New toy - picked it up today

Geordi69

Geordi69

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Just picked it up today, for a princly sum of £3.99 a almost mint Zenit EM with original leather zenit case.

So just been looking for a manual on't net, so I can have an idea on how it works.

Seriously well built, feels like a brick. So hopefully should have a roll or two through it over the weekend and then we will see the results.
 
I have got one of them - weigh a ton and have only limited shutter speeds yet if handled right you can get some good pictures out of them. Being that heavy also reduces camera shake.

Mines the one my dad was given as an 18th birthday present in 1978 and yet it still works absolutely fine, just a small piece of the plastic front of the case has cracked off as has part of the plastic cover over the wind on lever.

The shutter speeds an light meter may not be too accurate so over expose by 1/2 to 1 stop when using slide film as this should counteract any loss of sensivity in the light meter.
 
I love old Zenits. I cut my teeth on a Zenit 11 in the 80's and bought a 12XP on ebay for a fiver not so long ago. The 1/500 max shutter speed and crap metering system ( on the 12 XP at least ) really limit them but they look and feel cool.
 
Hey I've got the special edition 1980 Moscow Olympic edition Doncha know!

IT was my first SLR, my Dad gave it to me in about 1982, so it wasn't that old a camera then.

I got it out the other week, it looks like the light meters stopped working on it which is such a shame.
 
Geordi69 said:
Just picked it up today, for a princly sum of £3.99 a almost mint Zenit EM with original leather zenit case.

So just been looking for a manual on't net, so I can have an idea on how it works.

Seriously well built, feels like a brick. So hopefully should have a roll or two through it over the weekend and then we will see the results.
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one of my first camera was the Zenith E much the same it worked well
 
When I pick up Zeniths (for the lenses) I pass them on to charity shops. :-)
 
The Zenit TTL is not supposed to be too bad - was designed in a KMZ (factory who made the Zenits, some Zorkis etc) engineers spare time with a quality control rejected Zenit EM and added quite an effective TTL system. The factory manager noticed him testing it and it was eventually put into prouction.

You can get them off ebay for about £10 now, omething for me to get at some point.
 
excalibur2 said:
When I pick up Zeniths (for the lenses) I pass them on to charity shops. :-)
Click to expand...

Well - it's better than just binning them I suppose. Although, I think they've probably got a pretty good scrap metal value, from the weight of them.
 
s162216 said:
I have got one of them - weigh a ton and have only limited shutter speeds yet if handled right you can get some good pictures out of them. Being that heavy also reduces camera shake.

Mines the one my dad was given as an 18th birthday present in 1978 and yet it still works absolutely fine, just a small piece of the plastic front of the case has cracked off as has part of the plastic cover over the wind on lever.

The shutter speeds an light meter may not be too accurate so over expose by 1/2 to 1 stop when using slide film as this should counteract any loss of sensivity in the light meter.
Click to expand...

you can also work out how accurate it is from using your meter in dslr ;)
 
my very first camera was a zenit b no lightmeter or anything but as you say built like the proverbial brick********* lol still got some wonderful slides taken on agfa slide film
 
Well I will see soon. Been runing a roll of Neopan 400 CN through it today in between the torential downpours. Been metering exactly as indcated, as that will give me a base ine from what it's working like.

It does weight lick a brick, but I like that. It is the same with my EOS3, feels very solid and sturdy.
 
Geordi69 said:
It does weight lick a brick, but I like that. It is the same with my EOS3, feels very solid and sturdy.
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I bet the shutter's quieter than the EOS though :lol: First time I let the EOS-3 loose in high-speed drive I nearly dropped the camera it was so noisy:eek:
 
TheBigYin said:
Well - it's better than just binning them I suppose. Although, I think they've probably got a pretty good scrap metal value, from the weight of them.
Click to expand...

Quite amusing at the boot sale yesterday as on one stall the guy had about 10 Zeniths and Prakticas without lenses, and on another stall were about five Zeniths (or whatever) with domiplan lenses.
 
Well got the film back today, I am impressed. There does not seem much need for exposure comp as it looks like it got it right.
Sample shot in the show us shots thread.
 
Liking the look of it!

Is it the standard 58mm Helios 44-M lens that you used for that? They are good at producing pretty sharp pictures. The exposure compensation is not really needed with b&w or colour neg as they have quite a bit if latitude unlike slide film so they can be corrected easily in the printing stage.
 
s162216 said:
Liking the look of it!

Is it the standard 58mm Helios 44-M lens that you used for that? They are good at producing pretty sharp pictures.
Click to expand...

It is indeed that lens.
 
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