Zenit

20$ for a zenit is a ×4 markup from what it's worth. They're all very bad primitive limited amateur SLRs, and the models you listed only differ with metering and focusing screen type. Go for the 12cd, it's relatively newest, has real through the lens metering and unlike then TTL model doesnt have a moving spring-tensioned part in the meter that can fail/malfunction. Also has a microprism focusing patch to somewhat help getting stuff in focus, unlike the E model.

But honestly for 20$-40$ buy a proper western SLR, ebay, craigslist and so on.

>>3075767
>proper western SLR
Suggestions?
I don't want anything too new, like Canons that look like you took all the electronics out of a modern DSLR.

>ebay
It'll probably be real expensive, including shipping to Russia.

>>3075771
Get a older leica SLR. Pretty cheap and cheap good glass.

>>3075785
I'm not made of money. 40$ is the hard limit, especially because it'll be double that if I include average shipping cost.

>>3075793
If you insist on crude East Bloc charm, get a Praktica. Zenits are easy to repair (to someone technically adept), but unreliable, undependable, have limited shutter speeds, poor metering, and a garbage tier finder. Otherwise pick up whatever Japanese SLR from the 60's to 80's. Since you insist on old fashioned ergonomics: Minolta SRT, Pentax Spotmatic, Konica Autoreflex T, some old Fujica. Or Praktica MTL5b (b model uses modern batteries for its meter, hence recommended). Zenits and Zorkis are funny meme cameras that you should never ever ever make your main one, and only recommended for those who love tinkering with screws, levers, pins and springs.

>>3075793
if you're not made of money you're going to have a bad time shooting developing and printing film

>>3075771
Try to find a praktica SLR, they are good and cheap

>>3075839
>meme cameras that you should never ever ever make your main one
My main camera is a chinese smartphone, mate. If anything, I'm looking exactly for a meme camera. But I'll try to look for some Praktica cameras, since you're saying they're better.

>>3075860
Leica money != film money.

>>3075862
I'll try to look for some Praktica cameras, since you're saying they're better.

>>3075771
get a minolta - search for XD7(or XD11 in US)/XD5 or if you want a cheaper option grab one from XG series

>>3075869
How are you gonna afford film, developing and scanning? You'd be better off saving up more for a cheap dslr or mirrorless. The hashtag "staybrokeshootfilm" is fairly realistic

>>3075882
>How are you gonna afford film, developing and scanning?
By not spending hundreds on a dope camera.

>"I just got really interested in old film cameras"
>You'd be better off saving up more for a cheap dslr or mirrorless
are you retarded

>>3075753
I'm convinced that all slavshit cameras are exactly that, shit.

My dad's Smena 8 is dogshit, it lasted a while, but he took it to the beach and a bit of sand fucked it up good and proper. After opening it up it's literally made of elastic bands and paperclips.

If you're seriously lusting after an old film camera, any Japanese one is good, most German are OK, and maybe one or two eastern bloc ones are ok. Otherwise any Zorky/Smena/Zenit etc cameras are just dogshit.

If you want cheap and reliable, do your research and seek old and unknown Canon / Nikon / Pentax brands that haven't been in the spotlight lately.

I got a Canon AE-1 for 20$ at a yard sale once and it was was a pleasure to use.

>>3075888
To be fair, Smena cameras are a lot cheaper -- Smena 8 can be bought for 8$ in that same store.
I'm hearing conflicting opinions about Zenit cameras. Some say they're built like tanks, others say they tear film, explode, and give you cancer. No idea who to believe.

>>3075895
Yes they are a good bit cheaper, but the principal remains the same really.

Sure the Zenits can be built like tanks, but how relevant is that when it's horrible to use, unreliable and generally an awful shooting experience?

At the end of the day, you need to develop that film, you want to have usable pictures - and you may have wanted to enjoy yourself during the whole process. The first two points require money, and how would it feel if you spent the time to buy the film, shot with it, developed it, printed it, and you were left with dogshit prints? If you're even slightly serious about getting better at photography, and getting good results - the tools should matter. There is a reason why garden tools aren't made out of plastic. Shit needs to last and be reliable.

>>3075753
If you want to take photos, get a late 90's plastic body slr, they will be the easiest and most reliable with the best image quality.

