Variozenitar-M: An impressive zoom lens from the dying days of the USSR

By Ivan Zotikov

In the 1970s, with the continuing development of SLR cameras, there came the possibility of universal lenses with variable focal length and constant aperture value that would replace several standard fixed lenses at once.  

In different parts of the world, lenses from all sorts of different companies began to appear, including Soligor, Tokina, Vivitar, Makina Optical and many others. First of all, this was due to the reduction in the cost of calculating optical circuits and control elements thanks to the growing use of computers.

A computer revolution occurred, and machines became accessible, more easily understandable, and easier to use for those companies engaged in the design of optical systems.

During the Cold War, even the optical companies of the USSR could not escape this revolution. Such large scientific centres as the Optical Institute in Leningrad (GOI), the Kyiv Arsenal Plant, the Leningrad Optical and Mechanical Association, the Lytkarinsky Optical Glass Plant and the Krasnogorsk Optical and Mechanical Plant (KMZ), through the ministry that supervised them, received access to the most advanced Soviet computers at that time.

It was during that period that the convenience of using such zoom systems for solving practical photography problems increased significantly. Samples of products began to appear in the USSR that covered the focal length from wide-angle to long-focus.

Many projects, due to their high cost and the complexity of launching conveyor lines, remained only at the prototype or pre-serial production stage.

In this article, I want to introduce you to one of these zoom lenses, boldly called “a unicorn”. The lens was developed by the KMZ design bureau team (and never went into production. 

At the moment, there are only a few known examples of this Variozenitar-M lens with a focal length of 40mm to 120mm. In this lens, the fixation of three focal lengths, emphasized on the frame, is noteworthy: 40mm, 85mm and 120mm.

Also, note the aperture value – it has a relative aperture: of 1:3.5, with an aperture scale limit: up to 1:22.

Those figures are quite progressive for that period, especially the relatively fast maximum aperture maintained along the entire length. It was developed for cameras of the Zenit M42 mount, with a switch for automatic “jumping” aperture. The minimum focusing distance is 1.5m (5ft).

As I discovered, samples of this lens were presented in the permanent exhibition of the Moscow House of Optics, as well as at the exhibitions of achievements of the national economy in the optical pavilion in 1984. Also, according to my information, a certain number of samples were presented at international exhibitions held by the official distributor organisation TOE (Technical & Optical Equipment), located in London. 

This distributor had its own trade pavilion with a constantly updated exposition, where buyers had an opportunity to hold the lens in their hands and test them; some experimental samples ended up outside the USSR and remained with fans of rare optics collectors in the cities where the exhibitions were held such as Brussels, Rome, Paris and London. 

One of the mentioned samples surviving until today is pictured in this story.

The events that developed in the USSR through the 1980s, the economic reforms of  perestroika and the problems that were connected with this process meant such resource-intensive development processes were no longer possible.

The country that set its industry such tasks collapsed, and the teams of engineers and designers moved on. History always moves forward, but along the way it leaves us beautiful gifts.  This lens is one of them.

• Many thanks to Alexander Kneller for use of photos for this article.