Zenit
Krasnogorski Mekhanicheskii Zavod (KMZ)
Krasnogorsk - USSR

KMZ were, and are, situated just nothwest of Moscow in the town of Krasnogorsk, and were founded 1941/42. During the II World War they were the primary manufacturer and supplier of optical equipment such as binoculars, artillery rangefinders etc. to the soviet armed forces.  The factories were evacuated not long before the german army advanced to a position so close to Moscow, that the germans could actually see the city in the distance. However they never advanced any further, and both Krasnogorsk and Moscow were saved mainly by the russian winter which froze the advancing german army to a total halt and subsequently to a painful retreat. After the war KMZ received some of the dismantled factories from Germany, and with the help of german engineers and technicians they were ready to begin production around 1946. The first models produced by KMZ were Leica II copies (Zorki) of which over 70000 pcs were manufactured. The Zenit range of SLRs, espcially the Zenit E have been very succesful, and the most wellknown brands of KMZ are Zorki and Zenit. It is estimated that KMZ have manufactured a total af 4,5 million cameras and over 6 million standard lenses over the years. Zenit still excist as a camera brand, but have no connection with the older Zenit cameras. 

Zenit 3m  (1968) SLR
Serial nr.: 68120099
Format:  24 x 36 on 35 mm film (135)
Optics:  Helios 44  1:2,0   58mm (zM39 thread mount)
Shutter: Focal plane B + 1/30 sec. => 1/500 sec. and selftimer
Accs.: Industar 50  1:3,5  50mm - zM39
                                   Mir-1 1:2,8  37 mm "Grand Prix Brussels" - zM39
Misc.: No lightmeter

This Zenit 3m wasn't at all supposed to be in my collection. If I should own a Zenit, it ought to be a Zenit E, which were a very common entry level SLR in Denmark when I was a teenager, and often used on photo-courses, in schools etc. But at some point I ended up with 2 lenses, the Helios 44 and the Mir-1, and both of them I got for next to nothing on fleamarkets. Both lenses have the Zenit M39 thread mount that will not fit on any af the other M39 mount cameras, that is; they will not focus due to a different focal length in the camera housings. So you can't use any of these Zenit M39 lenses on f.e. Zorki, FED or even on Leica. However if you use an ordinary M39 lens on the Zenit, you're ready for macro shots, but not anything else. Confused ?. The bottomline is, that these Zenit M39 lenses can only be used on Zenit SLRs, and I of course wanted to use these 2 lenses, so I had to get a Zenit 3m for my lenses..hmmm...

The Zenit 3m is a simple and basic SLR, produced from 1962 to 1970, with no instant return mirror, and the shutter must be wound in order to use the viewfinder, which by the way are quite OK allthough it hasn't got spilt-screen focussing. Also there are no auto-diaphragm function, and except for the Industar 50, the lenses have aperture preset. There are no slow shutter speed settings on the 3m. It does however offer a rapid advance lever, hinged back cover, AND tadah ! Strap lugs !. But the Zenit 3m aren't very useful or versatile if you really wan't the benefits of having a wide range of interchangeable lenses to choose from. It's more a curiosa than a versatile SLR really but it does leave an impression of being well built with a quite nice "russian finish"..