The James Bond films are famous for their very cool—and usually very absurd—spy gadgetry. In reality, however, espionage has always been more about lowkey surveillance than laser watches. Any good professional intelligence officer will almost always opt for a discreet, reliable camera over a parking meter loaded with tear gas. One of the Central Intelligence Agency’s former chiefs of disguise has even said as much.
“There are a lot of ways to collect intelligence. Cameras [were] my preferred method of collection,” Former CIA Chief Jonna Mendez explained during a 2020 interview.
While decent store bought cameras often did the trick, specialized spy photography remains a cornerstone of modern espionage. There are plenty of examples, from the commercially available Minox-B subminiature camera of the 1950s–60s to the CIA’s famous 1970s fountain pen containing a tiny Tropel lens. But it wasn’t only American and British spy agencies that gathered intel from photography. The Soviet KGB apparatus employed all kinds of custom cameras, including ones hidden in one of the most commonplace (and therefore inconspicuous) daily carries at the time: a cigarette box.
Joakim Algrøy, a camera history enthusiast based in Norway, recently got his hands on just such a contraption. On his Kamera Saga YouTube page, Algrøy dove into the background and mechanics of a Kiev Vega 2 tailored to hide inside an empty pack of smokes. Like many Soviet cameras, the Vega 2 produced by Arsenal in Ukraine at the height of the Cold War was modeled on preexisting Western design. In this case, it was the Minolta-16. The device used 16mm unperforated film, and included both an aperture dial and three shutter speed options. It also featured a shadow button and focusing reel, but lacked a viewfinder. This omission made a certain amount of sense, since regularly holding a pack of cigarettes up to your eyes would likely attract unwanted attention.
I Used a Real KGB Spy Camera
Unlike its Minolta inspiration, however, this Vega 2 made for the Ukrainian KGB included other major alterations to make it more suitable for spycraft. Its smaller dimensions allowed it to fit cozily into an empty cigarette box, with the top portion even covered in metallic tape to imitate the carton’s foil lining. A small square cut into the side of the box supplied a clear view for snapping pictures, all while still retaining space for two prop cigarettes.
To really get into the spy swing of things, Algrøy’s demonstration took place during a casual walk around the Swedish embassy in Oslo, Norway. Unfortunately, he quickly learned the cigarette camera isn’t exactly easy to use. Because it was housed in the cardboard box, Algrøy couldn’t access the focusing mechanism at all, and described the drawback as “absolutely the most annoying thing” about the device. He estimates that he ended up missing his mark on about half the shots he took, while many others were blurry and hard to discern.
That said, the photos do look really cool on their own. And perhaps with the proper practice, Soviet spies did glean actionable intelligence using their Vega 2 cigarette box camera. In any case, both the overall concept—and Algrøy’s field work—would make James Bond proud.
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