Zenit swimming wid da fishes?

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Can't say this is a surprise. Very good lenses, but oh, those cameras.........
 

4season

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Huss said:
I clicked on their link in the ad banner on photrio. Their site is gone...
Click to expand...

Server may still exist, if you know it's IP address. Domain name likely expired, and a squatter took it over on Dec 20, 2022. Maybe no IT staff available to keep up with the housekeeping?

https://www.zenit.photo is still live, at least until 9 August 2023.
 

Agulliver

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The Zenit brand was owned by KMZ/Krasnogorsk.....now part of some big multinational. They're alive, well and making laboratory optics and some military stuff. They were still willing to make cameras if you offered enough money right up to the pandemic.

Additionally https://www.zenit.photo/en/ suggests the Zenit brand is still alive.
 

BradS

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Luca Brasi swims wid da fishes.
 

4season

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I figure that the newer online content in particular is mostly propaganda, and it certainly looks shiny and appealing if you don't ask too many questions, such as how Zenit suddenly has a slick showcase space in GUM. I for one shall enjoy the show like any good work of make-believe.

Current social media site:
https://vk.com/zenit.photo

Old Youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@zenitphoto1209/videos

This 2 year old video is sort of cute:
 

Marcelo Paniagua

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I remember clicking the link some months ago. It displayed the normal site with a message saying they stopped doing business with Russia because of the war so they will stop operarations for the time being.


Probably since they didn't saw war finishing anytime soon, didnt renew the site?
 

Agulliver

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Back in the day, Zenit provided a good gateway into SLR cameras for those who weren't able or prepared to pay for a better brand. They were cheaper even than Praktica, definitely not as good either but they worked and I am sure many a young person or adult unsure about laying out a lot of money on a Canon, Nikon, Pentax or suchlike enjoyed them. And for a lot of people, they were the only SLR affordable. Often cheaper than other brands P&S cameras. Never owned one myself but plenty of people did in the 80s and 90s. They found their way into Dixon's stores which meant they'd be offered alongside a couple of Japanese brands. The difference in price must have been attractive. And I don't recall Zenit owners being especially disappointed.
 

cmacd123

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Agulliver said:
The difference in price must have been attractive. And I don't recall Zenit owners being especially disappointed.
Click to expand...

Many importers had a 100% overhaul policy where every camera was checked by a technicial beofre being sold. I remember the couple of years I was selling cameras, that the Rep assured us that that was the policy and we should therefore expect that the wax paper they were wrapped in from the factory would like like it had been refolded.
I recall thinking that they smelled like what I called "Tractor Grease" Dim Finder, no auto anything. But they were under 100 bucks when a SP500 was at least 200. (Canadian Dollars) so if you were prepaired to have what amounted to a pre-war camera, you were getting a reasonable value.
 

Nicholas Lindan

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Zenits were private labeled in the US as Cambron and Lindenblatt by Cambridge Camera Exchange (the popular vote for "The Worst Camera Store Ever"). Along with the latter model Exa/Exakta and Praktica they were sold as 'affordable' entry cameras.

I'm sorry I fell for the hype with an Exakta 500 - which after a whole lot of fixing and fiddling worked kinda OK I have to confess.

A much wiser choice would would have been to buy a used early model Pentax.

I think the same applies now to Zenit as an entry camera - a better, and cheaper, choice would b a Nikon N80/N75 ...
 

foc

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I even had the Zenit enlarger that folded into a suitcase.

Yes, they were rough, agricultural even, but they did work.

Mine came through the UK, Technical & Optical (TOE London) so it was rebuilt before sale, making sure that it did work.

It got me into photography at a price I could afford, as a student.
 

Dustin McAmera

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I bought my Lubitel from TOE. By then I already had a Canon AE-1, but it was the way to play with medium format.
Now I have several actual Zenits, but mine are the old 39mm-mount ones.
 

Agulliver

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I do think that the Zenit cameras which made it into places like Dixons in the UK had passed more stringent QC than grey imports and those available elsewhere or as suggested above, been given a check by the importer.

Perhaps it's a bit like the Lubitel rumours.....ie the ones made on Friday afternoons when the workers were all drunk on vodka, or Monday mornings when they were hung over were worse than mid-week examples.
 
OP
OP

Huss

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My Lubitel had a really nice lens. Bummer was the camera was really difficult to focus - the focus screen was more accurately just a screen. And the film transport mechanism died after a few rolls.
 

Nicholas Lindan

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Russian cameras are a real puzzle. The mechanics and finish are, well, subpar - not the first word that popped into my head.

But the lenses are invariably very good. Even a lowly Smena 8 has a respectable 50mm f4 triplet (and it focuses (and it has a 1/15-1/250 shutter)) - too bad the camera body is made from plastic that crumbles in your hand..

I guess the Party couldn't put the Glorious Soviet Proletariat in charge of lens design. As a result they got good lenses when what the Party wanted was something cheap and almost, but not quite, entirely unacceptable.
 
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