Zenit am2

If anyone is familiar with this camera, I desperately need your help!
The instructions in Russian are very confusing for some reason.
I need to know how to set the lens part of it.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks!

Afraid I'm not, but this guy can probably help: http://www.vintagefoldingcameras.com/

I'm not sure what kind of camera you've got but there are (were) a lot of popular Russian medium format folders that he works on.

another view,
Thanks for the suggestion, but the camera that I have is a newer than what he has.
This is what it looks like: http://www.russiagoods.com/mo/zenit-apk-am2.jpg
I have a feeling it is not a bad camera at all as long as I learn to use it.

So what do you need to know?
There shouldn't be anything special about it as far as I can see.
Normal aperture and focus controls, and that's it.
The only other control I'd expect to find is a depth-of-field button.
No auto-focus.


I see they now use the Pentax K mount.
Still manual focus, but I guess it has a TTL meter today.

Looks like a slightly updated version of the old Zenith 35mm.
I had one of the special ones with a light meter build into the front !
Great rugged camera, my first SLR and it survived being dropped down a cliff !
That was over 30 years ago - how time flies.

The rugift website still shows the photosniper outfit, I wanted one of those as a kid.
I ended up with 135mm and extension tubes for insect photography instead.

Lens quality was outstanding, photos taken with an AE-1 and its 50mm lens were not as good as with my trusty old Zenit. Same day, same time, same scene, same film!
I wonder how good they are today, have they sacrificed quality to keep the prices low?

SmartWombat

Well, I am having problems with a light meter, or I don't know what to look for?
Originally it used PX625 battaries, so the replacement that I got are Wein Cell 1.35 volts.
I charged them and put them in (btw, my light meter is the external one - little "door" on the right of the camera), but I see no difference. Is it supposed to say something when it (light meter) is working???

I'm trying to find one here in the UK that I can get my hands on and see what you're not seeing ...

SmartWombat,
Another question for you :)
I actually decided to use an older version of Zenit (Zenit-E from '78) and I figured out pretty much everything, except how to use the light meter. How do I figure out the aperture and f-stops that I need to set in order to property expose the picture based on the light meter reading???

Is your Zenit-E the one with the light sensor on the front?
A flat glass plate over the sensor, it looks like a setof black squares under it.
Does it have a meter knob on the left hand side?

There should be a match needle with a ring on the end, looks like a lollipop wiht a hole in.
The light metering needle is just a plain white needle.

As you change shutter speed it should change the metering needle position.

You turn the knob until the match needle is in lined up with the metering needle in the middle of the hole. That's set the light meter reading on the dial in the middle of the knob.

The film speed is set in the middle of the match needle knob, the scale in the centre moves (there's a little pin you can hook your fingernail onto) and you can see immediately there how film speed is related to exposure.

...anything translated from Russian, PM member Irakly Shanidze. ;)

SmartWombat!
Thanks so much :)
Another thing, once I set the film sensitivity and light meter, how do I know what aperture and shutter speed to set?

Steve :)
If you need anything translated from Russian, you can come to me too :)

You choose whatever shutter speed you like.
So long as the needle is in the window, not at either end !
Pick a shutter speed to suit your subject, which puts the needle about in the middle half.
Once you get within 1/4 of the way to each end, the meter is less accurate.
Then you match the needles, and you should read the aperture off the mark on the knob.

I'm hoping my old Zenit-E will turn up as we clear out my Dad's house (he died earlier this month) and I can try it again :)