Zenit EM

slackyuser

slackyuser

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Si
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While in a charity shop I succumb to an impulse buy a cheap Zenit EM.
Looks in good condition and seems to be in good working order.
Meter is moving but will check it.
Any advice on using would be appreciated

Thanks

Simon
 
Cock the shutter before you adjust the shutter speed! This is vitally important failing to do so will kill the shutter.
 
Depending on which lens is fitted you may have to make sure you close the aperture manually as well.
 
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RaglanSurf said:
Depending on which lens is fitted you may have to make sure you close the aperture manually as well.
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The EM has the auto stopdown feature (which was absent from the earlier/cheaper E) that pushes the aperture pin on the lens, and as so allows you to use all M42 lenses with it. The only time it doesn't stop the lens down is when using the self timer (for some unknown reason!).
 
Many thanks for all the helpful comments. I've just cleaned it and loaded it with a film so hope to try it out tomorrow.
Slight shame it hasn't got the Helios lens but that may well be the next buy ;)
 
Prices for the Helios 44 have gone up since the digital boys took a liking to them & you will be lucky to find one on the cheap. It deserves its reputation.
 
DNH said:
Prices for the Helios 44 have gone up since the digital boys took a liking to them & you will be lucky to find one on the cheap. It deserves its reputation.
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The masses now know that :- quite a few, many or all Russian lenses are clones of Zeiss lenses from the captured factory in WW2.
 
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Shot a roll of film through it today, light meter is accurate in very good light only.

what lens is on it ?
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It has a Paragon 35mm lens.

Depending on which lens is fitted you may have to make sure you close the aperture manually as well.
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Made that school boy error a few times
 
i got my hands on a 1980 Helios and got a converter for the 40D, early tests are looking great, it's a fine piece of glass and you get the "what's that?" look when other smudgers spot it. :)
 
Agfa Slide is in the EOS 33, the lens test was on digi. Ironically, getting the digi has made me use my film bodies more.
 
RumpFace said:
Agfa Slide is in the EOS 33, the lens test was on digi. Ironically, getting the digi has made me use my film bodies more.
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I was joking with my comment but seriously:- what I have learned from forums is that old lenses don't always give the same results on digi bodies compared to film esp many not being full frame and it seems could give different results on different digi bodies, and it now seems the best digi bodies are better than many old lenses and will show it's faults more.... but no complications using film as using the same lens and film on any similar film camera (providing it's not faulty and the lens will fit) should give the same results.......well there is just the small point about dev and scanning from different places ;) :exit:
 
what are these "other places" for film processing? :)
the 58mm Helios on the cropped 40D becomes 92.8mm, so of course it will be very different, that's something i like about it. I'm hoping to get some extension tubes too for it, that might be interesting.
 
RumpFace said:
what are these "other places" for film processing? :)
the 58mm Helios on the cropped 40D becomes 92.8mm, so of course it will be very different, that's something i like about it. I'm hoping to get some extension tubes too for it, that might be interesting.
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Also with a crop digi camera it wont show the blurred edges on lesser quality lenses esp fully open, so e.g. a shot of say a brick wall would look better than a film camera (full frame). For "other places" mentioned it could be from supermarkets to top labs for dev and scanning, also home dev kits...C41 processing should be the same anywhere in the world (like McDonald's hamburgers), but if you use stale\out of date chemicals results can vary. Also when doing my own colour processing (many years ago) found Kodak chemicals were the best and Paterson's\Jessops colour kit although cheaper and more convenient didn't quite match Kodak, but my views might be dated and maybe things are different now with Fuji chemicals esp as many places use Fuji machines and would think they use Fuji chemicals.
 
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RumpFace said:
Agfa Slide is in the EOS 33, the lens test was on digi. Ironically, getting the digi has made me use my film bodies more.
Click to expand...
It was buying a D80 back in 2007 that reawakened my interest in photography, I only had a couple of film cameras back then, it's been a slippery slope ever since :LOL:
 
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