Vintage soviet SLR ZENIT with rigid Industar-22 50mm lens, from 1955
MADE IN USSR!
Arguably the cutest SLR ever! Very small, hardly bigger then a rangefinder of the same era!
From sovietcams.com:
The camera is essentially a Zorki (Leica II (D) copy) with a rangefinder replaced with a reflex housing. The film loads from the bottom, as in screwmount Leicas. It has all the Zorki specifications. The camera is very compact and handles nicely.
The idea of including a reflex mechanism in a body originally designed as a rangefinder is more than original. With the exception of the Swiss ALPA reflex in 1942, the major players in the photo industry will wait for the end of the fifties before proposing cameras following this concept. The dimensions of the body are maintained, with the exception of the prism and the mirror chamber, of course. The lens on this is an Industar-22 “Zorki” shortened by the factory, from 1951 (source: “The authentic Guide to Russian and Soviet Cameras” by J.L.Princelle, 2nd edition, 2004).
In comparison to later SLR’s it is a small camera. In fact it is not bigger than the Zorki C, which is a Zorki 1 with flash sync. The engineers at KMZ added a reflexcage to the rangefinder turning it into an SLR. In fact this happened once before. Back in 1937 (other sources refer to 1939) a Russian company called VOOMP-GOI created the FS-2. Which was a rangefinder with an external reflexcage. KMZ engineers went a step further. They integrated the reflexcage with the camera and created Zenit.
Like its rangefinder brother the Zorki C it is a bottomloader. It even has a 39 mm mount. Due to the fact that the reflexcage takes up more room in the camera there’s a problem. The normal LTM 39 mm lenses will mount but you can’t focus with them. KMZ called their mount ZM39 instead of LTM39. Zenit Mount 39 mm instead of Leica Thread Mount 39 mm
Soviet SLR Zenit with Industar-22 – good way to start experiments with film.
It’s viewfinder is TTL(ThroughTheLens) – you’ll see what you get. Well, most of it.
Focusing on ground glass is easy – image becomes sharper/more blurry as you focus(unlike in rangefinders).
Camera (s/n 5517972)Â is in excellent condition – with few signs of normal use / age.
Shutter speed on this camera can be set before and after cocking the shutter.
Lens (s/n 5505059) is in very good condition
Glass is clean and clear, no fungus, no haze.
Some micro scratches in front / some internal dust particles are present.
Mechanics are excellent, focus is smooth and uniform.
Aperture blades are clean from oil.
Comes complete with:
- it’s leather case in excellent condition(with part of the strap is missing)
- Â metal takeup spool
- metal lens cap
- it’s carton box
Camera is fully functional and is hungry for film!
Produced: 1959-1962
Name: „Зенит-3“
Producer: KMZ
Frame size: 24×36.
Lens: Industar-22 50mm f/3.5
Shutter: 1/30s, 1/60s, 1/125s, 1/250s, 1/500s + B.
This product ships from 
Ukraine with tracking number
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