The first Zenit-E models were produced in the KMZ plant in 1965. Over 8 million were manufactured. The Kodak Instamatic 204 was made in the UK between 1966 and 1968. Of course it was cheaper than the Soviet Zenit, but the results were often terrible.
The Zenit was a single-lens reflex camera based on the Zorki rangefinder body. The Zorki line of rangefinder cameras was originally a direct Leica copy. Therefore, Zenit = Leica. (Maybe). The Zenit pentaprism is small, thus what you see through the viewfinder is only about two-thirds of what will be recorded on the film. Nonetheless it is vastly superior to a point-and-shoot camera with film in a cartridge lacking a proper pressure plate to keep it flat and even.
Many Zenit cameras were supplied with a Helios-44 lens of 58mm focal length and a maximum aperture of f/2. This lens was a Soviet copy of the Carl Zeiss Biotar lens and had distinctive bokeh characteristics. So Helios = Zeiss. (Possibly).
Photograph made with a Nikon D700 + a Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 AI lens.