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.

Werra 1 (about 1962)

The Werra 1 is a scale focusing 35 mm camera that was made by VEB Carl Zeiss in Eisfeld, East Germany. The camera was named for the river Werra, which flows through Eisfeld. Werra also was the name of a line of binoculars made by the same company. VEB roughly meant "state owned company", which was part of the East German Communist system for the organization of industry. This example was made for the export market. The focusing scale is marked in feet and meters, and the shutter and lens have "Q1" symbols to indicate supposedly higher quality control. The shutter also has the tower icon of VEB Pentacon. Because the original Carl Zeiss firm still existed in West Germany, the East German state did not have the right to use the name "Carl Zeiss” in the West, so the lens on this export model is marked "Jena" instead of "Carl Zeiss."

Ready to shoot

Lens Covered

Bottom

Back

The body of the camera has aluminum trim and black vulcanite. The top of the camera has just the shutter button. The front of the camera has the viewfinder window and the lens. The bottom of the camera has the rewind knob, a tripod socket with a 3/8" thread, the latch for the back, the rewind clutch button and the film counter. The PC flash sync connection is on the right side. Strap loops are on both sides. The back of the camera has just the viewfinder eyepiece.

All of the controls are grouped around the lens. The film advance ring is at the base of the lens, followed by the shutter speed ring, the depth of field scale, the focusing ring and the aperture ring. The shutter is a "Prestor" shutter with times 1/750, 1/250, 1/125, 1/60, 1/30, 1/15, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2 and 1 second plus "B". The shutter button is threaded for a cable release. The shutter can be set to sync with flash bulbs ("M") or electronic flash ("X"), or set a self-timer ("V"), using a lever under the lens. The lens is a 50mm, coated Tessar design. The apertures go from f/2.8 to f/16. 30.5mm screw-in filters fit this camera. Putting a filter between the lens and the lens hood makes access to the aperture ring easier. The lens hood can be reversed to act as a lens cover. Before covering the lens any filter should be removed and the lens focused to infinity.

The viewfinder has an adjustment for eyesight, and has frame lines with markings for parallax correction.

To load the film the back is unlatched at the bottom and pulled completely off. The film runs from right to left, opposite from most 35 mm cameras. The film counter is manually reset after film is loaded. To advance the film the ring at the base of the lens is rotated clockwise. Rotating the film advance ring advances the film and cocks the shutter. The rewind clutch button has to be pressed continuously while rewinding film.

The Prestor shutter works like the 1949 Kodak Synchro 800 shutter. The shutter leaves swivel in one direction around a pivot instead of oscillating back and forth. This action allows the Prestor shutter to open and close faster (1/750 second compared to 1/500 second on a Compur-Rapid or a Synchro-Compur). Because this swivel action is not self-capping when cocking the shutter, a second set of shutter leaves cap the lens when the shutter is cocked. Unfortunately the capping leaves on my shutter were stuck shut. A liberal application of contact cleaner got the shutter to run, but the shutter probably should be re-lubed. There are Youtube videos (https://www.youtube.com/user/mikeno62/search?query=werra) on disassembling a Werra with a Synchro-Compur shutter that may be helpful on this project.

A 51mm x 39mm card packed inside the camera has this text in German:

"Achtung!

Beim Aufschrauben der Sonnenblende als schutzkappe, darf die am Objektiv eingestellte Ectfernung 6 m bis infinity betragen. Kuerzere Entfernungen nicht zulaessig. Filter nur auf Gewinde des Schutzdeckels auf schrauben nicht zwuischen Objektev und Schutzekappe,

Schuetzen sie, wann Sie keinen Film eingelegt haben, die neuartige Film-buehne und diefeinstgeschliffene Andruckplatte vor Beschaedigungen! Legen Sie diese Karte zwischen beide Flaechen, damit sie sicj nicht beruehren!"

Translation courtesy of Google Translate:

"Notice!

When screwing on the sun visor as a protective cap, the distance set on the lens may be 6 m to Infinity. Shorter distances are not permitted. Only screw the filter on the thread of the protective cover, not between the objective and the protective cap.

When you have not inserted a film, protect the new film stage and the finely ground pressure plate from damage! Place this card between the two surfaces so that they do not touch!"

