Very unusual camera - Zenit PhotoSniper FS-3

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nickhills

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Nick Hills
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I have been asked to find out about a very unusual Russian Zenit Camera.

The item in question is a Zenit PhotoSniper. This is a modified Zenit ES which was sold with a 300mm Tair prime lens, and a Helios 58mm F2. The lenses are M42, so with a corresponding T-mount they will pretty much fit any SLR (they both work fantasticly well on my K10)

The odd thing about this camera is the fact that it is mounted on a frame with a pistol grip, and a shoulder stock much like a rifle. So far I have uncovered several stories (and several refutes) about its origins, including that it was commissioned by the KGB and was used for covert surveillance during the cold war.

More information can be found here

This camera is in fantastic condition with all the original parts and case, and is fully functional (including the photocell light meter). The lenses are clear and bright, and show only minor signs of use.

My question is, does anyone know of how best to contact a collector who may be interested in this item, I have been asked to find out what its worth, and make sure it would be going to someone who would appreciate it. I had thought about eBay, but it seems a little heartless to flog this amazing camera for a few pounds, and we would prefer a collector.

So does anyone know who I should contact (or is anyone interested themselves)
 
About 30 years ago I owned a Zenit EM and often camera across the rifled Zenit in mags etc. Fact is, it was always reported as being not much cop and there were plenty of them made and sold to aspiring Bird togs hereabouts

I can't imagine it being worth much at let alone to a 'Collector' as such

Again about 30 years ago I found a Kodak Jr #1 dated 1908 in reasonable condition. As it was so old I thought I'd found 'Gold' only to be told it was pretty much worthless

Just because it's old & unusual to you doesn't make it necessarily worth anything

Sorry

DD
 
Oh Lordy, I remember these from photo mags 20 years ago.

Never bought one but then, never wanted one either. Not that highly regarded I'm afraid :)
 
Hi,

My first SLR!! It was at the time all the rage, an huge metal case, and a lens that looked like it came from James Bond - the pistol grip helped too.

Like all Zenith cameras of that era, it was as good as the operator. Helios lenses were capable, and in the same bracket as those from Practika. It worked, was not battery dependant, but you needed a good light meter, as using the built in CDS meter was an act of faith.

I really don't think this is a collectable item, at least in the sense that it isn't worth a lot of money. They were advertised in newspapers, comics and the back of Exchange and Mart, but never in the photographic press. They must have been sold in their millions. I suspect that if you burrowed deep enough, you'd find one in the 'forgotten' section of most camera and second hand shops, and I've seen them sell for £20 or£30 on ebay.

Which is sad really, because with a little bit of time and effort, they are capable of taking really excellent photographs - but then again, so is the early Nikon/Canon AF body, selling for £10, or the really excellent Nikon F3/Canon F1 pro bodies that sell for £100.
 
i'm not so worried about its worth, but it just seems a shame to ebay it off for parts since its a complete and immaculate set.

do you not think it has any collectable value?

if not one went the other day for about 50quid plus shipping, so that could well end up being its fate :D
 
Nick,

It was a cheap Russian camera kit, sold at cheap prices 30 years ago. Years will not have been kind to it's value. It is NOT collectible, despite it's condition, sorry, but that's how it is.

You can buy an almost mint Nikon F3 these days for around £100, which is possibly the finest film camera ever - why pay £50 for a Zenit??

You'd be better off advertising it with a picture in a local newsagent. It still looks a lot of camera for the money!! Ebay prices will not be kind.

I've Just seen a Praktica B100 with 4 decent lenses for sale on the sales forum here for £65. The Zenith just can't compare.
 
nickhills said:
The lenses are M42, so with a corresponding T-mount they will pretty much fit any SLR (they both work fantasticly well on my K10)
Click to expand...
Just for clarity....M42 and T-mount are not the same. T-mount 42mm diameter with a 0.75mm thread pitch whilst M42 is 1mm thread pitch.

nickhills said:
The odd thing about this camera is the fact that it is mounted on a frame with a pistol grip, and a shoulder stock much like a rifle.
Click to expand...

I had a rifle stock attachment for my Zenith-E in the early 70's.....no problem in those days and it didn't attract so much attention (even at airshows). I've got an updated version now that mounts an EOS body and lens with wired trigger....manufactured in the US by Bushhawk.

Zenits were pretty much the bottom of the SLR market in those days and frequently acquired as the first step up from a regular film body....every school boy's dream. If your parents were a little more wealthy then a Praktica LTL was the order of the day.

Bob
 
Canon Bob said:
Zenits were pretty much the bottom of the SLR market in those days and frequently acquired as the first step up from a regular film body....every school boy's dream. If your parents were a little more wealthy then a Praktica LTL was the order of the day.

