My first thought was, "They'll be teaching us to tie our shoes next." Then I realised that nearly 2 generations have grown up not needing to know this stuff. Nicely done !
You have explained in a 17 minute video what I couldn't grasp in days of researching film cameras. Thank you for this video! You have real gift for pedagogy, and explaining complex matters so that they are understandable! Very excited to be shooting with my Zenit 11 :)
I found what I needed at around 14:00 of the video-there is rather too much in this video, would be good to add details of time-stamps. Once I found it it, it was exactly what I needed.
This video helped me so much! Thank you! I received a Zenit 11 (my first analog camera ever) and I started learning by myself how it works. I was feeling so overwhelmed and then I stumbled upon this video and it literally made everything so easy!
Great explanation of exactly how to work the light meter. I have several film cameras but none of them have this style of light meter so I wasn't really sure on it's operating.
This is a great explanation, thank you. My grandad recently gave me his Zenit 11 and it is incredible, so this helps. Sadly it seems as if the ISO markings have worn off over time and the light meter bar doesn't seem to want to move, looks like the glass has fallen down. Excited to use it however!
@@pedrogabrielmejia6093 of course!:) I just got my Zenit ET - looking forward to shooting the first roll with it Might look into fixing the meter at some point down the road, but for now I will follow sunny 16 or phone meter app to get an estimate:)
This was a great tutorial, thank you very much. I have shot two good rolls with my Zenit 11 but since its my first camera I wanted to be sure I was using the light meter correctly, and this video helped me a lot. I am tempted to buy a Zenit 12xp soon so I can see what it is like having the light meter built in through the lens. Thanks again
Hello there. This is kind of a tricky question. Right away, I can see some problems with this constant and i think it may be linked to the sunny 16 rule. Here is why iI see some troubles: IUn first place, every lens has a different "Sweet Spot", that is that at certain appertures or F values, the lens gives you sharper images. The second reason is that because of composition reasosns, you can play with the F value to obtain different depths of field of the same take. Because of this two reasons, you could easily disregard that advice you heard. When taking sunny pictures, the best way to "react or deal" with the light is by choosing a good ISO value for the film. Is you choose a high ISO, like 400 and you are shooting on a sunny day, you will be forced to have high speeds and a higher apperture value (Closed diafragm). This could limit a little bit your composition in regards of the depth of field for takes or by limiting your speeds. For a sunny day with no clouds, the best thing you can do is to grab a 100 ISO film that will give you bothj higher diafragm and speed ranges. Also, having lens hood to avoid glare is recommended. Howhever, you can shoot your pictures at different F and speed values depending of your creative intention. I could advise you to disregard that advice. If you want to shoot at F16 using this light meter, be sure to imput the right ISO value, measure the take by pointing the camera to the subject, match the needle and then look for what speed matches F16 on the dial. I hope this helps!
@PittyTech, the Sunny 16 rule is a way to shoot a picture on a sunny day if you do not have a light meter to measure the light. With the sun behind you and shining directly on your subject, you set the ISO to what ever it is on your film (they often call that “box” speed), you set your aperture to f16, you set your shutter speed to whatever your film ISO is. Is your film is marked ISO 200 then find the closest matching shutter speed to match. I’m holding a Zenit 12S and the closest speed it has is 250 (1/250th of a second). If I had ISO 100 I would set the shutter to 125 on this camera. If I had ISO 400 I would set it to 500. See the pattern? Sunny 16 is a closest-guess rule that would give slightly different exposures depending where you are at in the world and what time of the year it is. The sun in Greenland at Christmas time will not be as bright as the sun in Mexico during the summer. Hope that helps.
Great tutorial! Quick question, how do I know which settings are the best? I can now change all the settings to what they need to be (thanks to you 🙏) but I dont know *what* settings are the best. Thank you 😊
Hello, thank you for the comments! Well, this selection Will depende on your creative intention. There is an opposite relation between aperture and shhutter speed. A higher shhutter speed will requiere a lower aperture value and a higher aperture value Will requiere a slower speed generally speaking. High shhutter values are great to capture movement and slow speeds allows you to capture the motion in a blurry way, so ir you want to take a picture of a passing car, a high speed is requiered to "freeze" it in the photo. That is the way shhutter speed affects your pictures. Now, aperture value affects your pictures by giving depth of field, that is the distances objects are in Focus. Lower aperture values give You "bokeh" por less field of depth, that is that objects closer to the lens will be blurry, and higher values will give you more depth of field, that is more objects in Focus. Depending on the light conditions and your intention, You can play with the settings.
Hello, well I have two options in mind: THe first one is that the needle is stuck by the camera case on the inside, so you will have to remove the Top cover to unlock it. The second option is that the ligh meter is already expired and oit does not work. This is just a guess by the description of your problem, so try to unblock the needle by remloving the top cover. It can also be due to a light sensor missalignment on the inside of the camera.
