Lubitel 166 surprise

Xmas · Oct 7, 2015

It is a 'copy' of a Voightlander Brilliant, eg see

http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Voigtländer_Brillant

But in plastic

The lens on mine is reasonable, allowing that focusing is not exact but it was cheap 10£ no box NOS.

All I've done is paint the interior Matt black and flock the bottom to reduce reflections.

Today upgraded at 280£ or so in Lomo shop or 50£ used on market stall it is silly.

But I've seen several in use around London.

I must try not to tease the users
I must try...

bvy · Oct 7, 2015

I love my Lubitel 2. And if I could figure out how to accurately focus it every time, I'd love it even more.

Xmas · Oct 7, 2015

bvy said:
I love my Lubitel 2. And if I could figure out how to accurately focus it every time, I'd love it even more.

f/8 or smaller stop works ok.
Film kink is a lesser problem at f/8 or smaller.

Ko.Fe. · Oct 7, 2015

Xmas said:
It is a 'copy' of a Voightlander Brilliant, eg see

http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Voigtländer_Brillant

But in plastic

The lens on mine is reasonable, allowing that focusing is not exact but it was cheap 10£ no box NOS.

...

Lubytel 2 is very close, including the pattern on the bakelite body.

Lubitel 2 and Moscow News by Kostya Fedot, on Flickr

Mine has very good lens, nothing Lo-Fi, regular coated triplet. I aligned focusing and taking lens.
But focusing with loope is next to impossible.
I'm using it as scale camera and distance numbers are where they should be for it, not where they are usually are at TLRs.
With scale focusing I could take portraits at f5.6 just as with Nettar 515, which I have also.

gzhuang · Oct 7, 2015

The unfortunate thing about the Lubitel 166B/U is that you're projecting images from an APS-C lens onto a full frame sensor in digital terms. Hence my preference for shooting non-perf 35mm film with it. Lower in resolution than 120 format but at least 20% more resolution than standard 35mm.

bvy · Oct 8, 2015

Xmas said:
f/8 or smaller stop works ok.
Film kink is a lesser problem at f/8 or smaller.

Sorry. Film kink?

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Dali · Oct 8, 2015

bvy said:
Sorry. Film kink?

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Film flatness issue?

Xmas · Oct 9, 2015

The film is bent through 90 degrees between feed spool and exposure it won't necessarily be flat at exposure depending on temperature and time is is left at 90 degrees.

A TLR is not the worst for bent feed paths.

Dali · Oct 9, 2015

Yes, it is a known fact even for the most prestigious TLRs like the Rolleiflex...

blockend · Oct 9, 2015

Some TLRs have less acute film paths than others. For bellows varieties there's also the possibility of having the film plane sucked out of place by the vacuum as it is extended. In practice I've never found it a problem.

Xmas · Oct 9, 2015

Some of the Rollis came with a glass plate...

Dali · Oct 10, 2015

Xmas said:
Some of the Rollis came with a glass plate...

Guess why...

gzhuang · Oct 27, 2015

Xmas said:
The film is bent through 90 degrees between feed spool and exposure it won't necessarily be flat at exposure depending on temperature and time is is left at 90 degrees.

A TLR is not the worst for bent feed paths.

A piece of recycled 120 film backing paper over 35mm film should resolve this problem. Preferably black Rollei paper.

Ces1um · Dec 6, 2017

flavio81 said:
The film advance knob directly moves the film, no gears, so if it doesn't advance, don't force it. Those parts are plastic on the Lubi.

I owned a 166B and it was love at first sight, but THEN i discovered many flaws which made me sell the camera:

- difficult to focus viewfinder
- difficult to hold steady while releasing shutter

and the worst:

- lens not sharp enough(!!), even when used stopped down to f8-11 and after performing focus check on the film plane.

I know, reviving a dead thread here but if you find it difficult to hold steady when releasing the shutter, try using the cable release that usually comes with them. They're a short cable on purpose so you can easily hold the camera steady and you don't have to push on the shutter at all- just on the cable release.

E. von Hoegh · Dec 6, 2017

Xmas said:
The Soviets were good at making things their T34 MBT was the best designed tank of WWII.

The little Cooke triplet clone in my Lubitel is ok at f/8 or smaller film, as film flatness from the 90degree turn of the film the major problem.

If the shutter jams it is the Soviet grease has turned to epoxy resin.

Due in no small part to using J.W. Christie's suspension design. https://www.rbth.com/defence/2015/0...s_an_american_tank_for_the_soviets_46135.html

johnha · Feb 9, 2018

I bought a 166U in the 1990s, excepting the shooting procedure (no interlocks, red window film advance etc.) it is a perfectly usable camera. It wasn't totally pin-sharp but made up for that with the tonal graduation compared to 35mm. The only problem was that the 6x4.5 mask scratched the film so I stopped using it. My only real annoyance is the focussing 'screen' having only ground glass in the centre, it means you need to be more careful (take more time) when focussing.

Ces1um · Feb 9, 2018

johnha said:
I bought a 166U in the 1990s, excepting the shooting procedure (no interlocks, red window film advance etc.) it is a perfectly usable camera. It wasn't totally pin-sharp but made up for that with the tonal graduation compared to 35mm. The only problem was that the 6x4.5 mask scratched the film so I stopped using it. My only real annoyance is the focussing 'screen' having only ground glass in the centre, it means you need to be more careful (take more time) when focussing.

I know everyone will crap on it, but Lomography's 166+ has a split prism viewfinder (and ground glass). It's a lot easier to focus.

Agulliver · Nov 12, 2018

I was given a 166U earlier this year and have run three films through it....one Rollei Retro 400S, one Fomapan 400 and one Lomography 400 colour neg. All films went through smoothly and the lens seems very sharp. Focusing isn't easy for sure, but it's no worse than the Lomo Konstruktor kit camera. It's doable. But this isn't a quick "shoot from the hip" camera...it works best when photos are composed carefully. The difficulty firing the shutter without shaking the camera is rather like a box camera.....but can be alleviated with use of a short cable release.

Dali · Nov 12, 2018

I agree, using a cable would greatly reduce the shaking (shutter pretty hard to trigger off). But there is not much to do with focusing which is by far the worst part of the Lubi.

Lubitel 166 surprise

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