Bob
Click to expand...

My first camera as a kid was a Zenit E. Still got it, and it's still rubbish! :D
 
Canon Bob said:
Just for clarity....M42 and T-mount are not the same. T-mount 42mm diameter with a 0.75mm thread pitch whilst M42 is 1mm thread pitch.
Click to expand...

I didn't realise that, I presume the thread on these lenses is T-mount then, since my T-mount adaptor (from my 500mm mirror lens) fits nicely.
 
Canon Bob said:
Just for clarity....M42 and T-mount are not the same. T-mount 42mm diameter with a 0.75mm thread pitch whilst M42 is 1mm thread pitch.
Click to expand...

nickhills said:
I didn't realise that, I presume the thread on these lenses is T-mount then, since my T-mount adaptor (from my 500mm mirror lens) fits nicely.
Click to expand...

M42 /1.0mm was becoming a standard and then Tamron (hence the T) decided to confuse things, for no benefit!, by keeping the diameter but making a finer thread. The danger is that they're close enough to attempt to fit them and a buggered thread results.

Bob
 
Actually, the TAIR 300mm is/was a classy performer in it's day. Good value for your money. Got good reviews. It far outclassed the rest of the kit however which generally was less than mediocre!

The MTO mirror lenses (500mm and 1100mm [I think it was 1100mm]) were solid performers as well. I'm not a pro-Russian kit proponent by any means - but some of their lenses were a good buy.

Incidentally, it would be illegal to use the Photosniper kit these days under current anti-terrorist laws! :shrug:
 
chuckles said:
Incidentally, it would be illegal to use the Photosniper kit these days under current anti-terrorist laws! :shrug:
Click to expand...

The Bushhawk is marketed in the UK and birders are certainly still using them. You may be correct in what you say though and it's simply something that's not being enforced.

I'll investigate and report back......if it goes quiet, I'll likely be in "The Tower" feeding the ravens.

Bob
 
Eh ???

How on earth could it be illegal to use a camera with a long lens - just because it's on a rifle grip ???

You can still get those little desktop tripods that turn into shoulder stocks can't you ???

I look forward to C Bob's imprisonment as proof !!!

DD
 
DiddyDave said:
Eh ???

How on earth could it be illegal to use a camera with a long lens - just because it's on a rifle grip ???

You can still get those little desktop tripods that turn into shoulder stocks can't you ???

I look forward to C Bob's imprisonment as proof !!!

DD
Click to expand...

I'm with you - I can't see any possible reason why this would be illegal??:thinking:

Show up in Whitehall or parliament square with one, and you may well be pounced upon until the 'rifle' is identified as a camera, but I'm pretty certain that you wouldn't be arrested!
 
DiddyDave said:
Eh ???

How on earth could it be illegal to use a camera with a long lens - just because it's on a rifle grip ???

You can still get those little desktop tripods that turn into shoulder stocks can't you ???

I look forward to C Bob's imprisonment as proof !!!

DD
Click to expand...

I'll have to see if I can dig out the info. But, yes, it's true. Let's face who's to say you can't hide a gun in an arrangement that looks just like a camera setup like the Photosniper. Now if you were to use it in a public park ...... :rules:

You can still buy guns but it's not exactly wise to use or own them!
 
dougdarter said:
For those who have never seen one, here's a pic:

1.jpg


Here's an article about them:
http://cameras.alfredklomp.com/fs12/
Click to expand...

Thanks for the pic - brings back memories!

But I can't see any Cop thinking you were about to shoot a 67mm bullet out of the front, through a sheet of glass & with a camera sat on the back

You've been watching too much James Bond stuff m8 :D

If such a 'gun' was meant as a disguise, you'd hardly use a rifle mount to draw attention to your self would you

:thinking::thinking::thinking: "Clever old me - I've disguised my gun as a errr... gun" :LOL:

DD
 
I wouldn't recommend getting on the London underground with one.
 
theory said:
I wouldn't recommend getting on the London underground with one.
Click to expand...

Nor can you walk out of a pub with a table leg under your arm :puke:

I've searched far and wide and can't find anything confirming their status as dodgy. They're certainly marketed in the UK....the manufacturers European outlet is based in Cambridge.

:shrug:

Bob
 
Well, y'know the way things are going these days, a camera with no resemblance to a gun or rifle is just as likely as not to get you "spoken" to.
Illegal or not, you don't decide, that is left up to whoever sees you using it.
I gotta say, I think there's a 99% chance that it will be reported at every single outing.....unless you're on you're own on the moors with nowt but sheep and a snotty nose.
There's no reason for them to be dodgy, it is other peoples perception that will make it un-usable.
Reminds me of the Nikon gun camera, but that really does look like a gun with a lens rather than a lens with a vague resemblance to a rifle.

gun-camera.jpg


Times have changed, shooting kids is something to think twice about as is pointing anything remotely gun shaped in the quietest of public areas.
 
