Zenit (camera) - Misuse of The Name Zenit

Misuse of The Name Zenit

Officially the Zenit trademark was (and is) the property of the KMZ factory. However, this factory was owned by the Soviet Ministry of the Defensive Industry, who freely used the Zenit brand whilst exporting cameras made by the other factories they also owned to the West.

Perhaps the first was the Salut medium-format camera, made in Kiev, which was exported as the Zenith-80. (Note the 'h' spelling of the name). Later on, some models of the LOMO-compact camera were sold as Zenit LC-A.

The BELOMO factory in Belarus produced millions of Zenit cameras, but since 1991 they have had no rights to use Zenit name. However, some cameras in production (as of March 2006) still bear this logo.

The mark is still used without permission by other 'noname companies'. There are known to be a few such SLRs and even a digital compact camera with the Zenit logo on it.

Website at zenitcamera.com shows cameras and lenses which bear the Zenit, Helios and Horizon logos despite being produced by other factories. The text is in Russian, so here is a brief commentary on the pictures. In the first part of the page you can see cameras made by the other factories owned by the Ministry of the Defensive Industry. The second part is about equipment produced by the BelOMO factory. The third part shows 'fake' Zenit and Horizon cameras and Helios lenses. And the last section is dedicated to the other companies which sold photographic equipment under Zenith mark at the end of the 20th century.

Finally, during the mid-1990s, the KMZ issued a series of compact film cameras badged with the Zenit name (Zenits from -501 to -620). These cameras were actually made in China and merely packed by the KMZ factory. These rebadged cameras were never exported outside Russia.