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.

Sample image.