Zenit Tento

Hello,

I picked up this interesting camera lately in Russia. Tento was a Technointorg name, an export organization, commonly used on radios and I guess cameras as well, and I even have a poster.. did anyone ever see this type of Zenit before? The plaque is made out of mirror what it looks like... not sure if fake or maybe not?





And the poster...


Opinions?

Thanks,
Vlad

Hi Vlad,
sure fake, extra made for foreign not Russian buyers.
TENTO was a label for soviet techno-export and not only for photo equipment. So far as I know there was no soviet camera rebranded with this name.

Furthermore as you see, the label was glued not very carefully.


Regards, Alexander

I remember almost all russian binoculars, were sold in Poland when we had comunism, were marked as TENTO Made in USSR.
http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-russian-binoculars-tento-ussr-466543641

Hi Alexander,

I did not buy the camera in USA or ebay, I had my friend buy it in Russia on regular classified ad site (avito.ru) from a regular person selling their old things, and I got it for the price of regular Zenit 11. Also regarding the glue, I have a Prinzflex, Kalimar, Diramic and Meprozenit with similar plaques that are also done very cheaply like this one and also have glue coming out from under the tag, so that's normal for exports. People on Russian forums say it may be a Polish export as there are a lot of Tento products in Poland and poster helps.. there are some doubts of course, but a chance of authenticity as well... And Alfa2 also has a Polish lead as well.

Thanks,
Vlad

There are several items sold with similar plates
Before, there were some items with Mashpriborintorg name
These cвmeras or rбdios etc were shown in fairs etc.
Regards
LP

Hi Vlad,
most of soviet export binoculars were sold under the name TENTO in many countries, not only in Poland.
But only binoculars, not any photo cameras. Prinzflex, Kalimar, Diramic and Meprozenit was real rebranding and you could never see these names together with the brand "Zenit", as on your camera.

It is only my opinion and I have never seen such branding neither on real cameras, nor in any books or leaflets. I would be glad of course to see any confirmation of your theory as well.

By the way, there are very many "fantasy" soviet cameras on avito. They all are being sold as rare "inheritance", unfortunately .



Regards, Alexander

quote:

---

Originally posted by Luiz Paracampo

...
These cвmeras or rбdios etc were shown in fairs etc.
...

---

Luiz,
Radios - yes, I have seen them as well. I would be very happy, if you could show me any catalogs with rebranded cameras "TENTO".

Regards, Alexander

Luiz, Alexander, thank you! Yeah I have not seen one either, it would be interesting to find another item that has this exact tag on it.. that's the thing it wasn't sold as "Rare" item, I paid under $20USD for it.. go figure.. I'll keep researching.

Best regards,
Vlad

In 80's and early 90's Zenit was the most popular camera in Poland. You could observe people with Zenits everywhere, at the seaside, at the lake, in old towns of Polish cities. About 70% of observed cameras on the streets were Zenits. Zenit was in almost every home in Poland. Why ? Because we had no our own camera production and Poland imported a lot of Zenits.
But there were regular Zenits with latain letters "ZENIT" and no additional labels as on the camera presented above by Vlad.

Nevertheless price under 20$ and fact Vlad has bought it from a regular person selling their old things is a strong argumnet for writing: This is not fake.

It's not a fake, more similar on "kolkhoz": selfmade decorating. Like label Nikon(Canon/ORWO/Montana) cutted from paper box(or photomagazine) and glued over Zenit-label on body. Label must be well-known west brand and/or vivid colors, if on mirror even better - glows into other peoples eyes must grow rating of owner.

http://xalmaz.narod.ru

With "fake" I meant this selfmade decorating. You can see such decorating on some cameras on Ebay.

Regards, Alexander

Rebranding (or home branding) is a common thing. Hanimex and Photo Quelle did the same with Praktica.

In the Netherlands we had Zenit E camera's with the Revueflex badge.

To mr Schekkerman: Revue was the brandname from foto Quelle Germany.
In the Netherlands we had also the Zenith B as Prinzflex 500 E.

Some drive oldtimers, I photograph with them.

We are talking not about rebranding of soviet cameras in general, but concrete about the name TENTO.
Furthermore, rebrand name is never shown on cameras together with the original brand name.

Regards, Alexander

Alexander, that's not quite true...

OK, Vlad, you have won , but nevertheless... This TENTO rebranding on Zenit camera seems to be very strange for me.

Regards, Alexander

To me as well.. I'm split 50/50 regarding authenticity..

Go and see thousands of TENTO binoculars

https://www.google.com.br/search?q=zenit+tento&hl=pt-BR&site=webhp&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi_0-G2zcjSAhXBh5AKHUIhAWQQ_AUIBigB&biw=1097&bih=534#hl=pt-BR&tbm=isch&q=+tento+binoculars&*&imgrc=gj6uK4BrgL0twM:

Regards
LP

Luiz, I don't doubt that Tento brand existed in binoculars, just never seen the camera branded like that.. I like your idea of it being an exposition demo camera.. very possible.. who knows.. as I said i'm 50/50 about it , good arguments from both ends.

Cheers,
Vlad.