Zenit 12XP Review

Overall Rating

Strong and Sturdy. Fully Manual.

Slow Shutter speeds.

The Zenit 12XP is an excellent 35mm SLR camera for its price. A real workhorse, I have had it for 19 years without any trouble. The helios lens is magnificent. I recommend this camera to anyone that is on a budget or just starting out in photography.

Members' Comments onMisiek.'s Review

• Moderntech. on 21st Jun 2002

  This particular Zenit takes Pentax style Screw mount lenses, which are inexpensive of high quality and available on the used market in droves! Russian lenses have excellent glass and are considered to be very good quality. (My only bad experience with one is when a seal had allowed dirt inside the lens when dropped in the desert; I have to take responsibility for that one! It still took wonderful pictures and worked flawlessly.) I paid $12 for my Zenit 12XP. (In Russian it is sometimes seen marked as the 12CD.) Wonderful value whose only drawback has been camera snobs turning their noses up at Russian cameras.

• Bungle. on 6th Aug 2002

  Thanks for this review.
  I have found one of these camera's at my local second-hand store for $45 (approx US$25).
  It looked interesting but I wasnt sure what lens system they used.
  Thanks to your review, I now know they are a M42 screwmount just like my Pentax! Excellent!
  I already have M42 SM lenses, so I might buy it for the fun of it and I will Gain another lens, worth it for the lens alone I reckon. Thanks again

• need help. on 26th Sep 2002

  can anyone tell me how to rewind film on the Zenit 12 xp? PLease, i messed up a couple of rolls trying to do so.

• Moderntech. on 29th Sep 2002

  Replace the lens cap to prevent accidental exposure during the rewinding procedure.
  
  Press Shutter Release Button.
  
  With the finger tip or a non-marring tool tip depress the Film Rewind Sleeve below the shutter release into the cut-out portion of the surrounding sleeve (it looks like a half moon cut out.) It will click and stay down.
  
  Lift out Rewind Crank and rotate clockwise. You will feel the film being rewound into the cassette - stop when all resistance ceases.
  
  I hope this helps, I'll also post the on-line English manual for the Zenit 12XP & 11 which should be useful: http://www.butkus.org/chinon/zenith_12/zenith_12.htm

• david. on 2nd Oct 2002

  i use a zenith 12xp which belonged to my dad. Recently I've been having a problem that no one in Malta seems to be capable of resolving. The first 2 cm (starting from the left)of some photographs appear whiter, as if they were overexposed while the remaining area of the photograph is ok. It appears mostly on a sky background but can also be detected on other backgrounds. Yet it is random and I could not find out a particular f/stop or shutter speed at which this was happening. A technician changed the curtain and added a seal between the camera body and the bottom cover to stop a leak. Yet the next film I developed again had the overexposed band at the left edge of some pictures. I use a Helios 44 lens and a 70mm-210mm Cosina Zoom Lens and the problem occurs with both lenses. Now I am being told to give it up. Is there hope that it will be fixed? Anyone out there knows how to solve this fault? Thanks

• Moderntech. on 3rd Oct 2002

  Sounds like intermittent shutter bounce to me. I'm a camera collector and I now do most of my repairs myself. When I get a Zenit that develops problems now, I just archive it for spare parts and go to eBay and purchase a working one, as they are so reasonable in price. I believe the last 3 Model 12XP/CD's I have purchased ran around $12.00 $21.00 and $24.00 respectively. (The picture at the top of this thread is of my $12.00 Zenit 12XP.) The model TTL is very similar and a good choice also. Hope this helps...

• Chris. on 11th Oct 2002

  Hi,
  I have a Zenit 12xp camera. I am a TOTAL beginner so don't know much. I have two questions.
  1) when I play with the aperture, the objective doesn't get darker or ligher when i turn the ring.
  2)When I turn the ring, the red light which shows whether there is too much or too little light never goes green. WHY????????

• Moderntech. on 13th Oct 2002

  To: Chris from Russia (but I'm Canadian)
  Sounds like your lens is the Helios 44M or an equivalent. This is an automatic lens in that the aperture will remain wide open, then the lens will automatically 'stop down' to the correct aperture when the shutter is depressed either partially or fully. You can manually stop down this lens by flipping a lever or rotary switch (usually white in color,) on the lens itself.
  I have had a meter that stayed red no matter the lighting conditions. This is what I checked, is the battery compartment free of corrosion, do the batteries need replacement, (also check if they are the correct voltage,) is the automatic lens aperture pin damaged or broken (a small silver colored pin protruding from the back of the lens near the screw mount,) or the lens diaphragm frozen. Finally (as in my case,) the meter itself might be in need of calibration (as well as a Cleaning Lube and Alignment known as a C.L.A.,) which was enough of a cost for me to just replace the body.
  
