Zenit..... with ridiculously hefty price tags

[kbg32]

http://petapixel.com/2016/02/12/russian-zenit-camera-coming-back-battle-leica-luxury/

".....Zenit will likely produced in much lower quantities, with much higher quality, and with ridiculously hefty price tags."

 

[littleearth]

If they add a bright viewfinder with decent coverage, I'll buy one to use my m42 glass. Something like a Bessaflex TM, would be nice !

 

[johnf04]

I find the comments on the linked article interesting - sweeping condemnations of Zenits, which seem to be based more on political prejudice than fact. My first SLR, in 1970, was a Zenit 3m, with the Helios f2 lens - it was all I could afford. It was capable of producing fine photographs. In the last few years I have aquired more Zenits, almost by accident. Most of them are still in working condition. They are relatively simple, rugged, and reasonably straightforward to work on.

I doubt, though, that they are the basis for competition with Leica.

 

[Huss]

"... and with ridiculously hefty price tags."

I think this just means that they will price their gear by weight now.

 

[Huss]

Nothing really wrong by aiming at the luxury market, that may be the only way to make money. But to do that buyers are buying into the image, which includes heritage.
Zenit does not have any luxury heritage, in fact, it is the opposite. Leica was luxury from day #1.

I'm not knocking Zenit's products, it's just that their game plan may be a bit flawed.

 

[xayraa33]

Why don't they re-introduce an upgraded Zorki 4 rangefinder camera?


Much better than the very common Zenit SLR.

 

[uhoh7]

By all means let's not wait till we see what they offer and exactly how much. Let's just trash them now. 🙂

The Lomo J3+ thread started the same way as this.

 

[johnf04]

I worked with a lot of Zenits (teaching) and never thought of them as political.

How exactly does that work, the political aspect?

Were they reliable? (Technically, not politically....)

 

[CameraQuest]

http://petapixel.com/2016/02/12/russian-zenit-camera-coming-back-battle-leica-luxury/

".....Zenit will likely produced in much lower quantities, with much higher quality, and with ridiculously hefty price tags."

yes indeed, I can see it now

"Lika Zenit?"

 

[farlymac]

All I can say is, does this look like a photo made with a junk camera?

Zenit TTL
Helios 44-M 2/58

Notes Of Passing Through by P F McFarland, on Flickr

Granted, the meter doesn't work, but I can make do without.

PF

 

[Keith]

Full frame digital of course!

 

[Monochrom]

Hail the republic of soviet socialist republics!!!

Luxurious?

Will they be rangefinders? or those Zenit Slr´s dressed in furs and gold?

Remeber putin has lots of millionaires and they are chauviniskaia so will and fortune aren´t a problem...the arab millionaires are also ready to buy whatever is necessary to widen the gap tween poor and wealthy.

 

[Tim Murphy]

http://petapixel.com/2016/02/12/russian-zenit-camera-coming-back-battle-leica-luxury/

".....Zenit will likely produced in much lower quantities, with much higher quality, and with ridiculously hefty price tags."

Dear kbg,

All of those terms in that quote require far more definition to have meaning.

For example, if they made only 3 million that would represent a 75% reduction. If the quality doubled or tripled what would that mean in actual terms? Finally, ridiculously hefty price tag for whom, the average Russian, the average American, the average Chilean?

I won't buy one either way, but what you quoted doesn't mean anything without parameters.

Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂

 

[Huss]

When I was a kid in England I remember them only being bought by people who couldn't afford any other cameras. And they still were pretty rare. I think Prakticas were quite a bit more popular.

 

[btgc]

Russia has made Yotaphone, competitor to iphone. Also Elbrus chip, to not depend on Intel and AMD. I'm sure they are able to produce camera, too. I'm waiting when Mr. Medvedev abandons his Leicas and switches to high quality Zenit.

 

[sevo]

When I was a kid in England I remember them only being bought by people who couldn't afford any other cameras. And they still were pretty rare. I think Prakticas were quite a bit more popular.

For three or four periods in the sixties and seventies (whenever they had a new model generation, made on fresh machinery, with extra attention to QC), Prakticas were fully up to the Japanese and quite considerably superior to West German consumer SLRs. I don't think the same could ever be said about Zenits...

 

[DominikDUK]

+1 to Sevo
Zenit are very simple and crude machines but since they are rather simple they are also easy to repair and not so easy to kill. The ideal educational tools cheap and repairable.

What I a missing in the article is the price tag, it is only an assumption made by the author and not fact.

If other companies under the Rostec umbrella would help in the development of the camera they can certainly make something that is as good or even better than Leica but I doubt that they will.

 

[johank]

Are some still waiting for this New Wounder?

 

[someonenameddavid]

My view of Soviet era Zenith is thus: the USSR wanted to prove that its socialism was inherently superior to the west and the inevitable conclusion to the progress of history. Every gain by the USSR was a victory for the progressive agenda. Zenits were sold in Europe below the actual cost to produce them in order to gain hard currency so that the USSR could gain hard currency to buy things that the rouble wouldn't buy. The Soviet economy was essentially a dual system: hard cash for the political elite and worthless money for the proletariat.

It couldn't survive.
The manufacturers were under pressure to meet quotas and not innovate, so a 1976 Zenith was 1962 electrical technology and 1940s engineering. Compared to an OM1, it was a piece of crap. People would save up, work harder, even go into debt to buy an OM1 because of the perceived status. (That's why Nikon systems worked so well, the perceived status... no amateur needed an F instead of a Nikkormat... but the status... ahhb)

So the Japanese out produced and out innovated everyone.... good for them and good for us. The Soviet command economy collapsed, as will all command economies eventually.

David

 

[DominikDUK]

It's more that the Soviet State wanted a tool that was financially available to everyone or at least a larger number of people at least early on that is. Later on is a different matter though.

I am also not so sure about the OM 1 outselling the Zenit. Olympus never was a really big player in the camera market. They made the best tool for microphotography though.

Regarding cameras Salgado started out and made some of his more famous early photographs with a Praktica not a Leica. Also the Pro-system 35mm SLR before the Nikon F was the Exakta see Hitchcock's rear window.