Zenit Naman!

8 Jul
2009

The first Zenit was really an RF-SLR hybrid made by KMZ. KMZ made Zorki. The Zenit was actually the SLR version of the Zorki. They started by ‘fusing’ the reflex housing and prism finder on the existing Zorki-1 body. The Leica-shaped oblong body was retained. The Leica-style shutter was also retained, and a reflex-mirror viewing system was built around it. The LTM 39 mount was also used.

This Zenit (-1) is from 1955. The logo is in Script Cyrillic- so it reads like “3eHum”. With a not-so-common Zenit M39 Industar-22 lens. The lens was soon replaced in the later production runs with the more common Industar-50.

A new set of M39 (”ZM39″) lenses were made for the Zenit. These lenses would not focus properly when used on RF Zorki or Leica; likewise the LTM39 lenses made for Zorki or Leica won’t focus properly. When the latter are used on Zenit, they will act like close-focus lenses with a very limited focusing range of about 10-15 cms only.

The shutter style which first appeared in the Leica I and II was used in the Zenit. And continued to be used in the succeeding models which used cloth curtain focal plane shutters. They are still being made now, making these Zenit the only LIVING LINK to the original Leicas.

The Zenit-1 and Zenit-S (C) are, IMO, the C_U_T_E_S_T SLRs ever made!

Zenit cameras, when 35mm film SLRs still reigned supreme, were often dismissed as worthless junk. The pros shunned them, and the famous _______(fill with the SLR brand you know)-snobs refused to acknowledge their presence. Zenit were seen cheap, unreliable, and incapable of shooting anything approaching ‘acceptable’ quality. And curiously enough, most, if not all, of the Zenit detractors were people who, (1) haven’t handled a ‘live’ Zenit; (2) haven’t shot with a Zenit and seen what it does; (3) have impressions based on what they heard, read, or assumed.

Here are what they said- obviously based on uninformed opinion:

1. It came from the USSR (Zenit were, and are still made in Russia), so it’s bad and backward. It is true that Zenit have less ‘advanced’ features- features which were found in cameras made a generation or two before in the west. But most of these features were good and proven, so there wasn’t (at least in the socialist situation in the USSR then) any need to constantly put in more gimmicks as with products from the sales-competitive capitalist west. And remember, the USSR was able to send satellites and people to space before anyone in the capitalist hemisphere did.

2. Only people who can’t afford ‘real’ cameras use it. Zenit cost about 1/5 to 1/10 of what a Japanese equivalent SLR cost when new. They still are cheap now, some can be found for $15 on eBay. The low cost made them more accessible to people who didn’t have the means to get the known brands. It was seen used by photographers who shot in churches and parks. And often with students. Zenit are real cameras in every respect. The common Zenit used a shutter which descended from the original Leica. How much more ‘real’ can a camera be?

3. The shutter speed range of 1/30 – 1/500 is very limiting. True, if one does a lot of slow exposures or action shots. But when one thinks about it, 96% or more of all exposures taken are made in the 1/30 to 1/500 range….when was the last time 1/4 sec was used? And how often was it used? How about 1/2 or 1/10 sec? Leica and many cameras ran on this “limited” speed range alone for years, and many excellent photos were produced despite this ‘limiting’ feature.

4. The lenses are incapable of making ’sharp’ pictures. Often heard from people who’ve only heard of Zenit. The lenses found in Zenit are descendants of Carl Zeiss lenses. The Russians also improved on these magnificent designs by using new glass and anti-reflection coatings. The original Carl Zeiss lenses didn’t even have these. The various “Helios-44″ 2/58mm lens versions commonly found with Zenit are really improvements on the Biotar.
Even the cheapest Industar-50 is really a Tessar offspring. The others may well be Planars or Sonnars (like the Jupiter-9) in disguise. The Japanese copied Zeiss lenses (as Nikkors or Serenars) when they were just starting out. The Russians continued making and improving them.

5. Zenit were unreliable. There were indeed bad apples. Poor design and loose quality control aren’t exclusive to KMZ either. But many were quite excellent. Some designs like the Zenit 11, 12XP, or the earlier ones are virtually indestructible.