An author of Zenit-12XP name?

Hi!

The very interesting massage was found few days ago at the guestbook of my website:

"Not many people know this but I am the person that gave the Zenit XP it's XP name. As a business man dealing with Intertorg, an organisation of the minsitry of foreign trade in Moscow, I was discussing photo business with Mr. Kuznetsov, one of the department heads. At the end of the meeting he casually mentioned that they would bring out a new Zenit camera and if I had any suggestions about naming this camera. When back in Belgium I made several suggestions (by telex no fax or e-mail yet) and one of them was XP for extra precision. I did get a thank you telex a few weeks later informing me that XP was selected. I do own an xp camera myself and still use it occasionally. Regards, Raf van Gils (Antwerp-Belgium)"

I have tried to cantact the author, but failed unfortunately. Any comments?

Best Regards,
Aidas

That is wonderful, I hope to hear more from you on the history of Fed, and the camera sales and production in the USSR. I was in sales in the USA back in the late sixties and am always interested in the great mechanical cameras..Don

ZORKIE'S Survive

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Originally posted by AidasCams


"... XP for extra precision ..."

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Very interesting. Indeed, it was known that XP name had a "foreign roots". I heard about another, unconfirmed of course, transcription: "eXtreme Progress"...

P.S. Btw. "Intertorg Inc." was not a Soviet foreign trade organisation (like "Technointorg", etc.) It was the american (USA)firm specially founded for direct trade with the Soviet industry...

Everything very interesting.. and could be true.
But I have another version.(From TOE people)
This was the Zenit 12 sd from svietnii diody or light diodes . the translation to English so would be X (from Chystal) P (from Photo-diode) Would those British people tried to be more perfect than everyone?
LP

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Originally posted by Luiz ParacampoWould those British people tried to be more perfect than everyone?

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Indeed they try, and I might even say they do believe they are more perfect than everyone

Hey, hold on a minute you guys! I'm British, but I don't think I'm perfect.
Luiz, I fail to see how you manage to get the letter "X" from "chrystal", in any language, either Russian or English!
Regards, and best wishes, Jim

My dear James
I am not a perfect British speaking man nor either Portuguese!, my own language , but I was told that the abreviation would be "Xtal" as are done with "Xmas" (Christmas)because "X" is a Greek letter used both in Latin and Cyrillic alphabet and have similar sounds , but also have tendencies in sound also as "eks" or "sha"
My best friendness from Brazil! ...
LP

Luiz,

I am sorry I fail to see the connection here as well.. if it did have a Russian phonetic letter "KH"(Russian "X") then the second letter would be "R"(in Russian "P") and could not be Photo-diode, because it would be letter "F"(Russian "Ф"). And if you're saying it stands for English Xtal - I have never seen it written like that in all my 15 years living in USA... Maybe it makes some kind of sense when you phonetically transcribe it in Portuguese, but neither in English or Russian...

Best regards,
Vlad.

I might as well throw my two cents in, In radio electroincs (XTAL) means chrystal. Still quite an honor to use your suggested name for a product. Don

ZORKIE'S Survive

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Originally posted by Luiz Paracampo

the translation to English so would be X (from Chystal) P (from Photo-diode)

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About "X" see above. And about second letter: there was no photo-diode receiver in Zenit-12xp... :(

Hi All,
I think that we have come full cirle with this one, and to be frank I think that the explaination given by Mr Raf Va Gils from Belgium on the original post made by Aidas is as good as any.

Regards, Jim.

I just did a quick internet search, and there is a person by the name of Raf van Gils listed as the president of a Belgian company which deals in imaging products among other things.
I didn't attempt to make any contact as I didn't want to impinge on his privacy, but I do suspect that this may well be the person who signed the guest book on Aidas's web site.
Best wishes, Jim

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Originally posted by James McGee

...and to be frank I think that the explaination given by Mr Raf Va Gils from Belgium on the original post made by Aidas is as good as any.

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In Mr/ Raf van Gils' version is two weak arguments:
1. Zenit-12xp had not a precision exposure metering.
2. "Intertorg Inc." was not a Soviet foreign trade organisation (but, indeed, it had an office in Moscow and Soviet top executives... some fishy business).

Zoom,

First let me say I realise and accept that you obviously have a lot of knowledge with regard to Soviet camera manufacturers, etc.
But to answer your points:

Point 1.
Mr van Gils doesn't say "Precision exposure metering" he simply says "Extra Precision"

Point 2.
I don't know what "Intertorg" is exactly, but I have spent the last twenty years working in the FSU, and as you point out yourself "Some fishy business".
I work in the oil and gas industry in the FSU, and some of our past Soviet clients didn't know the first thing about oil and gas, but they knew plenty about security.

