ZENIT 3
Zenit 3, bought on eBay on July 9th, 2009 (21£+6,75£ sending fees).
Technically, it is a Zenit-S on which was added a cocking lever and a self-timer. The shutter is the one of the Zorki (and therefore identical to that of FED 1), the film is loaded "by the sole" like for old Leicas. The mirror (on a spring) jumps up when you press the shutter release button and is pulled back down by a cord while cocking. The mechanism that pulls the cord is more complicated than the one appeared on Zenit E, with instant-return mirror. The pentaprism has identical dimensions to that of all Zenit that followed, the sight glass must have been improved since.
Zenit 3, bought for us by Alexey, received on June 3rd, 2009.
This body was part of a lot, bought because it contained a rare Zenit AM. Given it's look, Christophe did not want it to come, but it is a rather rare model, and I love disassembling!The shock on the left side destroyed the cocking mechanism, pushed the pentaprism out of it's housing, and broke the sight glass. The rest is quite good, and could be used to repair another camera.
These two cameras show mechanical differences, see hereunder:
Evolution of ZENIT 3 between 1960 and 1962.
On Zenit 3 made in 1960, the curtains are sewed around a metal bar. The 1962 model has the new curtains with visible metal bar (but the rubberized side is towards film, it will pass lens side with the hinged back cameras).
The pentaprism of 1962 model is now held by a metal bracket that surrounds it, before it was two small legs, on each side.
The fixing of a pinion of the cocking mechanism was changed.
Surprising: while the model 1960 has adopted the new form of the mirror (in trapezoid), the model 1962 has the rectangular mirror of Zenit S.My hypothesis: The manufacture of Zenit S stopped in 1961, the 3 will stop in 1962, and rectangular mirrors remained in stock.