This was my first camera, bought for me by my father when I was 14, along with a Weston Master IV lightmeter.

I couldn't afford much film, and the combination of a fully manual camera plus having to make every shot count was the perfect introduction to photography.

I initially used a camera club darkroom before getting my own one at home. It was strictly a black-and-white setup, and I've retained that love of b&w photography ever since.

It seems also to have infused me with a collecting bug for Russian cameras, though I'm tempted to blame a friend for that.

When I moved on to a Nikon FM a couple of years later, the Zenit languished unused and unloved in a box until my dad produced it from storage this year. I screwed on the Helios 44mm f/2 lens and fired off a roll of XP2. Amazingly, after 26 years of disuse, it still worked perfectly. Well, for Zenit values of perfectly, of course:

But then that's what the Zenit-E is all about: bullet-proof back-to-basics photography.

There's something really engaging about fully manual photography. As with my other film cameras, I don't use it very often, but from time to time it's a lot of fun.

That Helios lens is very soft, so a friend recommended a Takumar. A 55mm f/1.8 cost me £20. :-) I've only fired off a test roll so far, but the quality is almost too good for a Zenit!