Zenit ET: manual and user guide
A 35 mm M42 screw-mount SLR, with a built-in light meter. Its original manual, then the essentials for using it.
View the manual on sovietcamera.suOriginal scanned manual · 16 pages · in Russian
Original manual kept by Sovietcamera.su, a collector’s site for Soviet cameras. The link opens its page, which brings together the Zenit manuals: the Zenit ET one can be downloaded there as a PDF.
Getting started
- Loading Out of the sun, pull up the catch on the left side and open the back. Pull the rewind knob up, put the cartridge in, push the knob back down, then pull the film leader to the edge of the body and slide it into the slot of the take-up spool, with a perforation on the sprocket tooth. Close the back, wind on fully and fire twice, then wind on again and turn the counter to set its 0 opposite the mark.
- Sensitivity It is set on the calculator on top, on the rewind side: turn the aperture ring by its tab until the mark in its window is opposite your film’s value. One side shows 16, 32, 65, 130, 250 and 500 GOST-ASA, with two dots under 32: the left one for 25, the right one for 32. The other side shows DIN, from 13 to 28.
- Metering Aim at your subject and turn the calculator’s shutter speed ring until its needle lines up with the meter needle. Then read off the pairs: if 125 falls opposite 5.6, that’s 1/125 s at f/5.6, or 1/250 s at f/4, or 1/60 s at f/8. Transfer the chosen pair to the shutter speed dial and the lens.
- Your first photo Focus at full aperture: turn the lens ring until the image is sharp in the small microprism circle and in the ground-glass ring, then set the aperture. Wind on fully with the lever and press the shutter button gently: a sudden press shakes the camera and blurs the image.
- Rewinding After the 36th frame, turn the rewind release ring, near the shutter button, anticlockwise as far as it goes. Unfold the crank and turn in the direction of the arrow until the film leaves the take-up spool. Pull the knob all the way up, open the back, take out the cartridge, then turn the ring back a quarter turn clockwise.
What it can do
- 35 mm SLR with an instant-return mirror. The viewfinder has a Fresnel lens, for an evenly bright image, and microprisms in the centre for more precise focusing.
- Shutter from 1/30 to 1/500 s, plus B: the shutter stays open as long as you press. For a long exposure, lock the shutter button by turning it anticlockwise as far as it goes, then turn it all the way back the other way at the end. In both cases, put the camera on a tripod.
- The speed is chosen before or after winding on, on a dial that doesn’t turn when the shutter fires. The shutter button takes a cable release.
- Self-timer: cock the shutter, push the self-timer lever on the front all the way down, then press its button all the way. The picture is taken after at least 7 s. The manual intends it for use on a tripod.
- Close-ups and copy work with extension rings, alone or combined, between the body and the lens. The manual also shows photography through a microscope.
Which lenses?
- M42 × 1 screw mount, 45.5 mm flange distance. Lenses for Zenit cameras with a focal-plane shutter screw onto it.
- The manual lists eleven of them, from the Mir-10A 28 mm f/3.5 to the MC MTO-1000 AM 1000 mm f/10.
- With the Tair-3A 300 mm, the left, right and top edges of the negative may be slightly cropped.
- With the ZM-5A 500 mm and the MC MTO-1000 AM, the light meter can’t be used: their mount covers it.
The flash
- X sync: with flash, the speed is always 1/30 s.
- Two connections: the centre contact of the hot shoe on top, with no cable, and the sync cord socket on the front.
- Remove the hot shoe’s protective cover before sliding the flash in.
Good to know
- Always wind on fully, so you don’t skip frames. Don’t leave it cocked for long, it harms the shutter. Don’t turn the shutter button needlessly: you could disengage the mechanism.
- Dark subject against a very bright background (snow, sky, sunlit water): open up 1 or 2 stops from the reading. Lit subject against a dark background: close down 1 or 2 stops.
- The meter covers 1/30 to 1/500 s up to 65 GOST-ASA, 1/60 to 1/500 s at 130, 1/125 to 1/500 s at 250 and 1/250 to 1/500 s at 500. Outside these, the manual refers you to exposure tables or another means of metering.
- The cell, above the lens, doesn’t like full sun: between sets of shots, put the camera away in its case. Keep its window clean, dirt skews the reading. The manual mentions no battery.
- In very cold weather, keep it under your coat and take it out only to shoot. Clean the Fresnel lens, inside the body, only with clean air, never with a wet product.
ET specifications
- Format
- 35 mm film in cartridges, 36 exposures of 24 × 36 mm
- Mount
- M42 × 1 screw, 45.5 mm flange distance
- Shutter
- focal-plane, 1/30 to 1/500 s, B and long exposure
- Viewfinder
- SLR, Fresnel lens and microprisms, 20 × 28 mm field, 4.3× eyepiece
- Metering
- front-mounted cell, read on a needle calculator, settings to transfer to the body and lens
- Sensitivity
- ISO 16 to 500 (GOST-ASA), i.e. 13 to 28 DIN
- Flash
- X sync at 1/30 s, centre-contact hot shoe and sync cord socket
- Self-timer
- at least 7 s
- Tripod thread
- 1/4 inch
- Dimensions
- 138 × 93 mm from the front, depth depending on the lens
