Lubitel (russian: Любитель, Russian for ''amateur'') refers to any of the several
medium format
Medium format has traditionally referred to a film format in photography and the related cameras and equipment that use film. Nowadays, the term applies to film and digital cameras that record images on media larger than the used in 35&nbs ...
twin-lens reflex camera
A twin-lens reflex camera (TLR) is a type of camera with two objective lenses of the same focal length. One of the lenses is the photographic objective or "taking lens" (the lens that takes the picture), while the other is used for the viewfind ...
s manufactured in
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
by
LOMO
LOMO (russian: Ленинградское Oптико-Mеханическое Oбъединение, Leningradskoye Optiko-Mekhanicheskoye Obyedinenie, Leningrad Optical Mechanical Association) is a manufacturer of medical and motion-picture lens ...
.
The design is based on the early 1930s
Voigtländer Brillant camera with various improvements.
They are often considered
toy cameras due to their cheap price,
bakelite and later thermoplastic construction and low build quality. However, the Lubitels use
120 film, feature
Cooke triplet
The Cooke triplet is a photographic lens designed and patented (patent number GB 22,607) in 1893 by Dennis Taylor who was employed as chief engineer by T. Cooke & Sons of York. It was the first lens system that allowed elimination of most of th ...
, all-glass lenses and
shutter speeds from bulb to 1/250 of a second.
Aperture
In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture and focal length of an optical system determine the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane.
An ...
range is from f/4.5 to f/22. These characteristics are closer to those of an amateur TLR of the 1950s than a toy or disposable camera. They can achieve excellent results when the lens is
stopped down but, as with any three-element lens, the results will be soft by today's standards at larger apertures.
Lubitel cameras are often used by art photographers or amateurs looking for a cheap introduction to
medium format
Medium format has traditionally referred to a film format in photography and the related cameras and equipment that use film. Nowadays, the term applies to film and digital cameras that record images on media larger than the used in 35&nbs ...
photography.
Models and years produced:
*The
Komsomolets camera was a forerunner of the Lubitel. Unlike the Lubitel, it has a non-focusing
viewfinder
In photography, a viewfinder is what the photographer looks through to compose, and, in many cases, to focus the picture. Most viewfinders are separate, and suffer parallax, while the single-lens reflex camera lets the viewfinder use the main ...
. It is a close copy of the
Voigtländer Brillant.
*Lubitel TLR 1950-1956
*Lubitel-2 1955-1977
*Lubitel-166 1977-1980
*Lubitel-166 B 1980-?
*Lubitel-166 Universal 1984-August 1988 (production terminated)
*Lubitel-166+ 2008- (manufactured by Lomographic Society)
See also
*
Smena
*
Holga
*
Diana
*
Lomography
A toy camera is a simple, inexpensive film camera.
Despite the name, toy cameras are fully functional and capable of taking photographs, though with optical aberrations due to the limitations of their simple lenses. From the 1990s onward, ther ...
External links
Lubitel 2Lubitel-resourceFlickr Lubitel GroupLUBITEL photos on DeviantartNewly produced Lubitel 166+Lubitel Users Discussion Group. Open for all Lubitel, Komsomolyets, and other similar cameras
120 film cameras
Soviet cameras
TLR cameras
Toy Cameras