If you want some heavy jewellery that will probably be broken in some way, get slavshit

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>>3075896
There are lots of Zenit-taken pics on the internet, they look alright.
Perhaps they were taken by godlike photographers and I'm just sitting here saying "i can do that" having never used a manual camera. But I don't think that's the case.

I'll strongly consider other options, but it's really hard to find something alright that doesn't cost a bunch just to ship here. I'd love to get a Praktica MTL5b, but even just a body is outside of my price range.

I'll most likely go with 12cd in the end, and go up from there if I decide I need more.

>>3075938
Where is it that you live?

>>3075939
Russia.

>>3075941
Oh, I see. Well I take back most of what I've said. Seeing as you live there, there is likely a lot of choice of cameras in good condition. In that case I'd give it a shot.

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I got a zenit 12s as part of the photosniper bundle. I can't seem to screw the M42 Helios lens onto it that came with it. It worked at first but now won't screw on.

It's definately not the thread because I can feel it bouncing against a pin or something as I turn it, its still loose.

Any help?

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Also I can safely say that the other people in this thread are right and Zenit's are shit. The build quality is just terrible, the battery lid won't screw on, the viewfinder is loose...

Forget it and buy a pentax

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>>3075941
How the fuck are you having to pay 20 usd for a Zenit in Russia, anon?! That's like complaining the sand is expensive in Sahara. I'm west of you in Poland and 7.80usd is a good Zenit price, 17ish for a praktica. None of your relatives/friends' families have any old film cameras lying around unused in some dusty drawer? Nigga srsly, did you just go to a highbrow antiques shop in some upperclass district/city center and ask their prices? Hell, I can mail you a Zenit for the postage price, got spare bodies from buying helioses.

>>3075888
Literally elastic bands and paperclips.

>>3076038
Have you actually opened one up? It's just incredible what the Soviets put into one of their point and shit cameras. Mind you my dad got his on his communion in 1967 and used it until 1995.

>>3076038
>20 usd for a Zenit in Russia
It'll be 40$ (*gasp*) for Zenit 12cd. Shit's fucked, man.

>That's like complaining the sand is expensive in Sahara
Because in the west Zenits are shit-tier cameras (case in point: this thread), but here those cameras carry sentimental value.

>did you just go to a highbrow antiques shop in some upperclass district/city center and ask their prices?
Nope. It's a small photography store in some crappy mall. Prices from regular people are about the same.

>None of your relatives/friends' families have any old film cameras lying around unused in some dusty drawer?
My dad has a Zenit ET, but it's broken.

>I can mail you a Zenit for the postage price, got spare bodies from buying helioses.
Shipping would still be expensive, and I'd still have to get a lens (prices for Helioses are even more retarded here). But I appreciate the offer.

>>3075771
Olympus OM-1 can be had for 10-50 euros, at least where I live (NL). Can't imagine they would be a lot more expensive elsewhere.

Excellent cameras, everything you need and nothing you don't need. Quite sturdy too and, at least in my opinion, very beautiful. Lenses are dirt cheap too. You can build an original Zuiko (Olympus's own lenses, 3rd party are usually a bit crappy, save for some of the Vivitars) prime collection for under 200 euros. Canon F1 and Nikon F1, F2 and F3 are roughly the same tier, but a bit more expensive.

>>3076057
You can't "open up" a Smena 8, nigger. It's literally a plastic chassis, a barebones film advance mechanism under the top plate and a shutter/helicoid lens assembly that's only held by two screws to the body proper. The three specimens I disassembled for various reasons exhibited a distressing lack of rubberbands and paperclips.
>>3076058
Shit's fucked indeed. A Zenit/helios/carrycase plus packaging is over 1kg. But you said your dad has an ET, so how come don't you already have an m42 lens?
Shipping a Zenit body to Russia from here would be 7.76usd, priority mail(just weighed it snd checked). Around three times its worth imho.

Zenits really can't be more expensive there because the ones I see here were bought up in the east, shipped here and even with the markup for all the middlemen are still 2-3 times cheaper than your store prices. You guys have a craigslist equivalent, here's an example off a random area:
https://www.avito.ru/samara/fototehnika/plenochnye_fotoapparaty
Did you try checking there? 90% of the times you can haggle the price in ads like these.

>>3076087
It was an exaggeration you insipid cunt.

>>3076088
Stop replying to tripfags

>>3076087
Discord does not miss you.

