C41
Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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The Smena 8 is a Soviet 35mm scale-focus compact produced by LOMO (Leningrad Optical-Mechanical Association) from 1963 to approximately 1970. It is the direct predecessor of the Smena 8M, which succeeded it and went on to become one of the best-selling cameras ever made. The Smena 8 uses the T-43 40mm f/4 triplet taking lens, a fully mechanical shutter, and requires no battery to operate. The body is Bakelite rather than the later plastic used in the 8M, giving it a slightly different hand feel and making it somewhat more fragile in some failure modes while adding modest rigidity in others. Exposure is entirely manual; there is no meter, no rangefinder coupling, and no automatic mode of any kind.
Reference
Recommended film stocks for the 35mm format your camera takes.
C41
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
View profile →C41
Kodak Gold 200 is a daylight-balanced C-41 color negative film with warm color, moderate grain, and a classic consumer-film look.
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Kodak UltraMax 400 is a versatile consumer-grade ISO 400 daylight-balanced color negative film with T-grain emulsion, delivering warm Kodak colors, fine-for-speed grain (PGI 46), and wide exposure latitude. Currently in production and available globally as a single-roll and multi-pack.
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Before you buy used
About this camera
The Bakelite predecessor to the Smena 8M - the camera that established the formula for one of the best-selling lines in history.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 35mm |
| Lens | LOMO T-43 40mm f/4 (triplet, fixed) |
| Focus | Scale focus |
| Shutter speeds | 1/15s, 1/30s, 1/60s, 1/125s, 1/250s + B |
| Flash sync | ~1/30s (PC socket) |
| Meter | None |
| Modes | Manual aperture + manual shutter |
| Body material | Bakelite |
| Weight | ~190 g |
| Battery | None required |
The Smena line began in 1953, with LOMO producing a series of numbered variants through the 1950s and 1960s. Each iteration refined the basic formula of a cheap, plastic or Bakelite, battery-free 35mm camera for mass consumption. The Smena 8 appeared in 1963 and represented the mature form of the design: the T-43 lens, scale focus, mechanical leaf shutter, and no-battery operation. It was manufactured until approximately 1970, when it was succeeded by the Smena 8M. The 8M introduced only minor ergonomic changes and continued the 8's formula largely unchanged. The Smena 8M's subsequent production run of roughly 17 million units over 25 years established the design as one of the defining mass-market cameras of Soviet photographic history - and the Smena 8 is the camera that made that formula.
The Smena 8 matters primarily as the direct predecessor to the Smena 8M. Understanding it is understanding the template that LOMO handed down, essentially unchanged, to produce one of the most-made cameras in history. The Bakelite body is historically notable: by the time the 8M took over production, polystyrene plastic had replaced Bakelite as the standard material, making the Smena 8 one of the later significant LOMO cameras to use the older material. For contemporary shooters, the Smena 8 is functionally equivalent to the Smena 8M and produces identical optical results. It is the less common of the two, making it marginally more interesting to collectors but equally capable as a shooter.
The T-43 triplet's rendering - moderate sharpness on-axis, soft corners, and slight vignetting at wide apertures - is the same in the Smena 8 as in every other camera using this lens. The aesthetic qualities that attracted the Lomography movement to the Smena 8M are present here as well.
C41
Kodak ColorPlus 200 is an affordable, consumer-oriented daylight-balanced color negative film at ISO 200. Known for warm, slightly muted color rendition, fine grain, and wide exposure latitude, it is currently in production and widely available in Asia and select global markets.
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Kodak Tri-X 400 is a classic black-and-white film known for strong tonality, visible grain, and documentary character.
View profile →LOMO Smena 8
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