Real spy gadgets were less explosive than in the 007 movies
Spies have long been a popular topic in literary and film fiction. James Bond books and films have imprinted on the audience’s consciousness a very spectacular vision of the secret agent and the means at the disposal of both 007 and his adversaries. may have been admirable during the Cold War, but the reality of intelligence work was much more discreet. This is confirmed by the words of former CIA chief of camouflage, Jonna Mendez, who in a 2020 interview explicitly mentions photography as the preferred method of obtaining information.
The history of espionage is replete with examples of miniature devices. The Western Bloc had the famous Tropel fountain pens with lenses from the 1970s and the Minox-B analog camera built in 1958, which fit in the palm of your hand. However, this is including in regular cigarette packs.
One of such exhibits, dating back to the early 1960s, recently fell into the hands of a Norwegian enthusiast of old cameras. Despite the passage of time, the device from the USSR era turned out to be still functional, but quite cumbersome.
Camera hidden in a pack of cigarettes. The secret weapon of the KGB
Joakim Algrøy, an enthusiast of the history of photography from Norway, recently analyzed in detail The device, produced at the Arsenał plant in 1962-1964, was an evolution of Western technical thought, based on the Minolta-16 model.
The design using 16-mm film has been significantly slimmed down to fit easily inside a cardboard cigarette package. which were intended to lull the vigilance of bystanders.
The spy gadget, while impressive, can be quite cumbersome to use. Joakim Algrøy found this out during a test photo session near the Swedish embassy in Oslo. The biggest obstacle turned out to be This solution, however, was a deliberate intention of the designers – lifting a pack of cigarettes to the eye would arouse immediate suspicion.
The Soviet equipment proved to be still functional after more than 60 years
The modified version of Kiev Vega 2 was adapted to shooting photos “from the hip” or “from a lurking position”, which drastically reduced the precision of the shots. As a result, some shots appeared as “smear”. camera obscura.
Despite these technical shortcomings (but also because of them), it captures the atmosphere of old espionage. The effects of such imperfect, analog photography have been eagerly imitated for over a decade, mainly as the so-called Instagram filters, which may be due to fatigue with ultra-detailed digital photography.
A similar problem is already starting to appear in digital and mobile cameras from the first decade of the 21st century. The first phone cameras took low-resolution photos (e.g. VGA), with severely distorted colors and many artifacts, especially in low light. However, these beginnings of the digital era – similarly to the analog era – had their own atmosphere to which some creators consciously return today.
Modern standards in photography and data acquisition require higher resolution and reliability. However, an antique Soviet camera hidden in a pack of cigarettes remains fascinating. During the Cold War, almost everyone smoked, so there was no need to hide such a gadget. However, taking a clear photo with it required a lot of skill from KGB officers.