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[Matt Jahans]

 Hi
 
I have recently aquired a Zenit ES Photo Sniper camera. Now I'll be totally honest and admit that I am an SLR virgin, I've never used one before so my knowledge is lacking.
 
It appears to be in working order mechanically and I will

[Will+Inoue]

 Hi Matt,
 
It's possibly dirt or fungus on the prism. But more likely it's that the mirroring of the prism has deteriorated. If that's the case, you will need to find a good used prism or find someone that can re-silver your original prism

[Jon Goodman]

Hi, Matt.
That model of Zenit wasn't known for having a super bright viewfinder, but it should not look dirty.  A longer lens will exacerbate the dim viewfinder problem a bit, but not terribly so.  I agree you may have a deteriorated pentaprism

[rick oleson]

 Before tearing into it though, see if a friend has another Zenit that you can borrow just to look at.  You mention that you're new to SLRs, and it's a fact of life that even a bright SLR viewfinder has a rather grainy appearance compared to the d

[mattjahans]

 Thanks for your feedback guys.
 
It may well be that my view is as grainy as normal for a Zenit. I will try some film in it today.
 
Another thought, if the problem is down to a mouldy or dirty prism, will that only effect the view finder i

[Jon Goodman]

 Hi, Matt.
What you see in the viewfinder is merely a reflection of what the lens sees.  That reflection must pass through a pentaprism, magnifying lens, etc so it can be seen as your eye expects to see it and not inverted or minimized in size,

[mattjahans]

 Hi Jon
 
Thanks for your feedback. It is as I hoped then, that the film is not affected by the viewfinder parts. I am getting a roll of film developed today which will prove it all.
 
I photographed passers by and aircraft (I'm on the Heath

[mattjahans]

 The film has been developed with very good results, no distortion at all :-)
 
Thanks again
 
Matt

[Dennis Ronca]

 Hello, I have recently aquired a zenit F12 photo sniper camera and can't figure out how to rewind the film. The teeth/sprocket that cary the film only go one way. I have a manual in english for another photosnipe model that says to push in the shutte

[Marco]

 Are you sure it doesn't instruct you to depress the collar AROUND the shutter button? It thus work in some my Zenit cameras.

[Sergey Ilyin]

You have Fotosniper FS-12? If so, it is based on Zenit-12 camera. I don't have an english manual for Zenit-12 but here is manual for Zenit-122 which is nearly the same: http://www.zenit