In the 1980's-mid 1990's the Soviet/Russia Zenit slrs were by far the least expensive entry into interchangeable lens,through the lens metering,35mm photography. They could be found advertised in the back of photo magazines being sold with lens,case & sometimes flash/lens cleaning kit for 2/3 the price of the body ALONE of their cheapest competitor (Pentax k1000). That was a very attractive deal to someone on a tight budget who desperately wanted a "professional" camera which to most people,in those days,meant a 35mm SLR. Back then the philosophy was the camera itself was just a light tight box with a film advance mechanism & a shutter. The real work was done by the lens (interchangeable in this case & in a common mount for which many high quality lenses were available)and the film (also interchangeable). That meant the smart thing to do was spent the big money on the glass & scrimp on the camera body. Be that as it may,the body still needs to have a certain level of features to be in the running. By comparison to it's competition the Zenit was low on features but NOT where it really mattered for ever day common photography. For example,the Zenit shutter speed range is only 1/30-1/500th a sec plus B. A pretty narrow range,but really how often does the average photographer use the other speeds? Unless you're shooting sports you're really not going to miss speeds above 1/500th a sec & speeds below 1/30th a sec. (require a tripod anyway)and things like astro photography & night time exposures require the B setting which the Zenit has anyway. The biggest draw back was the 1/30th a sec. flash sync speed,but even that is only 1 stop slower than it's competitors of the day (1/60th Pentax K1000,Canon AE1,AE1P etc.) All in all,back in the day,it looked like a decent deal. Now for the review. The body is clunky. The meter is fickle. The viewfinder only shows 60 something percent of the picture area. The flash syn speed is only 1/30th a sec which means either no fill flash in daylight or an ND filter & a real steady hand. But the lens is of high quality (far better than the camera) & can easily hold its own against western competitors of the day (in fact the lens alone is worth the price of the camera & is the ONLY reason Zenits review as well as they do). All in all,taking into consideration it's limitations (know to me at the time) it was a good purchase & delivered what it promised even if I did hate it & wished for a better Japanese camera,but the pictures I have from the Zenit ,from those days,are just as good as the later ones from when I did finally get a 'better' Japanese made camera. I guess that's all that really matters.

Shame on you condemning the 12xp as rubbish. No one can dispute the fact it was a great picture taker and you need to understand the technical side of taking a photo with this camera. I started on this camera and today I understand pretty well what it takes to take a decent shot. Carl Zeiss lenses are not to be shunned I may add. The great part about it was the light meter in the form of flashing LEDs inside the view finder.

I love this camera. I am an amateur, and my first ever SLR was an older zenit-E. Since then, I have used many newer, much more high end pieces, but when I got a Zenit-12XP recently as a present, I fell in love with the Russian SLR again. Some people criticize Zenits for being clunky, but I love how solidly it feels in the hand. Controls are significantly improved over older models by the same brand, and I could consider this to be the best Zenit. Why? It has many technical improvements (ergonomics, TTL metering, auto aperture, etc) over the early models, but still dates to an era before the quality control at KMZ fell to an abysmal low in the 1990s. The shutter speeds on this camera are 500-30, plus B. This is, of course, limited, but in the conditions of off-the-hands, amateur shooting (for which this intro level SLR was intended), it is enough. Shutter speeds slower than thirty usually require something like a tripod to stabilize your shot anyway (this camera is not professional, this wasn't part of the plan). 500 is a bit low for max. speed, but it falls well into the general scheme of this student piece- the shutter speed dial for the light meter will show one that usage of film faster than 400 was never intended. On a sunny day, at noon, at f-16, your shutter speed should equal your ISO. Thus, on the brightest of days, on the narrowest of apertures of the standard HELIOS lens, you can shoot four hundred film at 500 shutter speed. Thus, the camera is obviously pushed to the limit. It is a LIMITED camera. It is, however, a joy to use and really, really fun. As a student camera, it is excellent. I know that personally I am extremely happy to have learned on an even older, completely manual Zenit, because the simplicity of these workhorse cameras is beneficial in building a true understanding of photography's basics, and forces the student to avoid pointing and shooting. Finally, it is forgiving in its durability. An acquaintance did a test by throwing his 12 into water for ONE HOUR! Upon getting it out and letting it dry a bit, it worked fine. If it does break, it is ridiculously easy to fix and extremely cheap and easy to replace.

Overall a fun manual camera to take snapshots with.

For the price it cannot be beaten as it can be had online for as low as £5, I paid just over £10 for mine in near mint condition. And the standard lens, the Helios 44M, is a very nice bit of kit, with a fairly large aperture and silky smooth bokeh.

