I have a few Leica M cameras, film and digital, Hasselblads, Nikons, Pentax 67, Field cameras, etc, and I also have a Zenit 11, even more basic than yours. I love it. It is so simplified and focused on photography. If you don't have the necessary knowledge about the basics of photography or the operation of the camera, like it was once the norm, forget it, you won't be able to use one of these for making photographs. These are just tanks, an dthe lens is quite good too.
KMZ was and is closely connected with the military. It's one of the primary optics manufacturers in Russia. But that's not the reason for Zenits' sturdiness. All soviet SLRs and RFs were like that. Kievs, FEDs, Zorkis. The later Zenits made after the fall were still bricks, even though they're made out of plastic.
I bought a Zenit 12xp like a week ago and my model was manufactured in 1989. On my Model the knob for ISO is labeled with ISO (the range is from 25 to 400) and not the ASA as yours. How is this possible? I thought they would be the same. Great video btw :D
Difficult to know for sure, I recently talked with a woman from Russia who was telling me that most of the cameras we have here were for export market only. Something I was previously unaware of. I think it is fair to say that there is a lot of undocumented information about these cameras.
50 years ago I learnt photo with a zenit EM until the shutter died. Good souvenirs and good pictures.
I am sorry to hear the shutter died on yours. I fully agree the make good souvenirs there is something special about their functional design.
I have a few Leica M cameras, film and digital, Hasselblads, Nikons, Pentax 67, Field cameras, etc, and I also have a Zenit 11, even more basic than yours. I love it. It is so simplified and focused on photography. If you don't have the necessary knowledge about the basics of photography or the operation of the camera, like it was once the norm, forget it, you won't be able to use one of these for making photographs. These are just tanks, an dthe lens is quite good too.
KMZ was and is closely connected with the military. It's one of the primary optics manufacturers in Russia. But that's not the reason for Zenits' sturdiness. All soviet SLRs and RFs were like that. Kievs, FEDs, Zorkis. The later Zenits made after the fall were still bricks, even though they're made out of plastic.
I bought a Zenit 12xp like a week ago and my model was manufactured in 1989. On my Model the knob for ISO is labeled with ISO (the range is from 25 to 400) and not the ASA as yours. How is this possible? I thought they would be the same. Great video btw :D
Difficult to know for sure, I recently talked with a woman from Russia who was telling me that most of the cameras we have here were for export market only. Something I was previously unaware of. I think it is fair to say that there is a lot of undocumented information about these cameras.
@@projectsoffolly ah interesting! Thank you for answering :)