This one is still close to the "KMZ" model.
ZENIT ET
Zenit ET, first camera sent from Saratov by Alexey Bumagin. Received on April 9th, 2009.
This camera was made in the Belarusian factory of Vileyka, created (for political reasons) to "relieve" the parent company. The production of this plant was intended for the Soviet domestic market, these bodies are deemed unreliable.
As it was a bare body, Alexey "dressed" it with a Helios 77M. The diaphragm control of this 77 being a little tired, it has been an opportunity to reflect a default of bodies using the same diaphragm-closing mechanism (EM, TTL, ET): when you press the button, the shutter can be released when the diaphragm is not closed yet! (and for the TTL, the light metering can be distorted as well). The Helios 44M fitted on EM and TTL was equipped with a manual stop button that would circumvent the problem, but the standard lens for the ET was rather the 44M-4, without manual command, generating exposure errors that have added to the bad reputation of this camera.
The top cover bears the rewinding indication for a rotary switch, while the button is already the one of the following generations (to keep pushed with the nail)!
The bottom cover bears the logo of the Vileyka plant.
Zenit ET, MC Helios 44-3, in Alexey's second delivery. Received on May, 5th, 2009.
The first ET is close to the KMZ model. Five years after it has been seriously reworked by the Vileyka engineers : plastic covers, accessory shoe integrated in the top cover and equipped with flash-sync, plastic buttons (including the cocking lever (arrived broken)) strap eyelets... Now the back door opens by lifting the rewind button, which needed to design a new shell.
The painting of metal parts is done to the economy, it is going off by places!In order not to fail the poor reputation of Belorussian cameras,the "B" shutter speed does not work (as for the 130!)This body was factory fitted with an Helios 44-3 (manufactured by the same group at the plant of Minsk). Gag: As this lens has manual aperture, the camera was not equipped with the closing mechanism!
On the left, the oldest Zenit ET , with the control for closing the diaphragm. On the right, this ET: the control arm has not been mounted!
The body's baseplate wears the mention "Made in USSR" while this camera was made in 1992 (Belarus is indépendant since 1990).
Zenit ET, MC Helios 77M-4, bought by Christophe on leboncoin.fr, received on July 29th, 2009.
Christophe purchased this camera for the Helios 77M-4. According to its serial number it was manufactured before No 2, painting remained in the pistol when it was painted. The meter button is in metal, while the speed selector is in plastic. The lens has aperture coupling, so the camera is equipped with aperture control.
Zenit ET, bare body provided by Alexey, arrived on July 31st, 2009.
The particularity of this one is to have no lightmeter. Legend says that the Zenit ET was created to finish the stock of parts from stopped series... So maybe there were no more selenium cells!
On top, my No.2, with lightmeter (I changed the cocking lever!), below this "No.4".The buttons are the same, small symbols have been added, to look like the Zenit B.In the Zenit range existed a BM model with coupling of the diaphragm and no meter. This Zenit could also have been called BM, or BT, why not?
