Zenit C

The Zenit C was one of the first Russian SLR cameras, it has a basic set of shutter speeds and a lens mount based on the Leica L39 but extended to allow for a reflex housing.

The Mirror is not of an instant return type, when you wind on it is pulled down into place by a string, the viewfinder is rather average with no focusing aids. The camera itself is very small and compact and rather good looking, however it is not a very good camera, it has plenty of flaws, such as it’s small viewfinder, non-instant return mirror, and the lens mount which limits the lenses available.

The lenses available for the Zenit M39 mount are all Russian lenses, such as the Industar-50, Helios 44, Mir-1 and other lenses, these lenses are all of good quality and are generally made of a brushed aluminium finish which tarnishes rather quickly, but the glass is normally very good.  The shutter speeds are the standard for a Zenit, 1/25^th-1/500^th and B following the older scale rather than the international scale.

This is a good camera for a collector but not for most users, as it is just awkward in use.

Olympus Trip 35

The Olympus Trip 35 was made in Japan, it a rather nice compact viewfinder camera, equipped with a 40mm f2.8 lens, the camera works in auto exposure due to the selenium front ring it doesn't require batteries. Also it has a shutter blocker if the exposure falls beneath it's settings.

It operates at 1/200th in Auto mode and at 1/40th in flash mode where you change the aperture, the auto mode works well and the lens is nice and sharp. I once relied on the Trip as my Praktica was not working with the flash gun, the images came back nicely exposed and very sharp for such a small camera.

Overall it is a camera I could recommend to someone who is looking for a cheap decent film camera.

Praktica Super TL1000

The Praktica Super TL1000 is an East German made SLR which uses the M42 screw mount.
It is normally sold with a Carl Zeiss or Pentacon branded 50mm Tessar lens. Due to the M42 mount, there is a large number of lenses that can be used made by dozens of companies, including the Soviets and Carl Zeiss, and many Japanese third party companies.
It handles fairly well and has the shutter release on the front right side. The body itself is almost rectangular in shape, with only very slightly curved corners.
It has a wide range of shutter speeds from 1sec to 1000th and B. It uses a coupled match needle meter which is activated by the stop down lever next to the shutter release.
Overall, it's a good user camera that can be found cheaply on most used markets in the world.

Nikon F3

The Nikon F3 is not like the previous "Pro" Nikons, as it relies on batteries for use at any speed other than 1/60th, which is the mechanical back-up speed.

Now, aside from the fact it requires batteries, it's fantastic to use, because all the metering circuits are in the body. This means that it allows the prisms to be compact and it can even meter with a waist level finder. The camera also features an "automatic" mode which is aperture priority based.  Personally, I didn't like the more modern styling at first, although I have grown to like it. The Nikon F3 is a very solid, high quality camera. This is due to the fact that the majority of parts are metal and very few parts are plastic. This makes the camera itself more durable, and increases the weight so that it is more sturdy to hold.

I have been using my Nikon F3 with a variety of films, mainly black and white and it is yet to let me down yet. I have been using a non-ai 50mm Nikkor-H which requires you to use stop down metering; this is a slight disadvantage, although I have been using Zenits which work in stop down metering. The Nikon, however is a much more refined camera.

The Nikon F3 is a very effective camera system. It has accessories ranging from interchangeable backs, focusing screens, viewfinders and a motordrive. On the whole, I enjoy using the Nikon F3, despite my initial dislike of the camera.

Exakta Varex VX

The Exakta Varex was made by Ihagee/Jhagee in Dresden, it is a decendant of one of the first SLR cameras, the VP Exakta. The Varex uses standard 35mm film and can be used from canister to spool or canister to canister. The latter allows you to end a roll half way through and not lose any exposures due to the built in film cutting knife.

The Exakta uses the Exakta bayonet mount, as such
there is a nice variety of lenses, made by various companies from Carl Zeiss to Oude Delft, who made very good lenses but they are now rare and command a very high price. I own a A Shacht Ulm Travegon 35mm f3.5, which is a nice lens for a generally fair price. The Exakta Varex VX has the ability to use different finders, such as a waist level finder or prism, or even a metered prism made by a third party.

The Exakta cameras are known for unreliability, however mine works very well, My Exakta VX was imported into Holland when it was new by Heynderickx which was the Dutch importer, I bought mine in Holland in November,it is still working as I write this. Over all it is a very competent camera with a lot of quirks but with an unreliable background. So buy one if you want to have to repair/replace it after you've bought it or used it for a while.

