35mm In Lubitel 166b TLR

Of course, this is not on the theme of Holga cameras, but it is a Lomo.

Is it possible to use 35mm in a Lubitel 166b? Hans, a user of a photography group on myspace (classic cameras) asked me if its possible on a 6×6 folding camera.

I thought i would try it with the Lubitel 166B as its pretty much the only other 120 film camera I have apart from my Holga.

As far as I am aware, you can just apply the hack that i wrote about using 35mm film in a holga

Now I believe that the lens of the Lubitel only works correctly for Black and White film, however I was informed about this thread on a forum recently, and the colour photograph looks to be fine.

Here is why I think it should work just as well.

I’m literally using the same spool here. The elastic bands are there to hold the 35mm in place and ensure a secure way of spooling it.

If you can see on the left of the camera over to the right, its pretty much the same principal as the Holga. At first I did think that the 35mm canister wouldn’t fit, but eventually it popped in, and the Lubitel closed, I checked!

Again I used foam to stop the canister from slipping around. In this example the canister has already been used, and its a colour film. Its there only as a demonstration!

Just a close up of the elastic band on the spool to show how it still fits just as well as in the Holga. One thing about the Lubitel is that it has its own film tension plates inside the film compartments, and a pressing plate too, so you won’t need to worry about folding up little pieces of paper to make it tight.

finally, you also don’t need to mask the back (although you may want to anyway!) because the Lubitel has its own cover, which covers up the hole with a metal plate.

A couple of issues about the hack:

• I have no idea how many clicks you have to turn the advance wheel for each frame. I assume its slightly more than the Holga.
• I’ve never actually tried this hack, but i see no reason why it wouldn’t work.
• I believe the Lubitel works best with black and white film, but colour does also appear to work
• Using the viewfinder does not mean that that is what you will get on the film. Remember the 35mm film is a lot thinner.

I hope you found this interesting. Its certainly something that I will be looking into trying once I get my hands on some Black and White 35mm film.

Durkin