Zenit with 39mm lens thread

<p>My local shop has a Zenit camera (just called Zenit - the first SLR) with some lenses to fit like the 90mm and they look nice and the camera works well as far as I can tell.</p>

<p>Before I head back to perhaps buy into the 1950's Zenit system I was wondering whether it is worth it - are the lenses and cameras good enough to use for todays photos? I have only ever tried a borrowed Zenit E which I did not get on with but the early Zenit seems very smooth and nicely built.</p>

<p>Thanks for any guidance.</p>

<p>My wife has a Zenit with a different lens on it than the standard and she swears by it. Takes great pictures, a lomo feel w/o loss of quality. Not sure what you're looking for, but it's been a great camera for her.</p>

I don't know about Zenits, but former soviet cameras are a mixed lot. Some are quite good.

<p>Zenit C, I believe, because if it is just a *Zenit* w/o any index it is a relatively rare and rather prized possession. But do not forget that camera made when probably comrade Stalin was alive so it most likely needs an overhaul. </p>

<p>It will certainly offer a retro experience - no automatic diaphragm (you have to close the aperture by hand), no instant-return mirror (you have to wind the film to see anything through the viewfinder again). If this example is in good condition and works properly, the lens should be as good as any Tessar type of the same period.</p>

<p>Even the later models are fairly <em>simple</em>, shall we say. I wouldn't like to say "primitive", but most things that the camera will do for you these days, like stopping down the aperture, are missing on a lot of Zenit models.<br>

I think they were built by people who used to make tanks and such, but in any case they are fairly insensitive to bad conditions, and with a little cleaning may well work despite age. The lenses are often extremely good, being sometimes improved copies of German Zeiss prewar and East German postwar lenses. </p>

<p>They should also be of interest to Leica copy collectors, since basically the Zenit is (as a descendent of the Leica copy Zorki*) what the Leicaflex would have been like if the Soviets had conquered all of Europe and there had been "Peoples' Enterprise Leitz".</p>

<p>Like the Fremen in <em>Dune</em>, they exist in "vast numbers", so "rarity" is a very relative term when compared to Leicas or Kodak Ektras.<br>

______<br>

*hence the M39 mount</p>

<p>JDM if it is "square-top" Zenit it is extremely rare. It is unlikely but someone can just get lucky. If it is a production Zenit it is less rare but 38K of Zenit vs 233K Zenit-C is still relatively rare thing.</p>

<p><strong>Ian</strong> Hi!Can you post a picture of the camera? The M39 Zenits [most of them] were made from the same shell and mechanism as the Zorkis [with a lever wind added]. A reflex mirror and additional space to accommodate the same were made by way of extending the middle part to hold the lens mount and the Penta Prism VF. The lenses for Zenit M39 were the same as the lenses for the Zorkis and Feds. But to keep the focusing distance they cut down the lens barrel's rear cylinder to a smaller size by the same length by which they extended the central part of the camera body that was extended to accommodate the mirror reflex. So the Zenit M39 lens will appear flat, so-called "pancake" often. It will look the same as the "Eagle eye" M42 Industar 50 lens for the SLR. Only the thread mount will be M39.<br>

Though the same lens will fit the Range Finders like Zorki and Fed they will not focus unless you add a spacer to the back of the lens. Such spacers are not easily available. The M39 Zenits will make picture as well as those made with the Zorkis and Feds. sp.</p>

<p><img id="liquid-photo" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7029/6547705017_5479ae0bf0_z.jpg" alt="photo" width="604" height="385" /></p>

<p>The picture above is a Zenit M39. This early model has a Knob wind. Notice that except for the central part the rest of the camera is a Zorki , similar to the Leica II, including the shutter button, rewind release and speed selector. sp.</p>

<p>Relax Kozma, I said 'relative,' didn't I?</p>

<p>I "heart" Krasnogorsk ;) after all. </p>

<p>I personally own a relatively rare all-black Zenit ET, only some 3,000,000 made, as compared to the Zenit E (8,000,000). :P</p>

<p>Subbarayan, is it yours camera? I heard that this early I-22 with lever are really good performers, despite the fact that they do not have any diaphragm "facilitators". I guess that focusing with F-8 would be a challenge.</p>

<p>JDM, I have only late Perestroika time poor quality and broken Zenit 122. I do not mind to have Zentit. It is a piece of history did not it. Kind of "Sputnik" moment for Leica. In a way it is an engineering marvel. </p>

<p>Hi <strong>KP</strong>; This not my camera. I copied it from a web page. I have a few Zorki 1 cameras that have the same build, except for the Reflex arrangement. I also have an M39 lens that I use on my Praktica with a ring adapter to M42.<br>

All the M39 Soviet lenses are manual stop down. None of them has any "facilitators". Only the I-22 and the I-50 & I 50-2 have diaphragm rings in the front face. [The internal optical design is the same in all three except for the coating, according to Maizenberg]. All of them perform well. So You have to turn the camera around to view the scale markings. The I-26 onwards they put the diaphragm adjuster on the barrel rings with the scale seen from the top.<br>

Only the Helios, Zenitar and other lenses made for SLRs [M42 & later] have diaphragm pins for the automatic lenses and pre-set rings for the others. sp.</p>