What I'm really saying is that some organisations sometimes involve themselves in otherwise legitimate businesses, (especially export) as a smokescreen and to provide an avenue, access, and contacts with other countries.
I hope all this doesn't sound too imaginative and fantastic, but I can imagine a company like the one named being involved in the camera export business as a means for other activities also.
Or am I being too paranoid????
Best wishes, Jim

Hello again,
I've been thinking! I saw the name of the guest who visited Aidas's site on the internet, and didn't want to overstep the mark by intruding on his privacy. Of course it may not even be the same person, but I suspect it is.
I don't see any problem if Aidas were willing to contact this person, after all he did make first contact with Aidas himself.
In that case perhaps we could gain more information with regard to this topic, not to mention that this man propably has many more interesting experiences if he was doing business with the Soviet photo industry way back in the sixties!
Aidas, what do you think?
Best wishes, Jim

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Originally posted by James McGee

Mr van Gils doesn't say "Precision exposure metering" he simply says "Extra Precision"

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It is absolutely not important, what meant. This camera hadn't Extra Precision. Neither in exposure metering, nor in the mechanic. Anywhere. Therefore it was possible to name this camera as 'Extra Precision' only with the big degree of impudence.

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Originally posted by James McGee
I don't know what "Intertorg" is exactly, but I have spent the last twenty years working in the FSU, and as you point out yourself "Some fishy business".

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I mean that it was very strange firm...
See also: http://www.cedmag.com/article-detail.cfm?id=10923255

And the most important: I never hear that this organization was engaged in export of Soviet cameras.
Here probably following: the author could forget the exact name. However, he could forget and the exact description of XP...

Could be that this man thought of, and even told the Intertorg man Mr. Kuznetsov something like "Zenit XP .... means extra precision" and then the KMZ folks used the name "Zenit XP" but with a different meaning like "extra progress", and then just told the man "XP was selected".

"Zenit XP" sounds good ... probably why it was selected. I don't think this person who wrote into Aidas' site would make up a story like this. There are many more interesting stories that could be made up than that.

Regards, Bill

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Originally posted by James McGee

Hello again,
I've been thinking! I saw the name of the guest who visited Aidas's site on the internet, and didn't want to overstep the mark by intruding on his privacy. Of course it may not even be the same person, but I suspect it is.
I don't see any problem if Aidas were willing to contact this person, after all he did make first contact with Aidas himself.
In that case perhaps we could gain more information with regard to this topic, not to mention that this man propably has many more interesting experiences if he was doing business with the Soviet photo industry way back in the sixties!
Aidas, what do you think?
Best wishes, Jim

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Jim, Zoom,

Thanks for the great discussion indeed ... Jim is right, the particular man is the actual president of Belgian company (it's enough to look at his e-mail to be absolutely sure). Do you think, that serious businessman could play a trick on me, telling doubtful fairy-tales about his influence in Zenit models branding? Indeed, nonsense ...

I believe in words he said, unless it's proved vice versa ... The problem is, nobody can say now for sure. If he was asked to propose his version for new camera name, he was not obligated to be very precise in camera characteristics indeed ...

Jim is right again, I was willing to contact the person in few reasons: 1. to say thanks for visiting my site; 2. to ask more about that interesting story and 3. to ask the permission to publish his story in our Forums. Although I don't feel a lack of visitors, I'm not sure all of them are reading (or filling ...) my Guest book indeed ...

I hope to get the reply from Mr. Raf van Gils anyway. I would suggest to make a break now, while we have come full circle with this one already ...

Best Regards,
Aidas

Aidas,
Agreed!
Best wishes, and good luck, Jim

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Originally posted by nightphoto

I don't think this person who wrote into Aidas' site would make up a story like this. There are many more interesting stories that could be made up than that.

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I do not have reasons to not trust this story. However in it there are some key places which seem to me doubtful...
There are doubts in the name of the organization. There are doubts in accuracy of "decoding". A lot of time has passed, something can be forgotten...

Hi,

I have received reply from Mr.Raf van Gils today morning! Happy to say, he is a camera collector himself . After reviewing our comments in particular Topic, he have decided to find the mentioned telex and to share it with us! Would be great find, isn't it?

Best Regards,
Aidas