Zenit 12XP - shooting Lomochrome Metropolis

[@elsueniero5922]

The camera is not garbage, is one of the best value for money you can get in the entire film world

[@graham_white]

If you can get one working yes.

[@JumpinJackQ]

The aperture mechanism is a preset mechanism for cameras that dont offer automatic stop down on exposure. The front aperture dial allows you to set the aperture you want to shoot at. This allows you to focus wide open and then without moving your eye from the viewfiner, twist the other ring(closer to the body) which steps down to the aperture you selected. I found on a Jupiter 9 with the same mechanism it is much easier to change this front ring when the lens actually is wide open. Actually a really handy mechanism...

[@graham_white]

For that yeah but it’s just to close to the other ring. You can’t change the stepped numbers without taking the camera down and putting in a bit of effort. If they were further apart i wouldn’t have any issues with it

[@JumpinJackQ]

@@graham_white yeah I think it’s a preemptive thing. Like pick the aperture value before looking through the viewfinder. From there it’s a case of muscle memory just to switch to the stepless dial. Each to their own I guess :)

[@graham_white]

Do you have the same lens? The Stepped ring is also MUCH more difficult to rotate than basically any other lens I have used but the rest of the lens is smooth and works perfectly. If it wasn't so difficult that would also help my opinion but since the lens is in good shape I'm left to assume they all have that same tolerance. Unless I got a bad copy which given the history of these that wouldn't fully surprise me.

[@JumpinJackQ]

@@graham_white I have a silver m39 mount, so the predecessor to this. I don’t have it to hand but I seem to recall it sharing the same “feature” in that moving the stepless dial back so the aperture is wide open first makes it easier for you to then change the aperture on the stepped dial. The jupiter 9 which I do have with me right now has that same “feature”

[@JumpinJackQ]

@@graham_white This video shows pretty much how it all works. As well as how smooth it should be but yeah as with all FSU gear the grease has a terrible habit of turning to glue😂kzbin.info/www/bejne/o6W5i4dqf7Bghac . If its still an issue its discussed a bit on this page also www.photrio.com/forum/threads/helios-44-2-that-old-stiff-aperture-ring-problem.148051/

[@user-tj1el9uo1m]

Love this camera. Its just one block in your hand

[@graham_white]

Same, no idea why. It’s nothing special, and bigger and more annoying than others. But I still love it.

[@GordonHudson]

That lens is from a much earlier version, the Zenit E, which does not have automatic aperture. So you have to manually stop down after focusing.

[@graham_white]

Ya the lens that was one or was busted when I got it. Missing a spring is I remember 😒 threw this on it later

[@shiny4842]

i love my 12xp it's not perfect but it's first film camera i got. So the iso dial is held by 3 screws, all you have to do is thighten them, but you also need a little ball that goes between the dial and body. If you will look under the dial you will se a little spirng pointing down (pray that it's still there). I lost my ball so i took one from old busted asahi lens. That's all, without ball lightmeter will not work.

[@graham_white]

It’s quirky but yeah I really dig mine. Ya I bought mine busted so that ball was Long gone. I can probably dig one out of some old body/lens. May need to find a few set screwed also cause think there’s only 1 left floating in there. Haven’t looked closely but if all I need is that ball depressed to select speed that shouldn’t be to difficult. Though I may be missing the spring. I thought for sure I was missing some other essential piece. Thanks for the heads up!

[@EddiTaru]

Man, I grew up shooting Zenit camera. I was the coolest kid in my town. No one had cameras in my town back in the day :)

[@graham_white]

haha, they are still really cool

[@MaximBelov-Pro]

Buying a Zenit camera is like a lottery. They were produced in huge quantities at several factories and quality control was not always up to par. My first Zenit 11 broke down after the first film was shot. I bought another one while it's working. The exposure meter has died a long time ago, you have to use a mobile application, but this even has its own charm. In general, this is a good option for a novice film photographer))

[@graham_white]

well said

[@user-ve3gh5xg9q]

there were two factories for these cameras. One near Moscow and this factory made cameras for export. Better made for obvious reasons. You have the logo of this factory on the back and another factory in Minsk. The cameras there were of lower quality. zenith for export had its name in Greek, I think, and those for the domestic market had its name in Cyrilli

[@muzlee7479]

“I like this camera” Proceeds to shit on it for 14 minutes straight

[@belakonig6716]

found it on the street. love it

[@mileschun143]

Have you heard of the Chinon CEII memotron? Auto exposure M42 goodness at full aperture.... kind of!

