camera Purpose Body-worn and mobile covert photography Model ZAKHOD, ЗАХОД (Sunset) Manufacturer KMZ Years 1989-1992 Predecessor AJAX-12 (F-21), NEOZIT (F-27) Successor - Distance 3 - 7 m Resolution 65 l/mm (centre), 35 l/mm (edge) Aperture f/2.8 - 11 in auto-mode (depending on lens) Film ZP-80, 16 mm unperforated, 0.08 mm thick Frame 14.8 × 21 mm Sensitivity 180, 250, 500 GOST Cartridge 30 exposures (1100 mm) Transport Electric motor drive Rewinding 1.5 s Shutter Electronic Speed 1/30s (manual), 1/60-1/1000 (automatic) Power 3 x D0.09 (3.5V) + 5 x D0.02 (5.5V) Dimensions 96 × 65 × 29 mm Weight 230 g 1
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Weight including lens and film cartridge.
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© Crypto Museum. Created: Thursday 24 September 2015. Last changed: Friday, 23 May 2025 - 08:33 CET.
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![later version of the Zakhod camera and its remote control unit (1992) [3]](img/zakhod92_full.jpg)
