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Zenit 122 : Specifications and Opinions

foto non disponibile

The Zenit 122 is a reflex camera that uses film (non-digital) manufactured from 1990 to 2000 (discontinued). In continuos shooting mode, it can reach . The list price, when it was announced (1990) was 20 €;

8 users have given it an average vote of 8.3 out of 10

Esposure
Shutter speeds	1/30-1/500
Exp. modes	M
Metering modes	Semi-Spot
Features
Stabilization	No
Continuos shooting
Pre-Burst	No
Live View	No
MLU/SS	No
Video mode
WiFi	No
GPS	No
Camera body and built
Viewfinder	Optical, coverage
Flash	No
Battery	Alcalina
Weather sealing	No
Weight	900 g
Dimensions	mm
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Reviews

What do you think about this camera?

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The following opinions have been automatically translated with Google Translate.

Leonardo Carignani

sent on January 28, 2022

Pros: Robustness, compatibility with many optics, presence of self-timer, lock of the shutter button for pose B

Cons: Viewfinder dark and with little coverage, lack of slow times

Opinion: This block of steel and plastic, born after the dissolution of the Iron Curtain, is the quintessence of what Zenit has always represented: something solid, robust, simple and, at the same time, magnificently unreliable (this is by hearsay, since mine still behaves very well and has never given problems). Contrary to what my premises might suggest, the 122 is a car that I really like. The body has a die-cast metal core in a single block, entirely covered with black plastic, inconspicuous but decidedly functional and resistant. On the top, on the left, there is the ISO selector (with sensitivity up to 500 ISO) and the rewinding knob of the roll and opening of the back. On the right, instead, the time selector. Here you can see the biggest flaw of this machine: the times range from 1/500 to 1/30. If the fastest time is sufficient on most occasions, the lack of slow times is felt all too often. Another flaw of the Zenit is the viewfinder, which is very dark and with a very bad cover, and personally I find it slightly difficult to focus in conditions of not ideal brightness. The light meter, consisting of three simple LEDs, if and when it works, turned out to be quite accurate. Overall we are talking about a sincere, battle camera, with few features but always ready to try the shot. It has nothing refined, and precisely because of its rawness it pleases and fascinates. The objectives deserve a separate speech: with the m42 screw attachment, all kinds of them can be found very easily and at negligible expense. For mine I have at my disposal the classic Helios 44-2, a very sharp lens with a good yield but which, at full aperture, suffers from annoying reflections. I also have a Soligor 75-300: an equally sharp and well-made lens that now lives perpetually attached to my Zenit (except for the rare moments when, with the appropriate adapter, I throw it in front of my Sony).

Pucci Mirti della Valle

sent on April 05, 2019

Pros: Excellent card stop, reliable attracts dust

Cons: Few selectable shutter speeds, plasticose construction

Opinion: Excellent School ship To learn how to shoot in analogue, really light construction and chips. Despite Everything is reliable, completely mechanical, except the exposure meter that is powered by a battery, therefore not necessary for the operation of the camera. Accompanied with the Helios 58mm or with a nice Tair 11/Tair 11A, it's fun to use for portraits. Sold at the time for a few lire, today you buy it for the price of a coffee and a pack of cigarettes. In the absence of lenses dedicated to her, she does her job of dust accumulator. However, a camera, despite its immense limits, really made to last forever, have never heard any complaints about the operation. Ah, it's also bad to see, remember the old floppy disk drives 90 years, but worse still.

Mikidel

sent on May 06, 2017

Pros: Price, ease of use, use even without battery, everything for her was cheap from wide angle to 200 canvas, completely manual

Cons: ugly, unreliable according to many (but to me it has always worked properly), sight not bright (indeed particularly dark), synchro flash too slow, etc., etc., but it was my first reflex and without her I would not have fallen in love with the world of photography

Opinion: Purchased in Palermo at the time of the University (90s) on the stall of a Polish hawker for only 30,000 lres of the old coin, complete with optics helios 58 mm f2, I soon realized that between saying and taking photography there is a sea of film to learn. First film on display with just 3 photos and 1/2 just printable out of 36 poses. From that film the sea of impressed and printed films, first to achieve the purpose of seeing all the shots made and printed, then beginning to always search for something more in what I photographed (the composition, the emotion ......). After her were succeeded Zenit XP , Yashica 270 af and FX 2000 super, Nikon F601 - F70 - F90 - F90x, then Canon Eos 3 and 5 until digital with Canon 300d, 20d and 7d, 5D Mark II, 6D , 80D, 6D Mark II and 5d Mark III but all united by almost exclusively manual use of exposure, because if you learn to be the one who decides time and diaphragm (today we add ISO), you hardly give a program your choices. The first SLR is never forgotten!

