 With the following problems; The first (left), has a severe lightleak, the second (middle) has a defective lightmeter and the third (right) works perfectly although the lightmeter is sometimes a step off. I was in an odd mood today, call it workmode. This sometimes happens and I tend to make the best of it. So today I decided that I would find out why my most used Zenit-E (middle) had a lightmeter problem and why this happens to so many Zenit-E's. Zenit owners with defective lightmeters, You are NOT alone, it seems to happen to just about any Zenit-E. So I took the camera apart. I did this with a repair manual from This also meant I could not repair the damn thing. Unless I got hold of a selinum cell. So I switchted lightmeters with my older Zenit-E (left). It has a lightleak anyway. So I did. Now I have two good Zenits. Now I could not get that lightleak out of my mind. Something bugged me when I opened my old Zenit. Upon close inspection I noticed that this camera had been opened before. Well, it was from 1967 and with meters like that what did you expect? The one who repaired it did a really bad job on this camera. Now I understood where all the problems came from! All the foam, the stuf to prevent lightleaks, had been removed from the camera. The shutterspring was laid in all wrong. Personally I think this camera replaced the Zenit-ES which should be with the PhotoGun. Someone replaced the lightmeter (probably from the ES) removed the old foam, found out it still had problems and then sold it to my local camerashop. And they sold it to me.... To be honest, they told me they hadn't checked it. So they gave me a discount.... So what did I do? I replaced the missing foam. Put the shutterspring in the way it should so now it should be working correctly. 
 All in all a very good day. I now know how to repair lightleaks in my Zenits. I know how to take them apart. And I know how the lightmeter works. |