New Zenit 11 w/ Helion 44M 4 Lens & Sample Photos

[Steve M.]

I bought a $40 Zenit 11. It has the requisite light leak (not too bad) and a clean Helios 44M 4 lens. I shot it today w/ Tri-X shot at 200, or 100 w/ a yellow filter, and developed the negs in D76 for 8 minutes at 70 degrees. I'll save you the light leak photos, but here's some samples. I print in a darkroom and all I have is an ancient Epson 2450 scanner that is pretty hopeless for 35mm but great for proofing. The camera is really pretty nice! Viewfinder seems to show about 75 % of what you get on a neg and the lens is stiff to focus (surprise!), but I like it a lot.

It's supposed to read Helios, not Helion, although I do like Helion actually. Shots of Sissy and Linda were at f2. What looks like reticulation on the beach shot is underexposure. I was hoping for some of that crazy bokeh but didn't get it on the first roll here:[


http://s1241.photobucket.com/user/stevemareno/slideshow/Zenit 11?sort=3

 

[xayraa33]

That Helios 44 lens draws very nice.
It is based on the Zeiss Biotar lens so you can't go wrong.

 

[Steve M.]

Zenit 11 and Helios

Zenit 11 and Helios

I'll try to upload the shot of the camera here. I agree, it images a lot better than I thought it would. Negs look really good. Of course, the weak link in any Russian gear is the camera, but the light leak LOOKS easy to fix. We'll see.

 

[xayraa33]

The early 1970s KMZ made Zenit camera was a better made Zenit.

I remember new Belarus made Zenit SLRs that did not work right out of the box, as they were made missing an internal part, how was that for QC .

And late 1980s/early 90s Zenit cameras that seem to magically fall apart in your hands after a very short time owning them.

 

[Steve M.]

Yes, nothing would surprise me about Russian camera QC. This one, other than a thin hazy vertical line in the viewfinder which I reckon is prism separation, works perfectly. Except for the light leak issue. And the fact that 1/250 is firing at 1/125. And the lens focus is way too over damped. But other than that.....

The lens IQ is the best part, although my chrome nose Canon FD 50 1.4 lens truly, truly blows it away.