Duna

sent on January 11, 2014

Pros: Simplicity 'use, high strength, excellent optical range, it works without batteries

Cons: only 5 very simple shutter speed 1/30 to 1/500, plastic body and outer casing (the frame remains in a single cast), loading film with clutch 'strange', led barely visible in daylight very strong, mirror, maf glass pentaprism and small and not very bright

Opinion: It 'an excellent machine, really, but it has its whims. Brings out the handle 'cause of his offers little more' than a room with a rudimentary film drag, simple horizontal focal plane shutter, small mirror and pentaprism, subject to jamming and strange failures. But 'not afraid of theft (who takes it?), Cold (seh), heat, dust, vibration, beating, shock, sand, I stood on the field he enthused. Last Survivor on the front photo (populated by numerous noble ranks) after all the other fell victim to the sand, heat, dust over a 3-week trip to Libya (desert dell'Akakus). Aside from the obvious fact that you could not see the LEDs so the exposure was light, but at least it worked the other no, not even lit up, you can 'say that such a hostile environment (which pierced M + S tires and spoiled jeep Toyota Africanized , that other cameras) was his natural element. Not survive even one of our pen. Not one, and I did not have a pencil. The lens 58/2 and 'good (old design Zeiss) and mechanical semplice and rustic but not underestimate, and 'extremely tough, one-piece cast metal chassis (case almost' unique in the history I think, justified by the great numbers which made the KMZ), indestructible, mechanics of very old Leica screw-II (those pre-war and no slow times) adapted stylish SLR appiccicandoci a simple but effective mirror, mirrorbox, slide and prism, all very reliable and effective and simple. To solve the problem of uniformity 'exposure given by the shutter, horizontal scrolling (due to the difference between the speed' of the tendon 2) the frame, the shutter and 'designed to cover a greater range of 36mm horizontal of the frame, 'cutting' the left side that is not used, to allow the tendon a sufficient acceleration, instead of adopting a mechanical solution complex. rnSono most 'fascinating like the TTL and 12, slightly earlier and entirely metal, but' significantly more 'heavy as well as delicate finishes (black metal and their' well painted but non can 'match an ugly but tough plastic material) completely similar to the part on the voltmeter TTL instead of the LEDs. I love them (I own several, ebay) and use. Do not have unfortunately never made a digital version, now is the KMZ military optics, photomultipliers, pod and stuff, rifle scopes and binoculars, but does not seem to produce more 'cameras (although occasionally can' be produce or have in stock , some optical or some model derived from outdated machines Japa).

Davide Tundis

sent on March 15, 2013

Pros: Exceptionally weather-resistant and ill-treated, easy to use, it works without battery (only powers the display), T + 6 sec shot in B with AS (not so good!), Excellent standard lens, bassisimo price when used, the M42 mount makes it compatible with infinity of good quality optics (eg zeiss). MAF slide for excellent accuracy.

Cons: Very dark view with strong vignetting, ridiculous viewfinder cover (if I'm not mistaken 72%, as if I saw an aps-h) few exposure times, little iso up, 1/30 syncro flash, unreliable , light infiltration in many specimens.

Opinion: Despite the obvious limitations of the medium, I can only love this object! Use with discreet frequency for more than 4 years has been the companion of many trips, alone or as a digital shoulder in the B / N, and having carried it around in half an Italian I can say that this "ugly post-Soviet duckling" has led me to see a lot of my way of taking a picture. the slowness of the medium brings you through those simple commands that you have, to create the shot as you wish, exploiting all that you have available to the bone. the fact that it has so little value but great resistance makes every excuse good to bring it back. the machine lends itself to being abused, rain, mud, hot and snow does not scratch it, excellent even on fine sand. the outer plastic is very unattractive but in addition to being extremely durable and shockproof it protects the solid metal skeleton in monobloc. this will lead you to "dare" more in limiting conditions. I find genial the function that allows you to keep &%2339; shutter open about 6 sec (I timed them) by setting B and using the self-timer, made me beautiful "moved". In addition, posing B can be locked by turning the shutter button with your finger so that it has a pose T (it sounds trivial, but a yashica fx3 super parianno has nothing of this, it has a minimum of "1 and B, If on one side it is notoriously reliable, it is not on the mechanical side! My suffers in some shots the slow shutter that creates random creeps on 3-4 photos per roll (such as Russian roulette), infiltrations of light very light (I always ride with different insulating tapes but I have never had problems even without), the viewfinder does not make you understand much at the composition level because 30 percent of the scene is missing and with little light above f3.5 it's all black This is also true that the frosted slide never fails, it is really difficult to fire the zenith if the light conditions are at least a minidecent mo (it will be my exemplar, habit, optic ... I do not know). the meter is simple, consisting of 3 LEDs that are sometimes unobtrusive, but still reliable in operation (when it works, my dead is dead). This machine I see a lot like the ace in the sleeve in my kit, when I have to go to "unlucky" places, travel light, experiment and play, zenith fully satisfies me. I have other MF analogs, but in the end, zenith wins, because it is really made for everyday life. It's not a showcase, it does not have to be handled with gloves, it does not scratch every 3x2 (and if it is chips!). a machine to play and experience, which should accompany you everywhere!