 

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<center><img id="i_vv4-38" src="http://i.ebayimg.com/t/2-RARE-RUSSIAN-LENS-INDUSTAR-50-FED-ZORKI-LEIKA-M39-A760-/00/s/MTA4NFgxMjU4/$%28KGrHqJHJ%214E-cdRbmlhBPnWlDKtPw%7E%7E60_12.JPG" alt="2 RARE RUSSIAN LENS INDUSTAR-50 FED ZORKI LEIKA M39 #A760" /></center>

<p>The one on the left is for the Zenit M39. The one on the right is for the Zorki, Fed, Range Finders. Notice that the one on the left has only one cylinder between two rings. The one on the right has another cylinder to the rear. Both have the same thread mount. But the focusing Register distances are different. Their optical design is the same, as in the earlier retractable lenses I-10, I-22 and I-50, according to Maizenberg. They changed only the shell, to this "ugly" shape according to many photographers. :)) All these lenses are of very good quality. Of course, when we buy used ones after some 50 years, since manufacture, it is likely that some one would have meddled with them. But they are fairly simple to disassemble and correct, provided the screws are intact or spares are available. sp.</p>

<p>Zenit 3M cameras have an m39 lens thread, as do some early Zenit Es.</p>

<p>I have a Zenit 1 (the camera was just called Zenit, but the '1' is necessary to distinguish it from all the later models). I love it. In fact, only the first of these was made 'when Stalin was alive'; he died in '53, and a few of these were made in late '52.<br>

The I-22 (like all Industars, I think) is a Tessar, and coated. The only thing I don't like about it is the lack of either a preset aperture control or click-stops on the aperture ring, so you have to take the camera away from your eye to stop down. The Zenit-C usually has the I-50, which is a redesign of the I-22, so may be a little better optically.<br>

The OP mentioned a 90 mm lens; I'm not aware of a 90; there's a Jupiter-9 or Helios-40, both 85 mm; I have the Helios-40 - it's enormous! Both are quite good portrait lenses. there's a table of the lenses available in the M39 Zenit mount on Nathan Dayton's site:<br>

http://www.commiecameras.com/sov/35mmsinglelensreflexcameras/lenses/index.htm<br>

(the top table). Lenses in this mount are rare, like the cameras, and people will try to sell you 39mm rangefinder lenses, inisisting that they will fit (and they do; they just don't focus).<br>

Relative to later Zenits, the camera is tiny, and I like the feel of it in my hands. The Zenit-C is the same size. <br>

Because of its age, it's not unlikely there will be pinholes in the shutter blinds. You can get proper repairs done; but I painted the blinds of mine with fabric paint when pinholes developed, and the repair has lasted about four years so far. You will only know about pinholes when they show up in the pictures, because the camera loads through the bottom; you can't inspect the shutter without dismantling the camera. The Zenit-C also has a string inside (it resets the mirror, I think) which could conceivably wear out. You could ask to leave a deposit, and run a quick roll of film through the camera to see if the shutter's ok, before buying it.<br>

One other thing, with apologies for being ornery; Subbarayan, you posted someone else's picture from Flickr without linking it; what's more, having traced it back, I see that picture (its here: ) is marked All Rights Reserved; if we photographers won't respect each others copyright, who will?</p>

 

<p>Thanks for the help. I too thought it would be a good idea to borrow the camera to try - and see if it works. It was very clean condition and not 'messed with'. The string that pulled the drawbridge up (mirror) worked fine.</p>

<p>The lens I tried was a 90mm f/3.5 which worked very well and was like new really. I will report back when I have the camera.</p>

<p>PS. Looking down the viewfinder made the everyday street scene look like old Russia (really!) being somewhat misty and dim with curved edges. Quite inspiring really...</p>

<p>Ian,<br>

are you sure about 90/3.5 lens? To my knowledge there is no such lens ever made by USSR industry for Zenits. It may be <strong>"Industar-24M", 3,5/105</strong>? Well may be our uber-specialist of WEB Pentakon <a href="../photodb/user?user_id=1841065">J</a>DM von Weinberg knows better but lens are unlikely made in USSR.</p>

<p>I'm sorry I was a bit out with the lens. It was a Roeschleign-Kreuznach Telenar 90mm F3.8 finished in bright aluminium. Was that an East German optic? It fits and focuses correctly.</p>

<p>That IS interesting. Probably self-made gadget.</p>

<p>Sorry about the picture <strong>Peter</strong>; I thought that it was in the public domain as am item of information and not as a work of art. sp.</p>

<p><em>I'm sorry I was a bit out with the lens. It was a Roeschleign-Kreuznach Telenar 90mm F3.8 finished in bright aluminium. Was that an East German optic? It fits and focuses correctly.</em><br>

Just a note to say that Kreuznach probably refers to Bad Kreuznach, home of Schneider, located in Rheinland-Pfalz (Rheinland Palatinate) in the former West Germany</p>

<p>A little information about Roeschlein lenses in Camera-wiki:<br>

http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Roeschlein<br>

That Telenar may be for a Braun Paxette. I don't know whether the film-to-flange distance will be right for a Zenit. It would be good to hear whether it focuses reasonably!</p>