The police and quite a few of the general population are so stupid I bet if you walked around with a 6 foot length of drain pipe on your shoulder it would take less than five minutes to be surrounded by a swat team thinking you have a rocket launcher.

There was a Zenith B photosniper kit out in the early 70s. I bought my first slr - a Zenith B in 1970 £25 new. I still have it and at this very minute there's a film going through it - for the first time since around 1980. It has a pre-set lens, which means you focus at full aperture and manually close the iris to its pre-set value before taking the picture. No light meter, so it was all guess work and I got good at it after a short while.
 
That some idiots may think you have a gun wasn't the point - the point was it was stated as being 'illegal' to use it

There appears to be no reason or evidence to suggest that this is true

And 5 mins for a SWAT team to get here from the USA would be great to see :LOL:

DD
 
DiddyDave said:
That some idiots may think you have a gun wasn't the point - the point was it was stated as being 'illegal' to use it

There appears to be no reason or evidence to suggest that this is true

And 5 mins for a SWAT team to get here from the USA would be great to see :LOL:

DD
Click to expand...

It was in a photo magazine when the new terrorist laws were introduced. It was an interpretation those new laws and how they could be applied to photography.

When I read it at the time it made perfect sense (the application NOT the legislation). In fact, there was a photo of the Photosniper on the following page of the article but, as I read the previous page(s), the Zenit kit went through my mind.

What I was saying, under current legislation, it is easy to conclude that to use the Photosniper would be deemed illegal. I wouldn't be so stupid to suggest that the law says, "You can't use a Photosniper"! :razz:

We're in the process of moving house and I haven't got the time to search for the article in question.

Can somebody who has one of these kits use it in a public place and prove me right please? :naughty:
 
similar...

the Zinit from the photosniper outfit has a spiggot on the bottom which includes the shutter linkage so that you can 'fire' a shot using the pistol grip trigger, but otherwise its the same body.
 
Just think... London or any city then think Menenzies :thinking: I dont think its illegal just a silly thing to carry around in the current climate

Do you like lillys lol
 
Erik...is that the dwelling surveillance model?

Because it has been disguised as a house brick.

I remember them too, a friend of mine had a Zenit E as his first camera. Those sniper things with their slidy focussing rail - even tried one once in a shop and hated it immediately - and I shoot.

Pray, why is it unwise to use a gun? I used mine this weekend to put dinner on the table. Perfectly legal, perfectly normal - go to Europe and see a French "battue", the entire village turn out, and they walk down the road with their rifles and shotguns, not even in gin slips, just out in the open over the shoulder......nobody bats an eyelid. It is only over here in regulation mad Britain that people would raise concern.

By the way - things are not "banned" they are made illegal, or criminalised. I think we should ban the word ban.
 
It's more of a collectors item that a regular use camera anyway, yes it would be stupid to take it out with you because of the current gun culture, when i was really would we walked around with replica magnum air rifles and shot police cars! Do that now-a-days and you will get shot and point blank.
 
Ah the Zenit. My first SLR. I loved it. Solid as a rock. Took good photographs and extrememly handy in a fight. I dropped mine on the quayside somewhere just before I was due to sail a yacht to the Scillies. The back sprang open and the film popped out. With no opportunity for any kind of repair, I hammered it closed with a winch handle. Worked fine after that.
 
I bought my ZENIT Photosniper from the camera market at Tahrir Square in Baghdad while on down time during a UN weapons inspection during the nineties.

Apparently, members of the security services in need of cash would pilpher a camera or two from agency stocks and sell them. The camera mart also had a large number of those small cameras right out of "Get Smart," used to photograph documents (No, I didn't buy one. I didn't want the attention.)

Alfred Klomp disparages the idea that the ZENIT was used as a spy camera on his website, but he is confusing a spy camera with a surveillance camera. This camera is used to keep tabs on dissidents, for example, people who think it a bit odd that government officials would vote to allow they paymasters in the financial oligarchy to siphon hard-earned taxpayer money to replace imaginary "financial assets," but I digress.

I am not a photography nut, but have taken some very nice pictures with the kit. I also received two other lenses (2,8/50 and 1.7/50). I am interested in any offers from collectors. It doesn't have the shoulder stock that attaches to the trigger mechanism, but I know where I can have a wooden replacement made.
 
Hi all new to this site, i have jush bought a zenit photosniper but when i got the box the camera was not in goog condition so i emmmailed the person & told him so he just said keep it. I will have to get a zenit camera now has any one got one for sale,

:shake:
 
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