Photos taken with Zenit 122

Rainy day

by Davide Tundis
22 comments, 2129 views

HI RES 8.5 MP

Where trains stop

by Davide Tundis
6 comments, 2341 views

The bad road

by Davide Tundis
8 comments, 2955 views

Give me your hand

by Pasotteo
5 comments, 1374 views

HI RES 7.3 MP

White tide

by Davide Tundis
6 comments, 1528 views

HI RES 6.5 MP

Dragonfly

by Nesti Alessio
2 comments, 1728 views

HI RES 29.6 MP

Workshop 1

by Nesti Alessio
0 comments, 851 views

HI RES 15.4 MP

Untitled Photo

by Vladic.ciccotosto
1 comments, 239 views

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Workshop 3

by Nesti Alessio
2 comments, 1071 views

HI RES 15.4 MP

Romae aliquam diebus nostris

by Valentino Amfiteatrof
9 comments, 504 views

Untitled Photo

by Vladic.ciccotosto
0 comments, 165 views

Waiting still

by Davide Tundis
0 comments, 1157 views

HI RES 6.5 MP

Atlas

by Renzo G
1 comments, 758 views

HI RES 7.7 MP

Venizian Portrait

by Valentino Amfiteatrof
3 comments, 437 views

Untitled Photo

by Vladic.ciccotosto
1 comments, 168 views

HI RES 6.5 MP

Aperitif Russian

by Nunziozo
0 comments, 1156 views

HI RES 17.9 MP

It's always the carburetor's fault!!!

by Nesti Alessio
0 comments, 884 views

"The triangle doesn't"

by ValeVeritas
3 comments, 435 views

HI RES 6.3 MP

Nocturnal reflections

by Nesti Alessio
0 comments, 997 views

HI RES 13.5 MP

Like animals

by Davide Tundis
2 comments, 1215 views

HI RES 6.5 MP

My first roll :)

by Ricy74
0 comments, 405 views

Circular bokeh

by ValeVeritas
0 comments, 452 views

HI RES 6.3 MP

Lift to the sky

by Nesti Alessio
0 comments, 931 views

HI RES 13.3 MP

Workshop 2

by Nesti Alessio
0 comments, 567 views

HI RES 15.4 MP

Routine, vices and other pitfalls

by Davide Tundis
3 comments, 1238 views

HI RES 6.5 MP

Workshop 4

by Nesti Alessio
0 comments, 484 views

HI RES 15.4 MP

Workshop 6

by Nesti Alessio
0 comments, 528 views

HI RES 15.4 MP

"Nature against structure"

by Davide Tundis
2 comments, 913 views

HI RES 7.5 MP

A castle on the table

by Nesti Alessio
2 comments, 790 views

HI RES 8.6 MP

Harvest time

by Nesti Alessio
2 comments, 774 views

HI RES 12.2 MP

My first roll :)

by Ricy74
0 comments, 293 views

My first roll :)

by Ricy74
0 comments, 314 views

Summertime

by ValeVeritas
1 comments, 274 views

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Vodka

by Nunziozo
0 comments, 685 views

HI RES 17.9 MP

Flea market

by Nunziozo
0 comments, 804 views

HI RES 17.9 MP

Alto Adige, the wrong photos-beautiful ones (Zenit 122)

by Cfh_77
0 comments, 441 views

HI RES 3.8 MP

Template

by ValeVeritas
15 comments, 322 views

HI RES 6.3 MP

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Reviews » Cameras » Cameras Varie » Zenit 122

Zenit 122 : Specifications and Opinions

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Photos taken with Zenit 122