  Here is my e-mail address should you need any further help, (as I’m fairly sure Review Centre doesn’t want to get into the nitty gritty of support for the Russian cameras...)
  
  moderntechnician@yahoo.com
  
  Hope this helps...

• Gabriel. on 30th Dec 2002

  I have a 12XP, and the film selector knob is broken (don't "click"). It's locked on ISO 100 films (I know that because when I use them the photos are fine and when I use the 400 the photos are croped), and I wouldn't mind if it were locked on 400. Is there any easy way to open the camera and roll the inner part of the knob (or whatever it should) to change it to 400? i'd apreciate any hint, my email is gabriel.barros@folha.com.br

• Moderntech. on 31st Dec 2002

  I have had some limited success with Break Free CLP - a lubricant that frees frozen screws and the like. Use a small amount and try very hard to isolate the rest of the working mechanism from getting any on it; (use a clean towel and hold the camera upside down so the excess drips away from the rest of the camera, might be a good idea to remove the lens also.) Zenits usually have a type of grease on the sprockets/gears and I have had this paste melt off in our hot desert Southwest thus freezing the gear in place. CLP will leave a fine coat of lube behind but if this does free your mechanism, this fine coat will soon dissipate leaving the gear unprotected. Thus a CLA (Cleaning Lube and Alignment might be the way to go. Here is a post from a Pro-Russian camera thread that might help you and others seeking a good inexpensive Russian camera repair:
  
  'There are competent Russian/Ukrainian technicians who will repair most Soviet cameras at very modest (by Western standards) prices.
  
  I've had work done by Oleg at "OK Camera". He sells cameras and has a website. Oleg repaired two Kiev 4AM's for me - bad shutters = for $10 apiece.
  
  Oleg's email address is: ok@capital.mari-el.ru
  
  Oleg accepts credit card payment via Paypal or personal checks to "Western Bid", a US firm.'
  
  I have not tried this camera tech’ as yet but imagine I will need to soon. Hope this helps!
  Moderntech

• david. on 1st Jan 2003

  hi
  
  The light metre in my Zenith 12XP never turns green but there is a reason for that - there is actually no green bulb. Correct exposure is indicated when the two red bulbs start flashing together. The flashing of the two bulbs concurrently fulfills the function of the green light. Therefore I don't find it strange that no green light goes on - and i have never heard of Zenith 12xp with a green indication light inside the viewfinder. Hope that this helps you chris (Russia) Thanks

• Jorge. on 31st Mar 2003

  Hi, i own a Zenit 12xp camera who has a M42 screwmount, and i have an Osawa Lens. I will like to know which models of Pentax camera bodies have the same type of mount as my camera. Thanks a lot.

• Moderntech. on 31st Mar 2003

  These M42 screw mount Lenses were used on Pentax Spotmatics, SP, SP500, SP1000, SP1 and the ES (Electro Spotmatic,) as well as the H1. Note: Ricoh models TLS/TLS 401, Mamiya Sekor models DTL500 & DTL1000, also used this screw mount as did the early Fuji, Chinon and East German Practica/Pentacon cameras. There are other variants as well such as the Ricoh screw mounts made for Sears, and of course the Zenit's...

• ble. on 9th May 2003

  Well I'm writing from Poland where the Zenit 12xp is the most popular amateur SLR (there are loads of these cameras in people's houses - i.ex. I own four zenit's :) - I'll write You something additional about the camera - the non-export version of the 12xp is the 12sd (not CD:) and its the same as the xp model but has writings in Russian :) Well in fact the model is a copy (with some things thrown away) of a german Praktica which in fact is a copy of the Olympus OM-1 (again - with some features thrown away :))) - now something about the lenses - please don't use the standard helios 44m4 lens (that is 1:2/58) - its a rubbish one - I would recommend pentacon MC 1:1,8/50 - its not only about the light - the aperture is a lot better than in the helios (notice that the helios lens does some ugly things in the background of the picture) - another good but rare standard lens is the japanese revuenon 1:1,4/55 which gives very nice photos for a reasonable price (something about 50US$ for a good one - I have one of these lenses and I'm very satisfied - very light, bright and precise) - f/1,4 m42 lenses from different manufacturers are much more expensive and give similar results ! Ultra wide lenses are mostly quite expensive but again there are some exceptions - in ex. the russian MIR 1b (37mm lens) is very cheap (used for about 15-20$) with a good brightness f/2,8-16 - there are also some different popular lenses here - 500/8 and 1000/11 mirror tele's are very popular also - 16mm wide lenses are expensive but also very popular - almost every lens I mentioned before is availible as a new mint product in Poland (especially jupiter lenses) - only ultra bright 1,4 and CZJ DDR - (CARL ZEISS JENA DDR) lenses are things you have to buy second hand :)
  
  well have fun with Your zenit cameras :) and when You find it too simple switch to a praktica mtl camera with the m42 and you won't have to sell and buy new lenses !!!
  
