I can't identify my mysterious Zenit camera!

Hello,

I own a solid-black camera SLR camera of 1970's vintage. It has a Zenit camera strap and the seller identified it as a Zenit when I purchased it.

However, the camera is solid black, has no lens, and no identifying lettering anywhere inside or out (that I can find). The only identifying marks that I can find are 2 mysterious symbols on the top panel (one looks like a level, the other looks like an ampersand).

I have posted photos of the camera here: http://tinyurl.com/bc4rjr

Can anyone tell me the make and model of my camera? Is it a Zenit?

Thanks,

Jay

Hello Jay

It's looks like a Zenit 19 from KMZ, build from 1979 to 1987. The exact year of production you can find in the first two digits of the serial number.

Best wishes - Guido

Hi Jay,

Looks like you have a Zenit-19 from 1982, with the logo removed (it would have said "ЗЕНИТ" on the front of the reflex housing and "19" on the front of the top plate, just below the shutter release. The symbol that looks like a level indicates the film plane (so you can measure from that line to a subject to know the focusing distance exactly). I believe the symbol that looks like an ampersand is the position that you put the switch that is on the shutter release so that you can rewind the film when you are finished with the roll (it releases the spool that has the sprocket protrusions so that the film won't tear when rewinding).

It is possible, if the camera was an export version of Zenit 19 the word on the front could have been "ZENIT" in Roman letters.

Regards, Bill

Welcome to the site Jay.

Here's a link to the one with the name plate:
http://www.ussrphoto.com/Wiki/default.asp?WikiCatID=69&ParentID=1&ContentID=359&Item=Zenit+19

Cheers,
Vlad.

Wow!! Great feedback everyone -- thank you!!

So, if I'm decoding the serial number correctly, yes, it is from 1982. But why would anyone remove the logo and lettering? Would that have been easy to do? There are not intense scratch marks or strong abrasions where the logo should be... were the logo and lettering engraved or were they printed on stickers or something?

Thanks again everyone for clearing up the mystery!

Jay



Jay USA

From what I understand it was very common in U.S. to remove Russian logos from cameras as not to appear supporting communism . I think Zenit-19 also comes with silk-screened logo, so paint may have been removed with some solvents...

Vlad.

Actually I just checked mine, the paint on the logo is raised, so it seems quite easy to scrape it off with something... so it may also have been partially coming off and someone decided to just scrape the whole thing off..

Most Zenit-19's which has been in actual use have at least some of the text worn out.

Best regards,
Juhani

when "the wall" was still upright, I remember to have met in Czechoslovakia some students visiting the Skoda factories, which had erased the Zenit logos of their cameras and had stuck to the place stickers " Nikon"...