Werra cameras were made from 1954 to 1968. The many versions included scale focusing and range finder focusing cameras, both with and without light meters, with several different shutters, a couple of different fixed lenses, and slight changes in body style. The most advanced versions had interchangeable lenses. The Werra 1 did not have a range finder or light meter and was intended to be a low price camera, costing less than 100 marks ($25 in those days). About 281,000 Werra 1 cameras were produced.

With the lens covered the design has very clean lines. A Werra with a body style similar to my camera but with green vulcanite and without a nameplate is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art:
https://www.moma.org/collection/works/174806

The Werra is a straightforward camera to use. Set the shutter speed, advance the film, set the aperture, focus, aim and press the shutter button. Scale focusing works pretty well if you are not too close to the subject and you have the lens stopped down for a reasonable depth of field. Otherwise you might need to measure the distance to your subject with a tape measure or a pocket range finder.

The suffragette monument in Centennial Park, Nashville, Tennessee (Alan LeQuire, sculptor).

Werra 1 camera on Ultrafine Xtreme 400 film.

Zeiss Ikon Box-Tengor 54/2 (1934-1938)

The Box-Tengor was one of Zeiss Ikon's cameras for beginners. It makes eight nominally 6cm x 9cm (actually 58mm x 88mm) pictures on size 120 film.

The body is formed from steel and has black leatherette and black painted trim with a little nickel plate. The handle is leather. The front of the camera has the viewfinder windows, the focus zone selection lever, the lens, and the aperture selection lever. The right side of the camera has the film winding key, the landscape oriented viewfinder window, the time/instantaneous exposure tab, the camera body latch, the shutter release lever, the shutter lever latch and a cable release socket. The pre-WWII Box-Tengor is not synchronized for flash. The left side of the camera has a tripod socket for pictures in landscape orientation. The back of the camera has the little red window with its sliding cover. The top of the camera has the portrait oriented viewfinder window and the handle. The bottom of the camera has the portrait oriented tripod socket.

The lens is an uncoated, Goerz Frontar meniscus with a focal length of about 100-110 mm. Objects from 8 meters to infinity are in focus at the distant setting. For closer focusing additional lens elements can be shifted into place using the lever above the lens. The closer focus zones are 8 to 2 meters (the lower strength element) and 2 meters to 1 meter (the higher strength element). Eight meters is about 26 feet, two meters 7 feet and one meter 3-1/2 feet. The Goerz name on the lens came from C. P. Goerz, which was one of the firms that merged to form Zeiss Ikon in 1926, and made an earlier version of the Box-Tengor. Aperture stops, f/11, f/16 or f/22, can be shifted into place using the lever below the lens.

The shutter is a rotary shutter with a nominal speed of 1/25 second per the instruction booklet. A slide can be pulled out for time exposures. The shutter release has a latch that can be used as a safety catch to prevent accidental exposures or used to hold the shutter open for time exposures. There is a threaded socket for a standard cable release. Two 3/8" tripod sockets are provided.

Loading the camera is like loading a Brownie. You unlatch the back and pull it open for loading. The empty spool goes in the top compartment and the fresh film goes in the bottom. You space the pictures on the film by looking through the little red window at the numbers printed on the backing paper. The slide over the red window is kept closed except when winding the film. The camera was made when films were much slower than they are today. 100 speed film is over exposed about 1 stop with the camera set at f/22 on a sunny day. 400 speed film is good on a cloudy day or in the shade.

Because the camera is not synchronized for flash (you need the post-WWII 56/2 model for that), you have to use the open flash method for pictures indoors at night. You put the camera on a tripod, set up your shot, turn down the room lights (the room should be dark enough to avoid "ghost" images), open the shutter, fire the flash, and close the shutter.

This example is in good shape for being at least 82 years old. There are a few spots in the viewfinders and some wear to the finish. Box-Tengors were made in the hundreds of thousands and they are relatively common.

The bow scroll from the armored cruiser USS Tennessee, Centennial Park, Nashville, Tennessee.

The Tennessee was completed in 1906. Originally the ship was painted white and buff and had this decorative bronze bow scroll. The bow scroll was removed from the ship when it was modernized about 1911, and was installed in Centennial Park. In May of 1916 the armored cruiser was renamed USS Memphis and in August of that year was wrecked by a tidal wave in Santo Domingo harbor.

