View showing Shutter Release is located on the front of the camera and not on the top. It is pressed with the right  forefinger and forms part of the lens assembly.  This is quite similar in layout to the Exakta, Praktina and Praktica cameras of the period.  Why they choose this design  is probably open to debate. However  it  is possible that captured German Camera  factories and the  knowledge gained was a major influence. Also I gather East German technicians were forced to work within the Soviet camera industry in the immediate post World War Two period.

Top view showing lens assembly,  metal lens cap,  strap eyelets, film counter dial.  Adjacent to the film advance lever you can see the film rewind button.  On the other side of camera you can see the film cutter operating knob. You unscrew this and then  pull up the rod which has a knife on the end which cuts the film, On the rewind knob is film type reminder dial. The camera also came with a very high quality leather case.

Above are two more interesting photographs taken with my Start camera at Woolpit Steam 2006

As you can see and also  mentioned towards the beginning of this website.  This website is a work in progress and not that well organized.  My excuse is that I see this as  a sort of scrap book -  OK it is just a first attempt at using free software to create an interesting website. The next camera I decide to do will be more polished and will probably be the Zenit 3m SLR or the folding Kodak Retinette.  I am still on a steep learning curve on how to create a site using Linux.  For those interested in free software I suggest the following for Linux  

 Links    -    NVU HTML    KDE ShowFoto     GIMP    JAlbum   &  MEPIS Linux    

For MS Windows users I suggest  

 Links    -    GIMP    Gimpshop     Paintdotnet   irfanview    &  Xnview  

 I would advise MS Windows users to try  Gimp or the Paint.net option as I think these are the best and quickest way to get into free photo editing without spending loads of money Paint Shop Pro, Elements or Photoshop.  There is even a version of Gimp called Gimpshop which  attempts to look like Photoshop.  Most of these options are also available for the Apple Mac OS.