Hello, Pedro, and thank you for the video! I have one question: I have a Zenit ET with a ISO 200 film loaded. After the guy at the shopping store had loaded the film and I had taken my first two photos, I tried and rotated the ISO wheel just to see if it rotates (to get acknowledged with the functions), but, of course I flipped it back to 200 before I continued to take other photos. Did it make any damage to the film or the camera? I didn't take any photos while I rotated the wheel, it was just for some seconds, to understand how the wheel functions and which are the possibilities.
Hello Aris, thanks for the quesiton. Do not worry at all, you can move the dial as many times as you want, even if the camera is loaded, as long as you remeber to set the correct ISO value before measuring and taking the picture. Simply remember to set the correct ISO back to measure correctly.
@@wezlam no problem, this will eventually happen with all of them. The importante thing is that t he shooter on the camera works, and like that, perfcet.
@@michaeldimmitt2188 I just wanted to know how the light meter worked but he explaind the whole camera and then some. If it was me I would just say you line it up with the shot amd set the shutter speen to the noch. The video is very informative, don't get me wrong but I was just looking for a quick guide
My first thought was, "They'll be teaching us to tie our shoes next." Then I realised that nearly 2 generations have grown up not needing to know this stuff.
Nicely done !
You have explained in a 17 minute video what I couldn't grasp in days of researching film cameras. Thank you for this video! You have real gift for pedagogy, and explaining complex matters so that they are understandable! Very excited to be shooting with my Zenit 11 :)
I found what I needed at around 14:00 of the video-there is rather too much in this video, would be good to add details of time-stamps. Once I found it it, it was exactly what I needed.
wonderful video, I just got a zenit E and was a bit confused buy soviet build :D
THANK YOU! This is the clearest and simplest explanation of this camera's light meter I've found. Excellent video!
Thanks a lot for that comment. That is the idea of this channel, to sahere the knowledge.
This video helped me so much! Thank you! I received a Zenit 11 (my first analog camera ever) and I started learning by myself how it works. I was feeling so overwhelmed and then I stumbled upon this video and it literally made everything so easy!
Glad it helps! Enjoy the camera.
Great explanation of exactly how to work the light meter. I have several film cameras but none of them have this style of light meter so I wasn't really sure on it's operating.
THANK YOU!!! I've been looking for something like this, I'm super new to photography but I've fund this camera series and just loved it.
Gracias Pedro! I'm just starting with a Zenit EM (I previously shot only with a lomo) and I found your videos very simple and clear!
Thanks a lot Andrea! It s very good to know that this videos can help people strating in this world.
Me has ayudado mucho, Pedro. Gracias. Compré un Zenit 11 el otro día y no entendía como funcionaba el fotómetro 🙂
Thank you! This was explained perfectly.
Thank you so muchhhhh, I've just found an old Zenit 11 in my house and your video has been super helpful for meeee📸
Thank you! You made everything clear. All I need now is a film!
Thank you very much for this tutorial! I now have the confidence to try out my Zenit E!
This is a great explanation, thank you. My grandad recently gave me his Zenit 11 and it is incredible, so this helps. Sadly it seems as if the ISO markings have worn off over time and the light meter bar doesn't seem to want to move, looks like the glass has fallen down. Excited to use it however!
Thank you, this is my first camera and your video is the best guide out there
Thanks a lot! It is good to know that this videos help
great explanation, sadly my lightmeter is broken but still nice to know how it would be used :)
That is normal, the cells of the meter decay with time, still, if the camera is mechanically good, you cba use an externa meter and keep using it.
@@pedrogabrielmejia6093 of course!:) I just got my Zenit ET - looking forward to shooting the first roll with it
Might look into fixing the meter at some point down the road, but for now I will follow sunny 16 or phone meter app to get an estimate:)
This was a great tutorial, thank you very much. I have shot two good rolls with my Zenit 11 but since its my first camera I wanted to be sure I was using the light meter correctly, and this video helped me a lot. I am tempted to buy a Zenit 12xp soon so I can see what it is like having the light meter built in through the lens. Thanks again
Happy to know that this videos help
Thank you so much for this video. I’m learning so much from you!
Thanks a lot for the comment. Soon i will make more videos. I was waiting for new cameras.
thank you very very much
you helped me alot
ilearned many things from your video❤️❤️❤️❤️
great video, thank you sir
Thank you very much for such clear explanation! It helped me so much
Thank you very much for a great explanation! 😊
Great explanation ! Thank you!
so I've heard best f to use for sunny photos is f16 should i put the dial thing to the line of the light meter and my lens to f16 or no
Hello there. This is kind of a tricky question. Right away, I can see some problems with this constant and i think it may be linked to the sunny 16 rule. Here is why iI see some troubles: IUn first place, every lens has a different "Sweet Spot", that is that at certain appertures or F values, the lens gives you sharper images. The second reason is that because of composition reasosns, you can play with the F value to obtain different depths of field of the same take. Because of this two reasons, you could easily disregard that advice you heard. When taking sunny pictures, the best way to "react or deal" with the light is by choosing a good ISO value for the film. Is you choose a high ISO, like 400 and you are shooting on a sunny day, you will be forced to have high speeds and a higher apperture value (Closed diafragm). This could limit a little bit your composition in regards of the depth of field for takes or by limiting your speeds. For a sunny day with no clouds, the best thing you can do is to grab a 100 ISO film that will give you bothj higher diafragm and speed ranges. Also, having lens hood to avoid glare is recommended. Howhever, you can shoot your pictures at different F and speed values depending of your creative intention. I could advise you to disregard that advice. If you want to shoot at F16 using this light meter, be sure to imput the right ISO value, measure the take by pointing the camera to the subject, match the needle and then look for what speed matches F16 on the dial. I hope this helps!