Minox Flash Attachments

Minox Gadgets, Gimmicks and Gizmos, Episode 3.

Here are three Minox flash units. These were not the only ones that were made, but they are three that I have.

Minox AG-1 Flash.

The Minox AG-1 Flash let AG-1 "peanut" flash bulbs be used with a Minox B. The flash unit was a battery-capacitor flash that used a 15V battery. The flash range was 15 to 40 feet with ISO 100 film. The flash unit used a small slide to retract the reflector and eject the flashbulb. Because flash bulbs are out of production, this is not really a useful device any longer.

Minox Flashcube Holder.

The Minox fashcube holder let flashcubes be used with a Minox B. Unlike most cameras that used flash cubes, the Minox did not turn the flash cube to a fresh bulb automatically. You had to turn the flashcube manually, which required a little care to avoid scorched fingers. Flash cubes are also a thing of the past.

Minox 8x11 Flash.

The Minox 8x11 electronic flash came out about 1990 for the Minox EC camera and has an adapter for use with the Minox B and later cameras. The original list price for the flash unit and an adapter was $49. The flash unit is made of black plastic. It uses one 1.5V AA battery. The Minox B will sync with the 8x11 Flash at 1/100 second. The adapter covers part of the meter window of the Minox B; therefore, you will want to remove the flash in order to use the exposure meter in daylight. The flash range is 6 to 12 feet with 100 speed film or 12 to 24 feet with 400 speed film. Using the green filter reduces the flash range by about 1/3. Using the neutral gray filter reduces the flash range by about 2/3. The unit is small (3 inches by 2 inches by 3/4 inch) and weighs 2-1/2 ounces with a battery inside. The 8x11 flash is probably the most useful flash attachment.

The earliest Minox cameras did not have shutters that synchronized with flash. The model IIIs that came out in 1954 was the first Minox that was sync'ed for flash.

Minox Daylight Developing Tank.

Minox Gadgets, Gimmicks and Gizmos, Episode 2.

The Minox daylight developing tank holds one 50 exposure roll of film and just 56 ml of solution, and can be used in ordinary room light throughout the loading and developing process. The developing tank has three main parts: the drum, the sealing ring and the tank. The drum screws into the sealing ring, the end of the film hooks onto the drum, the film cassette goes inside a compartment in the sealing ring, and the sealing ring goes onto the tank. The interior of the tank is light tight. Turning the drum pulls the film from the cassette in total darkness and the film spirals, emulsion side out, around the drum as the drum screws into the tank. With 36 exposure rolls of film the drum does not go all the way into the tank. The tank is still light tight, but it uses about 10 ml more solution because the drum doesn't completely fill the interior of the tank. To help reduce developer waste, Minox had a doughnut shaped stop ring to take up the extra space. Once the film is loaded the chemicals for processing film may be poured into the tank. A thermometer inserted into the top of the drum monitors the temperature and serves as an agitator rod. Moving the thermometer up and down pumps the solutions around the film. After the film is processed and washed in the tank, the sealing ring is removed and the film is unwound from the drum and hung up to dry. The negatives are then cut into strips for filing in negative sleeves. Minox made an enlarger capable of making 11x14 inch prints from an 8x11 mm negative, a 30 times enlargement.

Tank, Drum, Sealing Ring and Stop Ring

Film Hooked to Drum

Assembled and Ready for Processing

Minox no longer sells film or chemicals. Currently Minox loads of color or black and white film are available from Blue Moon Camera and Machine, and any fine grain black and white developer may be used.

Minox had many accessories for sub-miniature camera photography. There are more episodes to come.

From a negative developed in a Minox daylight developing tank.

Minox Lens Filters

Minox Gadgets, Gimmicks and Gizmos, Episode 1.

Built-in Filters.

The Minox B has three lens filters built in. The clear cover in front of the lens is a UV filter and is always present. The green 2x filter and the neutral gray 10x filter slide between the lens and the cover. The green filter is a contrast filter for black and white pictures, and provides exposure control for bright days outdoors or for flash pictures indoors. The gray filter provides exposure control for either black and white or color film. The selected filter stays in front of the lens until you slide it out of the way. Filters require increased exposure times as indicated by the filter factor. A 2x factor means twice the exposure.

