Zenit TTL (1982)

Zenit (Russian: зенит) was a long running (1952-2005) line of inexpensive single lens reflex 35mm cameras from the government-owned KMZ factory in Krasnogorsk, Russia, a suburb west of Moscow. KMZ got its start in military optics during WWII and later branched out to civilian products. Zenits were made by the million and are common on the used camera market. This Zenit TTL was made in 1982, according to the first two digits of the serial number, 82041469, which give the year the camera left the factory. This camera is lettered in latin script, which shows that it was made for the export market. The Zenit TTL was imported into the USA as the Cambron TTL by Cambridge Camera Exchange, New York, NY, into West Germany as the Revueflex by Foto-Quelle, Nuremburg, and into the UK as the Zenith TTL by Technical & Optical Equipment (London) Ltd. The UK version had "Zenit" on the camera body, but "Zenith" on the instruction pamphlet.

Front

Top

Back

Bottom

The front of the camera has the strap lugs, the self timer, the PC flash sync socket, and the lens mount. The top of the camera has the rewind crank, the film speed selector, a hot shoe for flash, the shutter speed dial, the shutter release, the rewind clutch, the frame counter, and the film advance lever. The back of the camera has the battery compartment for the light meter and the viewfinder eyepiece. The left side of the camera has the latch for the film back. The bottom of the camera has the tripod socket.

The shutter is a cloth focal plane shutter. Shutter speeds are 1/500, 1/250, 1/125, 1/60 and 1/30 second plus bulb. The flash sync speed is 1/30 second. One stroke of the film advance lever advances the film and cocks the shutter. The mirror is an instant return mirror. Earlier versions of the Zenit had mirrors that did not return to the viewing position until the film was advanced.

The lens mount is an M42 "universal" or "praktica/pentax" screw mount with an automatic diaphragm plate inside the lens mount. Pressing the shutter release will push the plate against a pin on the lens to stop down the lens to the selected shooting aperture. The M42 screw mount was introduced on the 1949 East German VEB Zeiss Ikon Contax S single lens reflex 35mm camera and remained popular through the mid 1970s. Bayonet mounts, which handled exposure automation better, eventually completely displaced the screw mount. KMZ was one of the last manufacturers to still make screw mount SLRs.

Pressing the shutter release also turns on the light meter. The exposure meter needle is visible in the viewfinder. The needle pointed to "0" if the exposure was good, "+" if the picture was over exposed, or "-" if the picture was under exposed. The camera metered through the lens with a CdS cell. The meter ran on a PX625 mercury battery, which is no longer available because of the toxicity of mercury. 625 zinc air hearing aid batteries should work, but last only about a week while a mercury battery would last a year.  The meter on my camera no longer works. The needle consistently shows over exposure regardless of the light level.  I use an external light meter or just guess.

The viewfinder has a central microprism focusing spot surrounded by a ground glass collar.

The Helios-44M lens that came with the camera is patterned after the Carl Zeiss Biotar lens, with 6 elements in 4 groups. The distance scale is in meters. There is a manual-automatic diaphragm switch.

To use the self timer you advance the film, turn the self-timer lever down and push the button above the self timer. The self timer will run a few seconds and the trip the shutter. Rotating the self-timer lever exposes a little "M" on the camera body as a reminder to switch the lens from automatic diaphragm to manual. The self timer doesn't actuate the automatic diaphragm plate and the lens should be switched to manual for the aperture to be correct.

You don't want to store the camera with the shutter cocked because it will weaken the springs that actuate the shutter, with the result that the shutter will stick open and ruin your pictures.

The chief point in favor of the Zenit was that it was cheap. In the hierarchy of Soviet Bloc cameras the Zenit trailed behind the East German Praktica and both trailed behind the better West German and Japanese cameras.