Zenit 122

A greet way to learn photography. Pick one up for less than £20.

Fully manual. The Zenit 122 is lighter than the 12xp but also a bit plastic compared to it.

I own a Fs122. The camera has the standard 50mm lens and the 300mm lens. The 50 takes great pictures and it has not failed to function. The exposure controls are easy to use even with gloves on. Some people have complained about a lack of shutter speeds, but I have yet to experience a situation were this has been a problem. Choose the right ASA film for your intended shots. For macro work I use a tripod and a cable release. True the asa setting on the camera stops at 500, but if you know how light works you can work around that limitation. I use 100, 200, 400 in the camera without problems. It is a very good camera that is only limited by the user. My only nitpicks are the cheasy feel of the back door, and the awkward button that needs to be held down during rewinding.

If you can't get a good photo out of this camera, you need lessons.

The Zenit 122 35mm SLR camera is essentially a lighter and more ergonomic version of the Zenit 12XP in a modern tough plastic casing.

The camera is fully manual, there is no aperture priority mode and no auto-focus support. The 122 version uses an M42 lens mount, and the 122K uses a Pentax K mount; otherwise the two models are identical.

Shutter speeds are from 1/30 to 1/500 with a B setting, and flash sync is at 1/30. The hot shoe accepts any generic flash unit, and there is support for flash sync leads also. There is a clockwork self timer controlled by the thumb wheel in the hand grip on the right on the camera body. Ensure that the wheel is fully wound when you use the timer, otherwise the shutter might not fire. There is a standard tripod mount point on the camera bottom, a cable release mount in the shutter release, and depth of field preview, which is also controlled with the shutter release.

Note that this camera will only support ISO/ASA speeds up to 500.

The Zenit handles well. It doesn't feel as heavy as you'd imagine when using it, and it sits "solidly" in your hands and feels quite reassuring. The controls are extremely simple and intuitive, and are fairly "chunky" to the touch, it's entirely possible to use this camera wearing gloves without any problems at all. The Helios 58mm lens that comes with the camera is solid and gives good results, it's a good portrait lens, but it can be used for everyday shooting as well.

The film loading mechanism is extremely user friendly, and it is one of the easiest I've used, with deep strong sprockets and deep tab holes for the film. Rewinding the film is a pain however, and more than a little fiddly. You need to fire the shutter and hold down the little switch immediately in front of it whilst winding back the film, which is a right pain. Otherwise though, handling the camera is a breeze.

There is a TTL light meter which displays information on exposure though three LED's in the viewfinder, activated when the shutter is half pressed for depth of field preview. If the top red LED (rough halfway up the viewfinder) is lit, the picture will be over-exposed, green middle LED is OK, and red bottom led (red, right at the bottom of the viewfinder) is lit the picture will be underexposed.

Focusing is fully manual, with a split image ring in the viewfinder providing focusing guide. Other than that, everything is up to you. There is no programmed auto-exposure at all or any other gizmo's. The shutter is fully mechanical and does not depend on the battery (only the light meter uses it), so you can be fully independent of the batteries if you have a hand-held light meter.

My main gripe about the Zenit is that the shutter speeds are restrictive. The flash sync of 1/30 is too slow to be practical, meaning indoor photography necessitates a tripod. Also the lack of speeds lower than 1/30 may be a problem for some. The other problem is that the shutter release is very heavy. This is good; meaning you won't fire it by accident when previewing depth of field or using the light meter, but it does mean that camera shake can be a problem.

Overall, the Zenit is great! It's simple, durable and tough. As an every day camera it's fine, and doesn't confuse or interfere with dozens of strange auto-programs to distract you from what you want to do. But do be aware of the restrictive flash speed and other limitations, as depending on the type of photography you do, they may be problematic.

I have had a Zenit 122 35mm SLR camera for more than 15 years.

This camera is the next generation of Zenit TTL. Basically it's the same camera with a plastic covered body.

It still has the same shutter of pre-war Leica that provides speeds of 1/30-1/500 and flash sync on 1/30.

The body is very durable.

It has a much brighter viewfinder than the Zenit TTL, but it still shows only 67% of a frame. It has a hot shoe on the top of the pentaprism (only the late Zenit TTL has it), and light meter indications are now with LED's instead of galvanometer.

There is a version with a Pentax K bayonet called the Zenit 122K.

There are a lot of cheap and fine quality lenses that are suitable to use with this camera.

The camera is fully mechanical, and the battery is only needed for the light meter.

The new Zenit 122 is one of the cheapest SLR's you can buy, and you can get one for about $120, and sometimes less.

The build quality and materials used are lower quality than was on the original Zenit TTL. The quality may vary from one camera to another.

I would recommend buying this camera, but only for those who already have lenses for the M42 or Pentax K and want a second body for backup, or for students that want to learn photography.

It's not suitable as the only body for advanced amateur.

As Zenit TTL, Zenit 122 can give great pictures in right hands.

Zenit 122 is the same Zenit TTL series camera with some different body design.As most of soviet products, have good idea, but poor realisation. If You are lucky to get this camera with no manufacturer deffects, you can use this thing for very long time with no any troubles. Remarkable (realy good) quality of optics. Someone tell, this is "semiautomatic" camera - no, it is not. Only thing, powered by batteries, is built-in exponometer with 3 LEDs, placed inside viewfinder screen, indicating light quantity - "not enought", "OK" or "too much". It is not a camera for beginners. Like german Practica or Pentaflex cameras, can give you professional picture quality and free hands for experimenting.

This Zenit 122 35mm SLR Camera is a MUST HAVE for anyone wanting to start photography and wanting to have FULL creativity. If the photo is bad it is of you, and if the photo is PERFECT it is also of YOU alone.

Cheap can accept any accessories, lenses, filters, flash syncs, hot shoe flashes, shutter cables, tripod and anything your imagination needs.

A (REALLY) tough camera that withstands shocks and weather.

BUT it lacks any intelligent meters to assist you and other things listed above.

The Zenit 122 is a good camera for some one to start with. they are usually well made and have a good 50mm lens with them.

there are many pentax type screw lenses out there at give away prices.

for a very cheap price you get a case, instruction book in quaint english and a great manual camera.

the 1/30 to 1/500 shutter speed is fine for most things. and the only thing i find a pain is that you have to use a separate meter if you wish in my case to push black and white film to 1600iso for concerts and weddings.

if you bounce your zenite, just pick it up and keep snapping. other brands have a tendacy of being picked up only to be thrown further away.

The Zenit 122 is a very good camera to start learning photography. It's simple, easy to use, has a rather godd set of features but it lacks slower speeds and higher ASA films (the fastest is ASA400).

As a good point, you can get very affordable lenses on the net. As they are very string, it's easy to find many of them in good shape.