Top to Bottom: UV, 2x Green, 10x Gray

With no sliding filter selected, you match the triangle on the exposure meter dial to the meter needle. With the green filter selected, you match the green dot on the exposure meter dial to the meter needle. With the gray filter selected, the meter automatically compensates for the filter and you match the triangle to the meter needle.

Snap-on Filters.

Minox snap-on filters fit a holder that snaps onto the camera. The holder has a white dot on the top to show which way is up so the holder matches the contours of the camera. The filters are tiny and easy to drop.

Black and White.

Minox black and white filters for the Minox B are yellow, orange and blue. Each filter has the filter factor engraved. They provide contrast control for black and white film. The yellow filter provides more contrast between the sky and the landscape. The orange filter is equivalent to the orange filter that is built in the Minox IIIS. The blue filter improves skin tones with flash.

Color.

The set of Minox color filters consisted of a light skylight filter, a medium skylight filter and a blue filter for flash pictures using clear flashbulbs. The color filters had the filter factors engraved on each filter. The light skylight filter is for sunlit subjects under a bright blue sky. The medium skylight filter is for subjects in the shade. The blue filter is for use with daylight balanced film and clear flashbulbs indoors. It would not be needed with blue flashbulbs or electronic flash.

Minox had many accessories for sub-miniature camera photography. There are more episodes to come.

Vivitar 220/SL (1976)

The Vivitar 220/SL was manufactured for Vivitar by Cosina Co., Ltd. in Nagano, Japan, beginning in 1976. It strongly resembles the Argus/Cosina STL 1000 that came out in 1970. Vivitar was a trade name that Max Ponder and John Best used for imported lenses, cameras and accessories. Ponder and Best, Inc. eventually became Vivitar Corp. Vivitar was a bargain brand; the list price of a 220/SL with a lens was about $180.

The camera has a metal body and a black finish. The top of the camera has the film loaded indicator, the rewind crank, the flash shoe, the shutter speed dial, the film speed dial, the shutter release, the film advance lever and the exposure counter. The front of the camera has the self timer lever, the M42 lens mount and the exposure meter switch. The bottom of the camera has the rewind button, the tripod socket and the battery compartment. The left side of the camera has PC sync sockets for flash bulbs (M) and electronic flash (X).

The shutter speeds run from 1 second to 1/1000 second plus bulb. The shutter is a metal, vertically running Copal shutter that syncs with electronic flash at 1/125 second or longer exposures. The shutter is completely mechanical. No battery is needed except for the light meter.

The lens mount is a 42 mm screw mount (Pentax/Praktica/Universal/M42 lens mount). The camera came with either an f/2.8, 55 mm lens with four elements in three groups or an f/1.8, 50 mm lens with six elements in four groups. Most M42 mount lenses will fit this camera. An f/2.8 35mm Vivitar lens is on the camera now.

The camera has a through the lens exposure meter. The meter needle is visible in the lower right of the viewfinder. To get an exposure reading you press a switch on the lens mount to simultaneously stop down auto diaphragm lenses to shooting aperture and turn the light meter on. The picture is correctly exposed when the needle is centered between the brackets, underexposed when it is down toward the "-" sign, and over exposed when up toward the "+" sign. The meter gives an average reading over the entire picture and can be fooled by uneven lighting. The meter can be set for ASA (now ISO) film speeds from 24 to 1600. With 100 speed film the metering range is from EV 3 (average indoor scenes) to EV 18 (extremely bright daylight).

The exposure meter is powered by a size 675 button cell. The required 1.35 volt mercury cell is no longer available because of the toxicity of mercury. A 1.4 volt zinc-air hearing aid battery is close, but the meter readings on my camera were not very accurate with a hearing aid battery. You can just ignore the camera's meter and use a handheld exposure meter or use the camera settings recommended in the data sheet for your film.

For focusing the viewfinder has a central micro-prism circle surrounded by a ground glass ring. The micro-prisms tend to black out with telephoto lenses. When that happens you would use the ground glass area to focus.

The rewind crank pulls up to open the back for loading film and the exposure counter resets to "start" when the back is opened. It takes three pulls on the film advance lever to reach the first frame, and one pull on the lever to advance to subsequent frames. An indicator next to the rewind crank shows red when there's film in the camera.

The Vivitar 220/SL is an average, low-price, manual 35 mm SLR. You can buy one nowadays for about $20.

Sample Photo with a 28mm wide angle lens