Non working Zenit

Hello!

I had bought an early 1953 Zenit some months ago. It appeared as new, so, I wondered why it did not work. In fact, the mirror was flipping up and down, as it should, but the shutter was bad and worked partially only.

Yesterday, I dismounted it. What a surprise! The prism was mounted awry, with only the left part in the clasps. And the gate (the curved part which moves with the speed wheel) was out of its right position.

All that works correctly now. Certainly this camera was mounted faultly by the factory and was never used, hence the look "as new" inside. Perhaps because it is a very early (s/n 530543)and made at the beginning of mass production?

Anybody had similar problems?

Amitiés. Jacques.

Congratz with your new Zenit. That is a nice find.

As far as a know from the poeple who worked for EWA and Roskam (Dutch distributors) the factory saw its work more as an assembly job. Most gear got its final quality control and service at the distributors workshop. Not very effcient, but even then the gear was sold with a good profit.

The Mirror action of the Zenit is more complex than it looks. I still have to do my own Zenit C.

I had a Zenit 3M once in mint condition, which came from Belarus. Really took me some time to get it in proper condition.