The Lubitel can make superb pictures! For just 25 Euros you get a tool for taking excellent pictures, and nobody will steal the Lubitel from a hotel room! When I travel I always have a lubitel in my car. My one is a 166 Universal. The lubitel Lenses were made by Zeiss in GDR and than exported to Lomo as bulkware.
You have to know this camera and love working with it, then everything will work out. Supporting that statement is this video. "TLR Lubitel 2 cameras, Lubitel 166U examples of black and white photos" Thank you for publishing!
You have to know this camera and love working with it, then everything will work out. Supporting that statement is this video. "TLR Lubitel 2 cameras, Lubitel 166U examples of black and white photos" and is also well written about it in Giovanni Manisi's book "Lubitel Stories: Fotografare con la biottica venuta dalla terra dello Sputnik". Thank you for publishing!
I got my Universal in the mid-1990s to participate in a toy camera photo show ... I love it, but it was way sharper and less crappy than I expected!!! It's no Yashicamat, but it is a great workhorse!!!
Thanks for the info. I got my in a second-hand shop in Finland for 10 euros. I have a couple of 120 cameras with bellows but this have have had an issue with yet! I am having a hard time focusing but that might be just the adjusting from a SLR to a TLR.
Nice video, nice camera ! This one looks brand new. No hot shoe (it had problems on the previous versions) -> but the connector is there, near the 22 marking on the lens. Same on my Lubitel-2, except I have no shoe at all 😄 but as you said, it's not the best camera type for flash photography. Who can focus without using the magnifier ? 😵
Enjoyed the review! Does 166U still have the same weird viewfinder as earlier Lubitel-2? The combination of very bright but non-focusing general field and then a focusing central matte portion was surprisingly hard for me to get used to. Good point on the lens though, certainly sharper than a triplet design would suggest!
The Lubitel is a good and enhanced copy of the old german Voiglander Brillant pre war luxury camera from 1936 it was not at all a beginners camera back than.
No matter how much I search- I have a question for you (great photos btw) How do I wind the camera so it's on the next (frame) I guess? hw did you work it out, because I can't figure it out - like how many winds until the next shot?
There are windows in the back that left you see the backing paper of the film - these have the frame numbers on them. So once you have shot frame 4 you advance carefully til you see 5 in the window.
What setings do you advise to urban photography? On a normal day (sun, some clouds, ....) I have a Lubitel 2, never used, i want to try my first shots soon.
got mine today. thought it was a 166b but I actually ordered an universal. Have a been scratching my head a little bit because I dont know how to unload the film. cant find a rewind knob whatsoever on this camera. the other 166 models have one though. So does anybody know how to unload the film/rewind it?
These cameras don't have a rewind function - you keep shooting until the end of the roll, it ends up on the spare reel which you put into the camera when you load the film.
@@antheacarney7334 Apperently you never used a Lubitel. My Lubitel, brought new in 1978, has two rings with the values of 2.8, 5,6 and 8. One is indeed for setting the aperture, the other one is for setting the distance.
Nice video : ) Camera was designed to be cheap. It resulted in poor (so-called) ground glass paired with a single viewing lens (shorter focal length vs taking lens). That is why trey travel different distances during focusing. However, it is possible to make some DIYs in order to improve Lubitel features , which I did just for fun in similar less sophisticated (yes, it is possible) model . See them on my channel (unfortunately in Polish only).
The camera was designed in 1934 by Voiglander in Germany as a quite expensive camera, the soviets enhanced it after stealing the blueprints after WW2. Original was bakelite and back in the 1930s bakelite was fragile but considered as top modern material. Even by Bauhaus architects in Dessau. So the Lubitel is just 1930s HQ camera with enhanced not fragile plastic case made in 1980s and 1990. There was no affordable Rolleiflex or Hasselblad during the pre war time in Europe. The Lubitel / Voigtlander Brillant / Rolleicord was in that segment back than.
The Lubitel can make superb pictures! For just 25 Euros you get a tool for taking excellent pictures, and nobody will steal the Lubitel from a hotel room! When I travel I always have a lubitel in my car. My one is a 166 Universal. The lubitel Lenses were made by Zeiss in GDR and than exported to Lomo as bulkware.
My first serious camera. I bought it in 1987 and with it I learned to take pictures. Despite her problems, I loved her very much!
You have to know this camera and love working with it, then everything will work out. Supporting that statement is this video. "TLR Lubitel 2 cameras, Lubitel 166U examples of black and white photos"
Thank you for publishing!
You have to know this camera and love working with it, then everything will work out. Supporting that statement is this video. "TLR Lubitel 2 cameras, Lubitel 166U examples of black and white photos" and is also well written about it in Giovanni Manisi's book "Lubitel Stories: Fotografare con la biottica venuta dalla terra dello Sputnik".
Thank you for publishing!
