If you fancy owning a Hasselblad but can’t stretch to the price, how about one of these? Made in Russia by Kiev Arsenal in 1957, it was originally called the Salyut. Then came the Salyut-S which was exported under the name of the Zenith 80. It’s a copy of the Hasselblad 1000F.

 

The camera body houses the reflex mirror, focal plane shutter speeded 1/2–1/1000 second and a ground-glass focusing screen. A separate film magazine with metal sheath to protect the film when the magazine is detached from the body takes 120 film, shooting 12 6x6cm images to a roll. A folding waist-level viewfinder slides onto the top of the body and the 80mm f/2.8 Industar-29 standard lens bayonets to the front. Two other purpose-made lenses were also available: a 65mm f/3.5 Mir-3 wide-angle and a 300mm f/4.5 Tair-33 telephoto.

 

In use, a pre-set lever around the lens is activated to keep the lens at      

full aperture for focusing. A knob winds the film, tensions the shutter

and lowers the mirror. The metal sheath is removed from the       magazine and the lens is focused. As the release is pressed, the lens stops down to its preselected aperture, the mirror flips up and the shutter fires.

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If you decide to get one of these and use it, however, there is one big thing to beware of. Pay strict attention to the big red sign on the side of the film wind knob which states: ‘This knob must be wound before altering shutter speed.’ Do it the other way round, changing the shutter speed before winding the film and you run the risk of the mechanism jamming up.