Zenith E f2

[Ordinary Bloke]

How many of you had a Zenit(h) as your first SLR? Do you remember the 'clunk' of the shutter & mirror?

Jessops of Leicester, 1976, in the days when they only had one branch (afaik). I seem to remember it was around £26...

[beano500]

...and a Kiev 4a

[CivicMan]

+1! Built like a tank!

[White Fly Swater]

those were the days - guess the light
and miss the shot cos it was so heavy

but it did give cracking results

I used one back into the seventies

[Luca Brazzi]

Zenith EM for me....great stuff indeed. Fond memories.

[VxDuncan]

Pentax K1000 for me. Completely basic - no auto modes or self timer and the meter didn't even work. Bought second hand in '95 for £40. It used to go everywhere with me. I remember it had a sticker saying it was serviced in 1976 - the year I was born...

Can't see any of my digital kit living that long.

[Don]

Luca Brazzi said:

Zenith EM for me....great stuff indeed. Fond memories.

Me too!

Made to survive being used by the Russian military, I believe...

It was the camera that taught me photography. I took all my early pictures on one. Wish I still had it.

[ettore]

Same here, followed by an Olympus OM10!

[Don]

ettore said:

Same here, followed by an Olympus OM10!

That was my second SLR! I still have that...

Gone digital now, of course, and contemplating an upgrade to my D70

[ettore]

Don said:

ettore said:

Same here, followed by an Olympus OM10!

That was my second SLR! I still have that...

Gone digital now, of course, and contemplating an upgrade to my D70

I have a D70 too. Still, at least we haven`t had similar cars.

[sgrimshaw]

Had a Zenit E then upgraded to the TTL.

Still got them somewhere.

[millband]

Don said:

Luca Brazzi said:

Zenith EM for me....great stuff indeed. Fond memories.

Me too!

Made to survive being used by the Russian military, I believe...

It was the camera that taught me photography. I took all my early pictures on one. Wish I still had it.

And me! £25 second-hand in the 80's. Ahhhhh memories!

[Simpo Two]

Aye, proper cameras in them days... no electrickery.

I didn't have any 'classics'; my route was:
Chinon CM4 - manual everything. Upgraded after a couple of years to -
Ricoh XR7 - AP auto! Worked fine for 16 years until the shutter went wonky.
Nikon F70 - AF! Bit of a design oddball but the F80 wasn't out at the time.
Nikon D70
Nikon D200

And that is where I'm staying for the forseeable future

[J111]

millband said:

Don said:

Luca Brazzi said:

Zenith EM for me....great stuff indeed. Fond memories.

Me too!

And me!

Me too

Great way to learn how to use a 'real' camera.

[CivicMan]

The other thing many overlooked was that the cardboard box the films came in, had, printed on the inside, the very basics of determining speed v aperture.

100 ASA film, set your shutter to 125th, aperture f16 for bright sunshine, f8 for cloudy, f4 for dull. We didn't need lightmeters - understand that basic formula and how to relate changing shutter speeds with the aperture changing, and you were ok.

Ah the olden days, young people know nothing now, no respect for the elderly....nurse!!

[Firefox1]

I still have mine and Prinz(Dixons)136 & 600mm telephoto lenses, brought as 21st birthday present by the current MrsFF. Unfortunately the shutter release mechanism failed some years ago and I don't suppose it's worth having it repaired. Still Father Christmas was kind this year and left a Canon 350D.

[beano500]

Just checked.

Started out with one of these



and then progressed(!?) to a Zenith B (not E)



But "WOW" - you always wanted one of these, didn't you!!?

[Ordinary Bloke]

Oh god yeah, I wanted the Photosniper sooooo bad. And the fact it was russian made it even more desirable, a russian sniper thingy. I still have my copy of the "sight and sound" book with russian cameras and radios in, had a useful comparison of focal lengths of the post office tower and some very strange (but strangely alluring) portraits of young ladies...

No, I won't be posting pics

[dumbfunk]

Mine had the "rare" 1980 Moscow Olympic symbol and I still have it.
Checked the price for my erm, rare version on eBay recently ... £5




df

[Ordinary Bloke]

dumbfunk said:

Mine had the "rare" 1980 Moscow Olympic symbol and I still have it.
Checked the price for my erm, rare version on eBay recently ... £5




df

Oh but that's a lovely looking camera, and given the weight of it you could reasonably charge £200 for postage...