- by Rick Drawbridge -

Surprisingly, considering the vast numbers of Zenit B’s manufactured, I’ve waited quite some time to acquire a tidy example. I guess they were such a cheap camera, a sort of Box Brownie of the SLR genre, that they were never a very prized posession.

ZENIT B

Most of the specimens I’ve contemplated buying have been battered and abused, and most have had the 50mm Industar-50 f/3.5 lens, an ugly little optic which performs quite well when well stopped-down, but lacks any cosmetic merit. This Zenit cost very little, and survived a courier trip from one end of the country to the other in a plastic courier bag, as is, no case or additional packing…. They built them tough, in ’60’s Russia.

According to the numbering, this example was built in 1969 in the Krasnogorsk factory, better know as KMZ. Production ran from 1967 to 1978, so this was one of the earlier ones. About 890,000 units were produced. This is a tidy example which works sweetly. At some stage someone has screwed a more comfortable little plunger into the shutter release, where the cable release would usually fit; I’ve left it there, since it’s a great improvement over the usual finger-denting Zenit release. The Zenit B is pretty well identical with the Zenit E, but lacks the inbuilt meter; with this little number you’re right back to basics. The viewfinder sports a ground glass screen, and that’s it, no other focusing aids. But the camera feels great, solid and simple with nothing to distract from the main business of framing your picture and firing the shutter; at least it has an instant-return mirror…Speeds are 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, 1/500 of a second and “B”.

The lens that came with it is the semi-luxury mid-market option,a 58mm f/2 Helios-44. While I have several Helios 44’s this is by far the oldest, apparently uncoated, with pre-set apertures. For those of you who have never had the joy of working with such a lens, it’s a system which involves two rings, one of which sets the aperture you require, and another to open the iris for focusing and to close it to the pre-determined aperture. It’s actually not as bad as it sounds; it’s just the remembering to stop down before pressing the go button that can be a little elusive…Like most of the Helios’s it’s a very crisp lens, and despite the primitive nature of the camera, the images it produced were up with the best. It focuses to a close 11 inches; the pic I’ve included of the bumblebee is taken without any close-up attachment, and cropped to about 1/4 the negative.

I really enjoyed putting a film through this camera, though it took about a month to complete. I’d take a few pics and put it down, and return to it a few days later when something caught my eye. It really was a true return to basics, with the photographer in total control. The film was the usual Fuji Superia 200.

All text and images © 2011 Rick Drawbridge

About the author:

Rick is a New Zealand photographer who spends his spare time researching, restoring and reviewing old film cameras.
He will share his adventures in re-exploring the joy of using film cameras used by amateurs and professional photographers alike. His articles are not meant to be pixel peeping and nerdy technical reviews. They just should inspire you to explore the world of analog imaging and encourage the usage of analog equipment.

Have a look to all articles in his series “The Joy of Film Cameras“.