INTRODUCTION

The Zenit E is a 35mm film SLR made un USSR between 1965 and 1982.

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PERSONAL NOTES

My dad had a Zenit E since the 70s. During the 80s, I started in photography doing astrophotography, I did a lot of photos of the Sun with it.

When using the camera on a C mount adapter on a telescope, the camera is pretty easy to use. But in real photography applications, it's another thing. The lens aperture control is manual.

When you see an old manual focus lens and it says "auto" somewhere on it, it means that the aperture control is automatic. You start to understand the important of that "auto" when you don't have it. On the Zenit E, when you want to shoot at a certain aperture setting, you have to manually change the aperture on the lens before taking the photo. Then put back the lens at the maximum aperture after so your finder is not dimmed. A real hassle. I can manage to do that on a large format camera, but not on a 35mm.

The Zenit E' mechanics is easy to break, and after a short while, you can get light leaks as a bonus.

CONCLUSION

The Zenit E is cheap, but you get what you pay for.

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