There are a few things to watch out for though, Zenit quality control is legendarily iffy, so it is probably best to buy the camera from a fair where you can check all shutter speeds, the light meter, and make sure there shutter has no holes. Don ' t forget that some of these cameras came out in 1983, 26 years is a long time for a mechanical bit of kit which has probably never seen a service in its life. The good news though is that they are solid machines, my Zenit 12XP is from 1983 and it is in perfect working order. Sticky shutters are common, but sometimes they fix themselves with use, mine did.

In terms of ergonomics, I find it honestly nice. It doesn ' t sit in my hands as nicely as my modern DSLR, but there are no mayor drawbacks in terms of usability. Do keep in mind though that it is very limited in terms of shutter speeds, so it works best with ISO 100 film during a sunny day, and 200 when it is overcast.

A few months before I noticed that I have an old camera in my shelf. It was the current zenit. And now I've done a few shots, but haven't looked at them yet, so I can't tell anything about the quality, but I heard it's very good. I really like it. Also, a zoom lens would have been fine also, but unfortunately it didn't even exist at that time....

I purchased my Zenit 12XP 35mm SLR Camera, or perhaps it should be referred to as the 12HR, since the Russian cyrillic letters stand for XR, on Ebay for around $25.00. It was being sold under the Cambron label. Apparently the seller had no idea what it was, for he mentioned that there is some sort of battery holder on the back of the camera. The camera was in "like new" condition. I had a Zenit back in the 80's, with an external meter, and this one had the same heft and feel of of that older model, probably an "E" model. When I received the camera, I did notice there was a place for two button cells on the back of the camera, and started searching for a couple of batteries to fit. I did locate a couple, inserted them, but had no idea how the meter worked, or if it did work. When I depressed the shutter button, a very long distance I might add, I noticed a red diode light in the viewfinder. As I started turning the aperature ring and the shutter speed dial, I noticed that the red diod shifted to another red diod. As I continued to mess with it, I saw that at one point both red diods lighted up and started flickering. As I pointed the camera toward an outdoor light source, the exposure looked as though it was just about correct when both red diods flickered. Getting on a Zenit web site, I found that indeed when both lights flicker, the correct exposure has been achieved. But I also noticed that sometimes the lights wouldn't flicker no matter how I changed exposures. More research! Taking off the rewind crank, and lifting off the ISO dial on the top left of the camera, I found that the meter can be adjusted to a given light source. Using another reliable camera as a guide, I clearned off the variable resister located underneath the ISO indicator, set the correct shutter speed and aperature setting, and the slowly turned the variable resistor until both red diods stared to flicker, and then tightedned the set screws. Right now, my Zenit 12XP [12HR] works like a finely tuned watch. recently took it to Siberia with me and came back with some excellent pictures of Russian city life. I now have four Zenits, and like them all. These Russian cameras are sort of like our old model "A" autos, they're built to be worked on by an average person with some knowledge of cameras and photography. And they're very rugged. I recently took my Zenit 212K on a cruise and shot slides with it and they came out great. These Zenits are really workhorse cameras. I also have two FED 5C [or 5S] rangerfinders, one chrome and one black, like new and I am really amazed with the quality of the pictures they produce.

All in all, the Zenit wouldn't be my first choice to shoot a special event, but they are fun cameras to play with, and can produce some really great results.

Ah Soviet engineering! Well, what Carl Zeiss was to the DDR, Zenit was to the USSR. I have a Zenit 12XP which has finally given up the ghost on me and I think I am actually going to have to replace it. That being said they go cheap on ebay so it is tempting to nab another. It was my first 'proper' 35mm camera and I got it with a few lenses to play with. The Zenit is good and chunky, it's a durable bit of kit and can take a knock or two without a problem which compares well with many of the carbon fibre SLRs these days. The Zenit is very easy to use with simple functions, the flashing red lights tell you when the settings should be correct and as such I found it an excellent start into hobby photography. In my opinion you'd be hard pressed to find a better camera for a 16 year old say who wants to go out and snap. The Zenit is manual which forces you to learn how to use it properly rather than letting all the auto functions do the work. You feel like you've acheived something when you get that really good picture right.
On the negative side you are restricted to screw fitting lenses rather than the more common bayonet ones, that being said you can usually pick these up quite cheaply when you find them. I found the batteries in mine were a little odd and took a long time to find, I think the camera shop fleeced me for them as well, probably knew that I couldn't be bothered to look any more!