Zenit 3M (KMZ), 35mm SLR camera, image gallery

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I finally ran a film through he Zenit 3 in 2022. It had sat on the shelf for a bit as the shutter was sticky, before I gave it a quick going over and shutter speed check. This velvety black cow was the first frame off the roll. The lens is softer than I'd expected, but in fairness I was opened up to f/4 here to find some shape in all that black.

Titchfield Haven, on one of the seemingly rare occasions when the tide was in. Most of the times I've popped over the boats are heeled over resting on the mud. Here I popped on a red filter. The film was some elderly Efke 100, now running a bit slower than the rated 100ASA on the packet.

The track of beetle burrows in an Elm tree long felled by the disease that killed it in my local park. The strong central burrow was carved out by a female beetle as she tunnelled beneath the bark, laying eggs as she went. When these hatched, the young created the tracks spidering out from the original. The adult burrow was originally horizontal, but the tree now rots away laid on the ground.

One of the exhibits at the excellent Diving Museum at Gosport. This deep diving monstrosity now sits outside, curiously waving a Union Jack. It's well worth a few hours nosing about, and they have underwater cameras too.

Their website is here.

Detail of an appropriate era freight wagon on railway siding, in cloudy dull light.

Trying to finish off the film, I was nosing around a pond near me, but the relatively long focal length of the Helios wasn't really giving me a wide enough view in the tight confines. As I was leaving the sun popped out and illuminated this tree against the angry looking sky. The tree was already turning yellow for autumn and the yellow filter I fitted helped it along.

A rare selfie to finish the film off using the Zenit's built in self timer and longest 1 second exposure. Featuring one of my favourite tools from the tool shed, a Draper 264 hand pillar drill from 1962, roughly the same age as the Zenit and I. I surprised myself with the Zenit, getting a full set of printable negatives from the roll and not forgetting to stop the lens down once. Although it was a bit of a shock to be working with 35mm negatives after spending most of the year messing about with much larger formats.