  any questions ?
  mail me - michal@astral-group.net
  BYE ! :)

• Moderntech. on 9th May 2003

  Have to agree on your assessment on German glass, (we love the Polish!!!) The Pentacon cameras are nice pieces of work also, however they break too EASILY. (My Beloved Pentacon Six is an expensive paperweight thanks to stamped soft metal gears and poor lubrication.) Only Broken Petri cameras rival Broken Pentacon cameras on eBay. The people here at Camera shows avoid them.

• Justyna. on 15th May 2003

  Can anyone please advise what kind of battery I need to power the auto exposure facility?

• kv. on 15th May 2003

  batteries: LR42, but recently I was forced to buy LR43 and they work fine.

• ble. on 16th May 2003

  about batteries: yep most of the batteries with the same shape work fine (alkalines work well also) - but look out not to leave Your camera shutter release button in the V position - once I did that and the batteries did not last a night !

• David. on 31st May 2003

  Anyone know the difference between the Zenit 11 and the 12XP?

• Moderntech. on 1st Jun 2003

  The Zenit 11 and 12XP are very similar cameras with one very notable exception. They both use the same M42 (Pentax) screw mount but the Zenit 11 has the externally mounted selenium light meter (compared with the 12XP's internal meter.) These meters are infamous for giving poor readings and usually become useless in time. The plus is they never require a battery.
  Here is the link to Nathan Dayton's excellent Website on the Zenits, (has pictures data and manuals):
  
  http://www.commiecameras.com/sov/35mmsinglelensreflexcameras/cameras/zenit/index.htm

• Dan. on 20th Jul 2003

  I like the Zenith XP. It's cheap and takes good photos. I've had three Zenith XPs. Each one has eventually broken after two to five years, with the winding mechanism seizing up. Also, the light meter tends to go wrong and if you strictly obey it you will get under-exposed photographs. In this sense, it's a very Soviet-style machine - it's big, heavy and you have to adpat to it. But when it works, it's excellent and I recommend buying one if it's cheap.

• Andy. on 4th Aug 2003

  I have seen a Zenit 12xp on an auction website, and I am going to have a look at it. It has a Helios 44 lens. Are there any particular things I should check for, and how much do you think I should be paying? Thanks!

• moderntech on 4th Aug 2003

  To: Andy From: Peru
  
  Watch out for 'haze' or 'cloudiness' on a lens or when viewing through prism, it is a way of getting around admitting it has fungus.
  
  'I haven't put any film through it' probably means it doesn't work.
  
  Download the camera manual from the free link that was published here earlier.
  
  Finally if the price goes to the equivalent of 40.00 US dollars or more, I'd let it pass. For that price you can purchase a Ricoh TLS 401, Mamiya 500 or 1000, or even a Pentax Spotmatic which use the same M42 screw mount and are a HUGE step up in quality.
  
  (I have not had good experiences with 'as-is' auctions, if the seller offers a return privilege it's probably a trouble free purchase; if he does not, it probably isn't!)
  
  Check his or her feedback rating!
  
  Hope this helps...

• rudygarrido on 19th Dec 2003

  In my Zenith 12XP the counter do not function, so I don´t know in what picture I am.
  Any good idea to repare it??
  Thanks
  Rudy
  rudy_garr@hotmail.com

• dexor on 19th Jul 2004

  Hello to everyone, I have a big problem : my zenit 12xp works very well, but when I retire the photos from the photographer I see on them two small blue horizontal lines at two cm of distance from the top and the bottom...what problem could be? Thank you very very much.
  davibassjh@yahoo.it

• Hotlanta on 24th Mar 2008

  David (Poster #11), I was shocked to hear that your Zenit 12XP has dual red LEDS! Mine has two LED's one Red (Left) and one Green (Right). When the exposure is over or under the red LED comes on and when the exposure is correct the green LED comes on and red one goes out! I had always thought all XP's were the same!
  
  I went to my favourite Camera Store locally and had to search out someone that would even speak about Russian cameras. And he referred me to a customer that collects cameras, who said his current 12xp was like yours, but that he had seen both. Apparently there are variations. I wonder (hope) if mine is the rare version. The manual for mine (written in English) matches my dual coloured LEDS.