@PittyTech, the Sunny 16 rule is a way to shoot a picture on a sunny day if you do not have a light meter to measure the light. With the sun behind you and shining directly on your subject, you set the ISO to what ever it is on your film (they often call that “box” speed), you set your aperture to f16, you set your shutter speed to whatever your film ISO is. Is your film is marked ISO 200 then find the closest matching shutter speed to match. I’m holding a Zenit 12S and the closest speed it has is 250 (1/250th of a second). If I had ISO 100 I would set the shutter to 125 on this camera. If I had ISO 400 I would set it to 500. See the pattern? Sunny 16 is a closest-guess rule that would give slightly different exposures depending where you are at in the world and what time of the year it is. The sun in Greenland at Christmas time will not be as bright as the sun in Mexico during the summer. Hope that helps.
Hi, I have a similar camera 😁 Do you know if it is possible to remove that little stub at the bottom of the camera? Thanks!
Great tutorial! Quick question, how do I know which settings are the best? I can now change all the settings to what they need to be (thanks to you 🙏) but I dont know *what* settings are the best. Thank you 😊
Hello, thank you for the comments! Well, this selection Will depende on your creative intention. There is an opposite relation between aperture and shhutter speed. A higher shhutter speed will requiere a lower aperture value and a higher aperture value Will requiere a slower speed generally speaking. High shhutter values are great to capture movement and slow speeds allows you to capture the motion in a blurry way, so ir you want to take a picture of a passing
car, a high speed is requiered to "freeze" it in the photo. That is the way shhutter speed affects your pictures. Now, aperture value affects your pictures by giving depth of field, that is the distances objects are in Focus. Lower aperture values give You "bokeh" por less field of depth, that is that objects closer to the lens will be blurry, and higher values will give you more depth of field, that is more objects in Focus. Depending on the light conditions and your intention, You can play with the settings.
thx now I can improve my pictures
Can you explain how to set up Zenit ET? I still don't understand how to set up sensors on top
Hello, the Zenit ET calculation system is the same as this one. If You understand this, system, You can use the one no the ET.
@@pedrogabrielmejia6093 okay, thank you 😊
very helpful thank you
A pleasure to share a little bit of knowledge!
I sound that converting ISO to Din on my Zenit E gave me a more accurate position as to where it should be
hello can someone help me I have zenit ET but I have a stuck hand on the eposimeter and i dont how i fix it .Thanks
Hello, well I have two options in mind: THe first one is that the needle is stuck by the camera case on the inside, so you will have to remove the Top cover to unlock it. The second option is that the ligh meter is already expired and oit does not work. This is just a guess by the description of your problem, so try to unblock the needle by remloving the top cover. It can also be due to a light sensor missalignment on the inside of the camera.
Hello, Pedro, and thank you for the video! I have one question: I have a Zenit ET with a ISO 200 film loaded. After the guy at the shopping store had loaded the film and I had taken my first two photos, I tried and rotated the ISO wheel just to see if it rotates (to get acknowledged with the functions), but, of course I flipped it back to 200 before I continued to take other photos. Did it make any damage to the film or the camera? I didn't take any photos while I rotated the wheel, it was just for some seconds, to understand how the wheel functions and which are the possibilities.
Hello Aris, thanks for the quesiton. Do not worry at all, you can move the dial as many times as you want, even if the camera is loaded, as long as you remeber to set the correct ISO value before measuring and taking the picture. Simply remember to set the correct ISO back to measure correctly.
How do I use the camera when the light meter doesn't work?
You can use the Sunny16 rule or an external light meter
my light meter isn't moving. Nooooooooooooo.
Well, in thst case, use the camera worh a hand held Light meter, it is still usable.
@@pedrogabrielmejia6093 Thanks
@@wezlam no problem, this will eventually happen with all of them. The importante thing is that t he shooter on the camera works, and like that, perfcet.
I have the Zenit ET camera with the original leather case and I wanna sell it. If anyone wants to buy it, reply to my comment
Zenit ttl, zenit 19, zenit am - yes! Zenit E - no.
This could have been a 2 minute video
Totally agree
😆 You should listen to it and then re-write it the way you should have said it. It will help you make better videos in the future.
@@michaeldimmitt2188 I just wanted to know how the light meter worked but he explaind the whole camera and then some. If it was me I would just say you line it up with the shot amd set the shutter speen to the noch. The video is very informative, don't get me wrong but I was just looking for a quick guide