Canon AV-1

 Japanese made 35mm SLR that works in Aperture Priority mode, it uses the Canon FD mount which has been outdated so the lenses are fairly cheap

The Canon AV-1 is fairly light due to being made of metal coated plastics, it uses a needle in the viewfinder to show what speed it has selected, so far in use it has given perfect exposures, and I'm quite happy with the results

Since writing this I have sold the Canon AV-1 to my friend who collects Canon FD mount cameras

Kiev 60

The Kiev 60 is a Ukrainian made 6x6 120 film SLR, which is known for Arsenal's interesting approach to quality control. Due to it's shoddy QC there are several companies that refinish them, Arax and Hartblei are two of these companies, it is probably a better idea to buy from one of these companies, but they do charge a premium price for this "upgrading" process, I never bought mine through any of those companies, instead I bought a Kiev 60 that had a handgrip attached from a store in holland through a friend, the addition of the handgrip showed that the owner trusted it to survive, so I took a chance on it.(I saved about $200)

I've used a few rolls of film and the film advance has been creative (not quite correct). Normally it does advance the film correctly, but when I was using a roll of fomapan 400 it jammed and caused a panorama like image out of three images, the source of this appears to have been me loading the film incorrectly. The previous roll had been loaded by a friend of mine in Holland so I didn't know how slightly more awkward than most it was to load.

It's a very heavy camera, just under the 2kg mark, its made in traditional soviet style, lots of metal and shoddy electronics, mine came with a TTL finder, sadly the electronics in the finder don't work, so in the future I am planning to buy a replacement from a reputable seller (Arax), aside from the interchangeable finders the specifications are fairly normal, shutter speeds from 1/2nd up to 1/1000th and B. the lenses are mounted with a basic breechlock style mount where a ring on the body turns to lock the lens to the body.

 There's an extensive range of lenses from the mad 30mm which is a fisheye lens (180 degree field of view) to a telephoto lens around the 250mm area, at the moment I have the kit lens a Volna 3 (80mm f/2.8) which is a nice sharp lens with good colours and contrast. Aside from the USSR made lenses you can also buy the excellent German lenses made for the Pentacon 6 and the Exakta 66 (Carl Zeiss and Schnieder). All the ussr made lenses are under 150 euros each (except the 30mm which is around 250 euros)

There is a comprehensive selection of accessories and lenses, all for reasonable prices, especially when compared to other medium format systems.

Overall I would recommend a Kiev 60 to nearly anyone that wants a medium format SLR, as even if you buy an upgraded Kiev you will still have plenty of money left over to buy lenses (well compared to a Pentax 67 system).

Nikon F

The Nikon F was Nikon's first professional SLR, it was basically a rangefinder with a prism grafted on the top, which allows for interchangeable prisms and viewfinders and focusing screens.

The plain prism now has a huge price increase as the metered prisms are slowly dying, it is still possible to find a working metered prism, however it is quite difficult to find one that works well.

The camera itself is very high quality, with a good range of shutter speeds (From 1 second to 1000th in conventional steps) The shutter is made of titanium, which was designed to stop the problems of the cloth shutter used in cameras like the Leicas, it would have been possible to burn a hole in the shutter if it was used in MLU and pointed toward the sun if they had used a cloth shutter.

To load the Nikon F you have to remove the bottom and the back which is one piece,which is locked in place by a turning key thing on the base.

The F has a self timer that can be set to three different times (I think they are 3,6 or 9 seconds) It has a Mirror Lock Up feature that does require you to lose a frame to activate it.

Lubitel-2

The Lubitel-2 is a Soviet made TLR camera, it's mainly made from plastic, the lenses are focused by turning either the viewing or taking lens, they are focused with a cog based system around the lenses, the focusing screen is mostly all in focus, except for a bit in the middle which is for focusing. It's fairly sturdy for being made of plastic.

It's fairly difficult to use and it's also difficult to remember to wind on between exposures, all of the controls are around the taking lens with the aperture and shutter speeds being set by two separate rings. You have to cock the shutter between shots and there is a small lever to activate the shutter, it's much easier to use a shutter release cable than to use the lever. Despite being not very user-friendly it's a good camera to start with medium format.

I've recently got my first roll of film back from this camera, and looking at the positives, I am delighted by the quality that this camera can give for very little money.

Cosmic Symbol (Smena)

The Cosmic Symbol (also called the Smena Symbol) was a Soviet viewfinder type camera, it's mainly made of plastic except the lens housing which is metal, the lens is a 40mm f/4 which while being very simple it can produce high quality images, the camera has shutter speeds from 1/15th up to 1/250th including B.

I have used the camera a few times and it's nice to use and very light although it does look a little bit odd. I like the simple nature of the camera, so it's one that will be staying.

Kiev 4

The Kiev 4 is a rangefinder camera made in the Ukraine by the Arsenal factory, the Arsenal factory produced mainly Contax clones, the Arsenal factory was actually the Contax factory but disassembled and moved to the Ukraine after WW2 as war reparations.

The Arsenal factory made various Kiev cameras from II to 4, with some variants of each.

