Made in the USSR
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Back when I first starting shooting film, I came across this peculiar camera made in Russia. I already had a 35 mm Zenit SLR at the time, but thought this camera is just too cool and had to add it to my collection. It is a film SLR camera with a 300 mm lens attached to a "rifle stock".
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The lens and camera body can be detached from the stock. The lens can also be removed from the camera body. Let's look at the lens first.
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The Lens
The lens is a Tair-3S 300 mm with an aperture range of f/4.5 ~ f/22. It has 16 aperture blades, which renders beautiful background bokeh even when stopped down. The sharpness is also quite good.
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The lens features an aperture setting ring, which lets you set an aperture. Once the aperture is set, the lens is opened up to its maximum, allowing for easier focusing.
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A cable from the lens attaches to the camera body to allow for the correct exposure metering based on the set aperture.
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A focusing knob at the front of the lens barrel lets the user focus the lens from 3 m to infinity. Its design allows for the user to hold the lens steady while focusing with one hand while the other hand is holding the pistol grip.
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The Camera
The camera is a Zenit 12XPS, a modified version of a Zenit 12XP, which is just a regular SLR camera. I guess the 'S' stands for sniper?
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There are 6 shutter speed settings available: BULB, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, and 1/500. With the stock pressed firmly against the chest while shooting, the heavy lens and camera combo becomes remarkably stable. Combined with proper breathing techniques, I feel like a Russian sniper/spy :)
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Taking Photos
| To trigger the shutter release, first advance the film like you would any film camera. Then half-press the trigger on the pistol grip to release the aperture to the set aperture. Pressing the trigger all the way then takes the photo. |
Photos of Cats Sniped with This Camera
And now the moment you've been waiting for. These photos were all taken with the Zenit Fotosnaiper with the 300 mm lens, on expired 35 mm film. I promise no cats were harmed in the process :)
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Conclusion
Pros
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If you have a thing for old cameras, especially one as unique as this, definitely check it out! It is also adaptable to modern cameras. I have done some modifications to the stock which allows me to shoot with a Sony A7 mirrorless camera instead, which makes it even more awesome. Maybe later I will make a post on how I did that.
That's quite an interesting camera rig. At first it looks like a gimmick but then I wonder if it was really meant to be a functional way of stabilizing the telephoto lens.
It does stabilize the telephoto lens really well, companies should make something similar for birders or sports shooters!
It does the work really good for tele-stabilization. I have try it too :)
That is really cool, and a really weird camera.
Haha yeah, it's definitely peculiar.
This is amazing. I love the way the photos look too. So cool and cute!
Thank you so much @thecryptofiend!
There's a place in Taiwan known as the "cat village" where there are many many cats all around, maybe I'll make a post about it :)
You should. A lot of people love cats. It would be fascinating and I imagine cute!
I love the camera !!! Especially if you take the lens out and replace them with something else you could probably " snap " a professional politician ! ! !
Haha, that's if I don't get arrested first!
Interesting post. Ive never seen a photosnaiper before ,although i did start my photography journey many years ago with a zenit. they were outstanding camera's for the price.
Zenits are amazing for their price, I have 2 Zenit SLRs including this photosniper one. I really want to try out the Helios 85mm f/1.5 lens!
A friend of mine have the same but he can not use it in the city. He almost got shoot by the police one day because of the camera in a public event :)
I can imagine it happening, which country did he use it in?
In Cuba :D hehehehe that was a crazy 1st of May in the Revolution square where Fidel Castro was talking to the people. Not the best choice for him to take it that day. He finish in the police and got a bit injured too. And btw we got a lot of Zenit cameras there in Cuba (my first camera was a Zenit)
Excellent post! Very interesting. I saw this tool only in old USSR movies 8)
Thanks so much, I didn't know they used this in the movies!
Haha guess it wouldn't take long for this to happen, yet some nice kitty snips. Upvoted really like the 3rd kitty very cute.
Thank you @simonjay, I really appreciate your comment.
I likey. People already freak out when I walk with my tripod on my shoulder at night. If I had that, I would get shot in San Diego. I can't buy it but I love it.
Thanks, yeah I would not dare use this in the US lol.
I've never seen anything like that before! Crazy!!
Not sure I'd want to explain to people in public/ police that it's just a camera though... I can imagine getting crash tackled by some big hairy vigilante thinking that he's saving the day!
Looks like an awesome, affordable super telephoto lens though, that's for sure.
Haha I always get a lot of stares when I use this in public, most always someone will approach me and tell me how cool it is :)
What better way to take pictures at the next American "I'm more speshul than you" protest/rally. This thing will go over so well that the daring photojournalist might even survive to see the next day. ;)
Haha, just don't get shot by the police!
I've never seen such a thing! This would be a birder's dream. The practicality of it and the fact this isn't a standard set up for long range photography is frankly mystifying. A revelation!
Yea Canon or Nikon should come up with something similar for birders and sports shooters! This coupled with advanced auto focus, accurate tracking, and fast burst rate would be amazing.
I think I want one of those. :) Really like old cameras, but I had never seen something like that. The interesting thing for me was I wasn't all that surprised that it came from the Soviet Union.
It's actually a really nice design in my opinion, could be improved upon, but innovative and useful! Makes shooting photos with telephoto lenses a joy.
cool to see it here, popular sovietic phototoy , even in cartoon's
Haha cool!
nice camera, had never seen one like this.
Yea it's definitely something of a peculiar piece, but special :)
This is AWESOME!
Thanks @getonthetrain, nice to see you here!
do chemical film cameras even exist today outside of a museum ?
They stopped making the Polaroid instant photo cartridges years ago.
Do they make modern film only cameras today in 2016 ?
Fuji and Kodak still make film. I expect film will exist far into the future for hobbyists and the movie industry. Not everybody loves going digital.
A a lot of filmmakers still shoot film, even today many big name movies are shot on film. Don't know if any company still makes film still cameras though.
Seriously awesome and seriously BIG photographs! Cats are often difficult to photograph. Well done, good sir! Well done!
Thank you very much!