Zenit-e

[dead_rae]

Hi! i recently bought a Zenit-e from an antique shop. as they usually are, they couldn't guarantee that the camera worked but it seemed to take film fine, reload fine everything. they even discounted the price for me - which I thought was strange that they would do that without knowing if it did / didn't work. Im still holding out hope.

After having it a couple of weeks I finally bought some film for it - 35mm. the viewfinder seemed very temperamental, being able to see out of it occasionally, not all the time. today I loaded in the film and everything seems to be working completely fine, apart from the viewfinder. i read somewhere that maybe the mirror is stuck and I have to remove the lense and manually reset it to 45 degrees but there doesn't seem to be any way to remove the lense.

has anyone else had the same problem / know how to fix it??

thanks !

 

[Kino]

This is pretty common with older mechanical cameras. The lubricants in the camera become gummy and things tend to work erratically.

Sometimes you can carefully remove the bottom plate of the camera and clean out the old grease on the moving parts with alcohol and cotton swabs, but be careful of any springs or gears you might displace or snag. If you have to re-grease it, do not use a lot of light weight oil; that's bad. Only use a tiny drop or two on pivot points, but then use a general purpose silicon grease on moving parts and use sparingly.

The old, petrified grease should give you a guide as to where it should be applied after cleaning. Most times, you shouldn't put as much back as you clean out! It can be slathered rather heavily in these old FSU cameras and there's no need to replicate; just get enough in there to make it function smoothly.

Exercise the camera as you clean and lube it. You will probably see what is sticking. If not, it's up in the upper camera body and will require deeper exploration, which you should not do unless you are pretty mechanically inclined.

If you don't have it, here's a manual:

https://www.cameramanuals.org/russian_pdf/zenith_e-35-english.pdf

More information.

ZENITcamera: ZENIT-E User Manual

Руководство на фотоаппарат ЗЕНИТ-E, английское | User manual: ZENIT-E SLR camera, English

www.zenitcamera.com

 

[ic-racer]

I found my Zenits to be the worst 35mm SLRs I ever used, however, they are very repairable and very inexpensive. Not really "easy", but easier than most other cameras.
Here is one thread (not mine), and I think there are a few others:

Zenit EM complete CLA ongoing thread (pic heavy)

I just bought two EMs from Ebay, both from late 70's. The other is worn and rusty (cost under 4€), second one is much cleaner. To my surprise both of them work, and have intact shutter curtain rubbering (!). The selenium cell metering also works. Over 40 year old cameras after all. It really...

www.photrio.com

 

[snusmumriken]

The OP needs advice on how to remove the lens. As far as I recall, it’s just a screw thread, isn’t it? So if it’s stuck, a short length of hose round the base of the lens might give enough purchase to get it moving. Don’t twist the front of the lens though!

An alternative - but riskier - would be to open the back of the camera, set the shutter to B, press and hold the shutter release, and while the shutter is open see if you can free the mirror.

 

[Huss]

ZENITcamera: ZENIT-E User Manual

Руководство на фотоаппарат ЗЕНИТ-E, английское | User manual: ZENIT-E SLR camera, English

www.zenitcamera.com

 

[snusmumriken]

Section 6.5 of the repair manual referred to in Huss’ link:

<<
6.5 The mirror frame doesn't work.

6.5.1. Unscrew the lens 3, take away the mirror frame, see if spring 161 jumped off the lever 160. Remove the shutter, then turn off the trigger button counterclockwise, put the spring on the lever of the mirror mechanism 28 with tweezers.

If the spring is deformed or the frame of mirror 177 does not reach housing 167, disassemble the device in paragraph 6.1.1.

Unscrew the screws 13, remove the shield 12. Unscrew the screws 26, remove assembly 28. Replace spring 161.

6.5.2. Inspect the mirror lifting mechanism - spring 182 may have been torn off.

Unscrew screws 5, remove cover 4, unscrew screws 10 and remove the mirror lift mechanism 11. In bridge 182, unscrew the screw 180, nut 181 with wrench 7812-4070, remove the axis-screw 188.

Carefully open the screw groove, unfold the second end of the spring tucked into the gear hole 186 and remove the spring. Put the new spring 189 on the screw axis 188. One end, U-shaped, is tucked into the groove of the screw axis and compressed with pliers.

The second end is filled into the gear hole and fix it.

Insert the knot (axis-screw) into the hole of bridge 182, wrap the nut 181 and fix it with a screw 180. Install the mechanism for lifting mirror 11 in the housing and fix it with screws 10.

6.5.3. Install assembly 28 in the body of the device, check the pin engagement (lever 160) with the cam 185. The link must be equal to the pin size. Unscrew the 187 screw in assembly 11 (from the mirror mechanism) and by rehooking the gears to place the cam 185 so that when checking the stroke of the frame of the mirror "by hand" in the lowered and cocked position of the shutter, the lever pin 160 does not touch the end of the cam 185. Weaken the 163 screws in assembly 28, by rotating the 164 screw, adjust the gap of 0.5--1 mm between the mirror frame and the assembly body 28.

Note: when adjusting the gap, set the trigger button counterclockwise after the shutter platoon.

The mirror mechanism should be removed and installed in the body of the device. Fix the mirror mechanism on the body with 26 screws.

On the side of the bottom cover, unscrew the stopper 180, loosen the nut 181.

Rotation of the 188 propeller (clockwise) to start the spring of the mirror lifting mechanism by 1.5--2 revolutions with the key 7812-4380.

Check the operation of locking device 28 with shutter curtains.

Release the shutter, press the release button on shutter speed "B". The first curtain and mirror frame should open the frame window.

Release the trigger button, the second curtain and frame should return to their original position. Check the operation of the curtains at 1/500 (the slot should be opened at the beginning of the frame).

Wrap the bottom cover 4 with screws 5. Assemble the apparatus under paragraph 6.1.3.
>>

The parts described above are illustrated in the second reference at the bottom of the document Huss linked.

 

[Niglyn]

Hi! i recently bought a Zenit-e from an antique shop. as they usually are, they couldn't guarantee that the camera worked but it seemed to take film fine, reload fine everything. they even discounted the price for me - which I thought was strange that they would do that without knowing if it did / didn't work. Im still holding out hope.

After having it a couple of weeks I finally bought some film for it - 35mm. the viewfinder seemed very temperamental, being able to see out of it occasionally, not all the time. today I loaded in the film and everything seems to be working completely fine, apart from the viewfinder. i read somewhere that maybe the mirror is stuck and I have to remove the lense and manually reset it to 45 degrees but there doesn't seem to be any way to remove the lense.

has anyone else had the same problem / know how to fix it??

thanks !

Hi, lens should just unscrew I had one zenit which the lens could not be removed. I had to cut a hole in a piece of wood, the diameter of the lens, cut in half, clamp.around the lens and use this extra leverage to remove the lens.

Sounds like the camera has been badly stored. The mirror linkage has seized and needs the teeniest amount of oil applied.

Suggest you pop along to tbe zenit camera group, on Facebook. You will find me there, and my most excellent help documents in tbe files section.