Nice!! Great photos. I've had mine for a year now, it's excellent!
My first TLR was a Lubitel 2, solid cameras and the Russians knew how to make Triplet lenses. The 166U is on my wish list for sure.
why? lubitel 1 and 2 are better. and as cameras the lubitel is maybe the shittiest, even the chinese segul ones are a dream.
@@vladnickul Nostalgia, it’s not about better (I own and use a Rolleiflex 2.8F), but I also love trying out new cameras.
The lens elements were cast and polished in GDR by Carl Zeiss Jena than delivered as Buldkware to Lomo and GOMZ as most soviet lenses:-)
I got my Universal in the mid-1990s to participate in a toy camera photo show ... I love it, but it was way sharper and less crappy than I expected!!! It's no Yashicamat, but it is a great workhorse!!!
Thanks for the info. I got my in a second-hand shop in Finland for 10 euros. I have a couple of 120 cameras with bellows but this have have had an issue with yet! I am having a hard time focusing but that might be just the adjusting from a SLR to a TLR.
Approximately £30 in the '90s, but since the Lomo Society took over, they're now £350 new.
Nice video, nice camera ! This one looks brand new.
No hot shoe (it had problems on the previous versions) -> but the connector is there, near the 22 marking on the lens.
Same on my Lubitel-2, except I have no shoe at all 😄 but as you said, it's not the best camera type for flash photography. Who can focus without using the magnifier ? 😵
Enjoyed the review! Does 166U still have the same weird viewfinder as earlier Lubitel-2? The combination of very bright but non-focusing general field and then a focusing central matte portion was surprisingly hard for me to get used to. Good point on the lens though, certainly sharper than a triplet design would suggest!
Yes, it's pretty much the same though the central area does seem to be easier to focus with compared to the Lubitel 2.
@@kosmofoto That is good to hear! Even a 1937-vintage Rolleicord with its dim screen was easier for me to focus with than Lubitel-2 😅
The Lubitel is a good and enhanced copy of the old german Voiglander Brillant pre war luxury camera from 1936 it was not at all a beginners camera back than.
you did not mention that it has a mask for 16-on exposures as well as 12 - on as my one has.
Sorry Peter, many things to mention and didn't want to turn the video into an epic. I will revisit the Lubitel again.
How does the Lubitel 2 differ from this model?
No matter how much I search- I have a question for you (great photos btw) How do I wind the camera so it's on the next (frame) I guess? hw did you work it out, because I can't figure it out - like how many winds until the next shot?
There are windows in the back that left you see the backing paper of the film - these have the frame numbers on them. So once you have shot frame 4 you advance carefully til you see 5 in the window.
What setings do you advise to urban photography? On a normal day (sun, some clouds, ....) I have a Lubitel 2, never used, i want to try my first shots soon.
Sunny 16 Rule
got mine today. thought it was a 166b but I actually ordered an universal. Have a been scratching my head a little bit because I dont know how to unload the film. cant find a rewind knob whatsoever on this camera. the other 166 models have one though. So does anybody know how to unload the film/rewind it?
These cameras don't have a rewind function - you keep shooting until the end of the roll, it ends up on the spare reel which you put into the camera when you load the film.
The weirdest thing is actually the distance meter. Using aperture values instead of 1, 2, 3 you have 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8 meters
That’s because they are not distance but the size of the aperture on the lens to allow more or less light in and for bikes at the larger aperture
@@antheacarney7334 Apperently you never used a Lubitel. My Lubitel, brought new in 1978, has two rings with the values of 2.8, 5,6 and 8.
One is indeed for setting the aperture, the other one is for setting the distance.
I've got a Lubitel 166B. Had it for 40 years. Never taken a decent photograph with it.
Maybe that first good pic is just around the corner, David!
Ah there's a YT channel! Insta-sub. I just discovered the blog a few days ago and have been binging.
That's very kind of you. I hope you enjoy the videos aswell!
Nice video : ) Camera was designed to be cheap. It resulted in poor (so-called) ground glass paired with a single viewing lens (shorter focal length vs taking lens). That is why trey travel different distances during focusing.
However, it is possible to make some DIYs in order to improve Lubitel features , which I did just for fun in similar less sophisticated (yes, it is possible) model . See them on my channel (unfortunately in Polish only).
The camera was designed in 1934 by Voiglander in Germany as a quite expensive camera, the soviets enhanced it after stealing the blueprints after WW2. Original was bakelite and back in the 1930s bakelite was fragile but considered as top modern material. Even by Bauhaus architects in Dessau. So the Lubitel is just 1930s HQ camera with enhanced not fragile plastic case made in 1980s and 1990. There was no affordable Rolleiflex or Hasselblad during the pre war time in Europe. The Lubitel / Voigtlander Brillant / Rolleicord was in that segment back than.
I am camera Lubitel 2. $80