[@graham_white]

I have not, I will definitely check it out though. Thanks!

[@xarmalol2740]

Is a battery 100% required or you can take pictures without a battery?

[@graham_white]

I never use a battery. its only needed for the light meter

[@xarmalol2740]

@@graham_white thank you

[@norinjon3240]

I hate the viewfinder on my Zenit 11. It has a weld gap in the middle and disturbs me every time I want to focus.

[@graham_white]

Dang, that is unfortunate

[@Grumskiz]

I bought one, because I wanted the Helios lens on it and it was much cheaper to just buy the bundle on a fleamarket than looking for the lens by itself. I'm not sure why people refer to this camera as rugged, at best I would say it's about equivalent to other budget SLRs of the 70s and 80s. It's plastic and some sheet metal, mine feels mostly solid though. The viewfinder is pretty bad and the film rewind and counter mechanism is frustrating. Mine has a broken Bulb mode where the shutter stays open, but the mirror returns instantly lol. I managed to jam two SR44 batteries into the compartment, but the clip doesn't really hold them securely, because they are just a little bit too tall. The meter works fine, but weirdly seems to be always turned on regardless of the camera settings, so the batteries are constantly being drained. Not sure whether this is normal, or just a defect on mine. Anyway, I use it (not with the Helios!) in bad conditions where I'm afraid to ruin better cameras.

[@graham_white]

its peculiar for sure. I think when I had a battery in mine the meter stayed on as well and I couldn't get the battery cap to stay so I just took it off so I wouldn't lose it. but yes It usually is cheaper to get a body with lens as odd as that sounds to some.

[@loveermy]

I Have to clean and check both my USSR Zenit-B and Zenit 3M, It's been a while!

[@graham_white]

do it!

[@loveermy]

@@graham_white will definitely do

[@alexcarrillo5510]

How About a 35mm RF FED 2, at least you will not have to hear the mirror jumping and causing Mirror Box Vibration right? I have a FED 2 with a 35mm Sanyko 2.8 lens... Still images are sharp, and colorful....

[@graham_white]

That’s still a curtain shutter right? I have a few fed5s and they don’t hit as bad but still not silent or smooth for sure

[@nunoteixeiradesign]

I think you are referring to the Jupiter lens.

[@graham_white]

Correct! Someone commented below its the Jupiter Biotar.

[@ReaonKaufman]

You should try the Mamiya Sekor DSX 1000. Currently my all time favorite 35mm

[@graham_white]

I’ve come across several busted bodies but not a working one yet. I have been curious on their quality for sure

[@TimCools_WithALongO]

I presume the reason the internals are so fragile and/or prone to aging badly in contrast to the sturdy externals is that the Soviet Union intended to maintain an infrastructure where people could reliably get them serviced and only the smaller parts (the ones that presumably would require less raw materials to manufacture) would really require replacing. Kind of sad to think about now.

[@jaythehage]

The aperture ring on the helios 44 is actually quite ingenious! You're supposed to turn the clicky ring to your preferred setting, then open up back to f2 using the clickless ring to focus. It's to give a brighter image to compose and focus with!

[@graham_white]

The system itself yeah in theory it’s great. But this specific setup is way to close to each other to use easily. If they were further apart and the stepped ring wasn’t so tough or the step less a bit less smooth I think it would be great. But since they are so close it makes it very time consuming and unnatural to use.

[@sentimental7167]

@@graham_white this system dates back to the original VEB Zeiss Ikon Contax S (the company from which Asahi licensed the name „Pentax“) which didn’t have fully automatic aperture, so for those M42 cameras without the pin in the lens mount (for reasons mentioned by Aryel above). Can be found also on Exakta lenses. I hated it too with my Contax (small) D and the Biotar - which is the lens the Helios is modeled after. Great lens, not as swirly as the Helios.

[@mrstandfast2212]

Are Practika cameras available in the USA and Canada, and were they sold there when new? I don't seem to see reviews from over the pond for them. I ask, as in the UK these were sold alongside the Zenits as the cheapest SLR cameras on the market. They were of a much better quality, coming from the old DDR, and have a lot of Zeiss Ikon DNA in them. Obviously they're not in that league, as they are very basic, and most have the M42 mount. My experience is that they are far more reliable than the Zenits, and I only buy Zenit cameras for their lenses. I have some rather nice 35mm and MF cameras with which I like to shoot on a regular basis. Sometimes I also like to shoot in central Manchester (UK) and it can be - to put it politely, rather interesting. When I go there, I take a very basic Practika MTL3 and Tessar 50mm 2.8 lens, or a Helios 58mm. It's not a valuable set up, is utterly reliable, (I've owned it for 30 odd years) and produces lovely images. It never seems to attract unwanted attention, however should that happen, it would act as a perfect self defence item which would inflict serious pain on any would be thief, not that I'm advocating violence, but I'm not giving up my camera without a fight. I should imagine that a Zenit body would be even more useful in similar circumstances. Thankfully the situation has never occurred as I'm very aware and don't put myself in silly situations.

