Helios 44 s/n

In other words, KMZ used the first 2 digit system. Exeption was made for 50th birthday, where they used serial numbers 5092xxxx.
About the large batch, it's true in the early years about Industar-22 only...
It's not that complicated

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Originally posted by Moxies

In other words, KMZ used the first 2 digit system. Exeption was made for 50th birthday, where they used serial numbers 5092xxxx.
About the large batch, it's true in the early years about Industar-22 only...
It's not that complicated

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Of course the first two digits "50" means 50 years, then digits three and four "92" means 1992, not complicated and easy to understand. But to produce all other 6000 cameras according to zenitcamera.com in 1993 with 5092xxxx instead of 5093xxxx is kind of strange, isn't it. Why even bother with a year prefix when it's not the real year. Suddenly a Zorki-1-Yura commemorating Gagarin's spaceflight in 1961 makes sense in the timeline.

But maybe this is only a mistake from zenitcamera.com. They mention that there are discrepancies with their numbers and I noticed some strange numbers too. So everything is Good.

Edit: Or it was not a mistake from zenitcamera.com and those 6000 Zenit-122 were made in December 1992 and sold in 1993. A passport with a late #5092xxxx could be interesting. Is the birthday of KMZ end of the year?

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Originally posted by Lenny

But to produce all other 6000 cameras according to zenitcamera.com in 1993 with 5092xxxx instead of 5093xxxx is kind of strange, isn't it.

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No, Lenny, it is not strange. 5092xxxx was an anniversary batch, it means KMZ was 50 in 1992, that's it and not more. And it does not matter how many cameras were produced for this batch and in wich year, they all belong to the same anniversary batch.

Regards, Alexander

Alexander, the birthday was in Febuary 1992. I think it's extremely strange that 95% of these Cameras left KMZ in 1993 and even in 1994. It seems KMZ couldn't sell them. They must had a storage of 100000 cameras. Sad that there isn't more information from the year 1992. But as I said, zenitcamera.com could be wrong.

Thanks Lenny

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Originally posted by Lenny

I don't understand why KMZ produced cameras in 1993 with serials #5092xxxx, not only some samples, there were 6000 of them. Makes no sense. It's like celebrating my 50ties birthday when I'm already 51. Instead KMZ could have made a special 53-year edition in 1995.

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It's simple: that is an attempt to warm up the demand. And Alexander is right: "5092xxxx was an anniversary batch, it means KMZ was 50 in 1992, that's it and not more."

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Originally posted by Lenny

But as I said, zenitcamera.com could be wrong.

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This is the official data... The source may be wrong, but no other data.
And btw, plant's warehouses are large. ;)

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Originally posted by Zoom

It's simple: that is an attempt to warm up the demand. And Alexander is right: "5092xxxx was an anniversary batch

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Thanks Zoom,

I'm just curious about the situation, how it was in 1992. I think there was not only one batch, because Vlad's serial is different and the highest serial here in the wiki is 50928004, while zentitcamera.com shows an overall production of 6541 cameras.
Could be Vlad's sample belongs to the first 300 sold in 1992, and because it was a success, they produced more cameras later in another batch with 5092xxxx. It's just not worth to produce many cameras to keep in stock for over a year.

I wonder what kind of data you have available. Maybe you have not only the year when they were sold, maybe you have the month or even the day when they were sold. It would be interesting and could help to tell the full story what really happened in 1992, and not only for theses Zenits. Maybe it's possible to offer more detailed data, for example the sellings per month. We would know in which month the first Zorki-C and Zorki-2C was sold. Maybe we could see a gap in time between Fed-Zorkis and Zorki-1a. It's great the data you have available, I wish they were more detailed.

Thanks Lenny

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Originally posted by Lenny

...Vlad's serial is different and the highest serial here in the wiki is 50928004, while zentitcamera.com shows an overall production of 6541 cameras. Could be Vlad's sample belongs to the first 300 sold in 1992, and because it was a success, they produced more cameras later in another batch with 5092xxxx.

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S/n 50920001–50920300 — the first batch (must be). That were the real exclusive cameras: gift items. They had a different package and user manuals (I know about the English and French variants).
S/n, for example(!), 50921001–50927000 — the second batch (1993 year).
S/n, for example(!), 50928000–50928250 — 1994 year production.

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Originally posted by Lenny

...It's just not worth to produce many cameras to keep in stock for over a year.

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I do not see any problems...

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Originally posted by Lenny

I wonder what kind of data you have available.

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Unfortunately, almost no documents survived. Documentation for single orders is not stored for more than five years.
All that I am able to find, I try to publish on the site... (Sorry, site is only in Russian: I'm in trouble with written English. For example, I am absolutely confused in the articles and times of verbs. :( I am not even sure that you understand this text...)

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Originally posted by Zoom

S/n 50920001–50920300 — the first batch (must be). That were the real exclusive cameras: gift items. They had a different package and user manuals (I know about the English and French variants).
S/n, for example(!), 50921001–50927000 — the second batch (1993 year).
S/n, for example(!), 50928000–50928250 — 1994 year production.

Unfortunately, almost no documents survived. Documentation for single orders is not stored for more than five years.
All that I am able to find, I try to publish on the site... (Sorry, site is only in Russian: I'm in trouble with written English. For example, I am absolutely confused in the articles and times of verbs. :( I am not even sure that you understand this text...)

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Thank you so much Zoom,

that's very interesting. As I thought there was not only one batch and you even know the range of them.

Sure I can understand you, your english is very good. It's ok if you write zenitcamera.com only in russian. Google translates it directly to me in a way which I can understand, even some words give a different meaning. All these data is very interesting to me. I recognized when you discovered 10 more Zorki-1 for 1949. And some time ago you changed the total of Zorki-2 to 10310. Writing in russian on zenitcamera.com will save you time, that's good. Please keep up this good work, there is no other who can do this. Please try to save this data forever. There will be a time when you can't do it anymore and everything else is lost. Please try so write more about batches, for some special periods, for example Fed-Zorki and Zorki-1a, early Zorki-C and early Zorki-2C and others. Thank you so much, I appreciate your good work

Lenny