>>3076087
>so how come don't you already have an m42 lens
I dunno, I haven't asked after finding out it was broken. Maybe it's the lens that is broken or doesn't exist at all, no idea.

>You guys have a craigslist equivalent
Oh I know. That's how I found that store in the first place (stores put listings there too, but they don't haggle).

I'll ask my dad about the details of his Zenit. If I manage to get a decent lens, then I'll get in touch with you and so we can figure something out.

>>3075884
No apparently just more aware that you're gonna have a shit time taking photos.. while you're not

>>3076123
Did I indicate somewhere it's going to be all unicorns and butterflies? No.

But did I indicate I'm interested in literally anything other than an old film camera? No, because I'm not in any way interested in getting a proper camera.

I'm fine with having a shit time taking photos if it means I can afford to take any photos at all.

>>3076059
>Lenses are dirt cheap too.

Not really...

>>3075753
Don't get a Zenit, OP. Like everyone else is saying, they're heavy, clunky to use and generally unreliable. They have selenium meters, most of which are now dead and cannot be replaced, as well as cloth shutters which are prone to holes and degrading. In the same price range you could get Praktica or Spotmatic like mentioned above which both have good metering and solid components, while using the same (awesome and cheap) M42 mount.

>>3075882
>>3075860
Also don't listen to this guy. If the film, dev & scanning is costing you more than $10 per roll you're doing something very wrong.

>>3076281
Not that anon. Have you calculated how much it's going to cost you to process, scan, and/or print each roll? If you haven't you should.

>>3076426
>you could get Praktica or Spotmatic
I know, I know.
I found a Praktica MTL-5B + Helios 44-2 for sale for ~20$, but it looks a bit "too used" and I'm not sure whether it works well or not. I'll ask the seller, it could be that magical deal I've been looking for.

>>3076428
I did. It's not too bad, which is why I still have not given up.
It's not like I'll be shooting a whole lot anyway.

>>3076432
It pays off to be patient. Don't leap at the first thing you find if it doesn't look ideal.

>>3076432
You won't be able to afford to process to rolls of 36 exposures and get them scanned. I wish you luck op...

>>3076531
>You won't be able to afford...
I literally said I _will_ be able to in the post you were replying to.
Am I supposed to teach you budgeting 101 here?

>>3076531
Not him but I shoot Ektar which is on the pricier side (£6), then I get a 20-minute dev (£3) and self-scan. At the rate I shoot, that's about five years' worth of photos before I've paid for a DSLR and good lens which would've been made redundant by that time anyway. If you were canny/unfussy about film buying you could easily make that 10 years' worth.

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So I asked my dad about his Zenit ET, picrelated.
As it always the case, the visual condition is basically perfect, but the camera itself is broken. Don't know exactly what is broken yet, I'll investigate further when I receive it.
And it doesn't have a cool Helios lens, which is a bummer.

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instead it has a cooler industar-50-2 pancake tessar, boohoo. if that's a photo of your dad's cam something is very wrong with the mount or the lens, the dof scale should be flush on top, not to the right side as pictured.

>>3077221
Yeah, but I wanted a Helios.

I'll check the mount when I get my hands on the camera.

>>3076548
But factor in the initial cost of everything you just used to dev and scan the film

>>3077230
Screw mounts don't always align properly. That's why bayonets were invented.
Why am I explaining to a slav?

>>3077290
Okay, I spent £10 on the scanner. That's it.

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So I got my dad's Zenit ET.
It sort of winds, but the shutter doesn't move at all and the film spool doesn't turn (the sprocket turns, though). The disassembly didn't give any easy answers, and it's probably beyond repair/reassembly at this point. I just can't be bothered because the best case scenario is that I will have a working mediocre camera after hours of painful repairs.

And the lens is garbage, by the way. The aperture ring is in the most retarded position -- it fucks up the focus if you turn it too hard or too far.
But it works, so I might keep it.

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>>3078098
hit it hard against a wall or the floor. it might unjam.

>>3078099
Oh it's been hit alright.
If you look at the photo in the >>3077221 post, you'll see that the aperture ring is bent inwards at like 4 o'clock. The camera was definitely thrown around a bit, that's what probably broke it.

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>>3075753
Zenit are shit i have Zenit E and its shit. They break so easily

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