The Kiev 4 has some very good points, its got a large base rangefinder which allows for more accurate focusing, its all metal made, to a high quality, It has a built in lightmeter(mine works perfectly) It has a good amount of shutter speeds unlike some Soviet made cameras(speeds are B,10,25,50,125,250,500,1250)

There are a few negative points, the Kiev 4 has a removeable back which is a bit awkward, the focusing method is very unusual, its focused using a wheel above the rangefinder window, which requires a special way to hold the camera. The lightmeter is calibrated in GOST which is slightly different to ASA/ISO (I've been using Svema film in mine which is in GOST speeds, so not much of a problem for me.)

I like the Kiev 4, as its a high quality camera which is fairly user friendly

Zorki 4

The Zorki-4 is a Soviet made rangefinder type camera , it's made almost completely out of metal, it's a heavy camera and like a Zenit its not ergonomic or easy to use unless your used to the handling of Soviet cameras.

I enjoy using the Zorki 4 because you can focus a bit more accurate than a conventional SLR, and because it has no reflex mirror, it can be used at slightly slower speeds than a SLR camera.

The Zorki uses a L39 mount so there's a large selection of very good lenses including those made by Leitz which are often thought of as the best lenses. However I like the Soviet lenses as they are very sharp and are very nicely made lenses as far as soviet lenses go.

For my reviews on lenses which fit this mount please click here

Zenit 3m

The Zenit 3m is one of the first Zenit SLRs, it either came with an Industar-50 or Helios 44. Mine came with Industar-50 which is a tessar based lens, which is quite sharp, I also have the Helios 44 which is a very good lens.

The Zenit 3m is a fairly small camera, made in out of
metal. It's a very basic camera, for example it doesn't have an instant return mirror, instead it is lowered when you find the film on. It has a fairly small viewfinder with a plain matte screen. It has the

same shutter speeds as most Zenit SLRs (B,30,60,125,250,500) with flash sync at 1/30th.

In use it's unusual due to not being able to see through the viewfinder until the shutter is cocked, the shutter speeds should only be set after the shutter is cocked, and the Industar-50 lens is unusual to use.

Here is someone elses page on the Zenit 3m
http://thecameracollection.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/zenit-3m.html

Zenit 21XS

The Zenit 21XS is a modernised version of the Zenit 12XP/CD, the majority of the body of the camera is made of plastic, the back door and the dials are made of metal.
The Zenit 21xs is sold under a lot of different names with slight changes, it was made from 1993-1996, with almost 30,000 made, this makes it a bit uncommon to find on the UK market.




Its still got the weight that most Zenits have and the same shutter speeds, and an ISO range from 25-400.

Belarus made, difficult to find

Zenit B

The Zenit-B was made in the Soviet Union, it's a cheaper version of the Zenit-E, to make it cheaper they removed the light meter and in its place is a film reminder on the rewind dial, otherwise it is exactly the same as the Zenit-E

It is made with the same steel body as the E-type Zenits.
It also shares the same focusing screen as the Zenit E which resembles an old TV with the slightly bulging screen.

Zenit E

The Zenit E is one of the most known cameras, quite a lot if people bought them to start out in photography as they were cheap but had good lenses, back when they were new you could buy a Zenit-E for about £50, generally £48 was the average price for a Zenit-E with a Helios-44-2

As with most Zenits it is very basic with no extra features, except it has an uncoupled selenium light meter, which would be helpful for beginners. The Zenit-E has no focusing aids, many people complain that it makes it harder to focus, I personally like using the plain focusing screen.
Generally by this point in time the Selenium meter has lost sensitivity

Zenit EM

The Zenit EM is an upgraded version of the Zenit-E, the main improvement is that it has a new focusing screen (with focusing aids) it has the old style of shutter speed dials, another improvement is that it now has an auto-aperture lever, which allows you to use "automatic" lenses. Another minor improvement is the addition of strap lugs, which means you don't have to carry it in it's leather case if you needed a way to carry it around your neck. It also has an updated shutter button and exposure counter similar to the Zenit TTL.

It's still the same as the Zenit-E in many ways such as it still has the basic metal shell underneath the metal plates, so it's still the very heavy steel structure that made the E so popular as a near indestructible camera, it's very simplistic, still using an uncoupled meter. Also the light meter uses ASA/DIN numbers instead of the Soviet GOST which is a very minor advantage.

Zenit TTL

The Zenit TTL is a solid, all-metal camera. It's a camera with no frills or extras, it's very simple with very limited speeds; because it's so simple, it's fairly reliable.

My Zenit TTL is one of my favourite cameras because it's fairly tough, it's survived several hits against walls and floors. The viewfinder is a slightly dim, and blue tinted. As it takes M42 mount lenses, there's a huge selection of lenses for reasonably cheap prices; even the Soviet lenses are very good quality for the price and are generally built out of metal, therefore are fairly tough compared to modern plastic bodied lenses. The Zenit is not a very ergonomic device, and some say it handles like a brick.

From a recent test, I learnt that it is solid enough to survive a fall from a 4 story building, this is an answer to a question most people wouldn’t ever have to ask.

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