[@graham_white]

I see very few praktica a pop up in local sales (florida) I have an old one I did but but with a massive lot, I would imagine up north would have more options. It yes they are not as prominent as other models for sure. I think that goes for most budget options. We had Kodak, and Japan options except for the higher end rollei, etc.

[@user-ve3gh5xg9q]

Great camera if you can serve it👍

[@kristapsrungis5403]

If you want the shutter, since it's getting old, not to die on you, you should lubricate it, because it never gets done with these. :)

[@graham_white]

It never gets done on a LOT of old film cameras. And you are right, luckily a lot of them can be repaired by doing that, or removing old lubrication that has hardened.

[@kareemsakr41]

Which City is this ?

[@graham_white]

Palm Beach County Fair (Florida)

[@kareemsakr41]

@@graham_white Wow amazing, not sure why I thought you're based in Ontario Canada. we just had a new stay at home order to I was like where is that fair haha

[@tiagomatos4531]

The camera is nothing especial, but the lens... the lens is one of the best lenses I own, there are people rehousing this lens to become cinema lenses.

[@graham_white]

The lenses are fantastic if you get a good copy. I’ve looked into rehousing a bit but that required the current lens body so I have to fix my other copy first. Or ship it off but paying for a rehousing is not cheap compared to 3D printing a new housing.

[@ajthealchemist]

@@graham_white check out Mark Holtze's video if you're gonna mod or rehouse your lens😏

[@chrissoclone]

Wait, mercury battteries? I own 2 of them and I'm pretty sure mine use simple LR44s (edit: SR43/D386 actually, but no mercury. :) )... otherwise, as you said an awful camera but I love the look of it. Of course I only bought them for the Helioses, but then just had to put a roll or two of film through them - only to never touch them again afterwards. :) One of my main issues with it was accidental exposures since the lightmeter is engaged the "modern way" - half-press the shutter release. But since this shutter release is so clunky you don't really feel where that "half" is until it's too late.

[@graham_white]

Oooh I totally forgot about that half press thing cause I gave up on meter since my battery kept falling out. That’s true that garbage. Plus if wasted shots trying to lock that button also.

[@nemosgaze]

5:33 that's the Biotar! they were made by Carl Zeiss in Jena, when the Soviets conquered the city in WW2 they looted the everything (as everywhere they conquered, mostly) and made the Helios lenses from that design.

[@graham_white]

Thats it! thanks

[@GordonHudson]

I had a 12XP att he time they were a current camera. The lens was really good. Film advance is a problem with these. People try to advance in one stroke and rip the sprockets. You need to do it in two or three short strokes.

[@graham_white]

Makes sense, it has a very long wind otherwise

[@ethanbrady5736]

Soviet slr’s are terrible but there’s just something about them that makes you kinda like them. I have a zenit 11 and the build quality as just wack and everything is uneven but I just can’t seem to let it go.

[@graham_white]

I know man, what’s with that? Idk but I’ll probably never let it go even though it’s such a hack job.

[@steinar4844]

I got one yesterday. Just had to have one.. Ugly but charming camera in a way

[@graham_white]

so true.

[@brineb58]

Oh man, you have a bad Zenit ... I have a Zenit 12cd which is the USSR version and all my parts work, have had some fun times with mine!!! The rewinding is the worst part !!!

[@norinjon3240]

That's actually “SD”

[@brineb58]

@@norinjon3240 Oh yeah ... I confuse all the cyrillic stuff!!!

[@someonewithsomename]

Great video! And what a piece of shit of a camera! Saying that as a (not so) proud owner of one. Got it from my family, cause those are abandoned where I live, when I started to film photography. Bought other camera immediately after. Have some lenses for m42 I want to use, so I still have to use Zenith for now, till I buy Pentax or smth. The main disadvantage of this camera other that thrash build quality, is Viewfinder. It has like 65% coverage... But that's actually the camera, that started my love (and hate) to film photography.

[@graham_white]

Agreed. And thanks!