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 Lubitel 166B is a Soviet 6x6 twin-lens reflex (TLR) camera made at LOMO in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), produced from approximately 1980 to the mid-1990s. It is a direct descendant of the original Lubitel (1949) and the Lubitel-2 (1955), carrying forward the basic all-plastic, fully-mechanical design that characterized the line. The 166B uses the same T-22 75mm f/4.5 triplet taking lens as its predecessors and requires no battery to operate. Despite minimal construction, it shoots genuine 6x6 medium format frames on 120 roll film, which gives its output a tonal quality that belies the camera's modest price. The 166B variant introduced a hotshoe in addition to the existing PC flash socket and made minor ergonomic refinements over the Lubitel-2.
Reference
Recommended film stocks for the — 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 →BW
Kodak Tri-X 400 is a classic black-and-white film known for strong tonality, visible grain, and documentary character.
View profile →BW
Ilford HP5 Plus is a flexible ISO 400 black-and-white film with classic grain and strong push-processing tolerance.
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About this camera
The refined Soviet plastic TLR - a battery-free 6x6 workhorse that made medium format accessible to anyone.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 120 (6x6 cm frames) |
| Taking lens | LOMO T-22 75mm f/4.5 (triplet, fixed) |
| Viewing lens | ~75mm f/4.5 (fixed, for waist-level finder) |
| Focus | Scale focus (1.2 m - infinity) |
| Shutter speeds | 1/15s, 1/30s, 1/60s, 1/125s, 1/250s + B |
| Flash sync | 1/30s (PC socket + hotshoe) |
| Meter | None |
| Modes | Manual aperture + manual shutter |
| Viewfinder | Waist-level TLR ground glass |
| Body material | Plastic |
| Weight | ~370 g |
| Battery | None required |
| Frames per roll | 12 (6x6) |
The Lubitel line began in 1949 as a Soviet response to the Voigtlander Brilliant - a low-cost TLR designed for the mass market. The Lubitel-2 (1955) was the first major revision, refining the shutter and lens. The 166 designation introduced in the late 1970s brought further mechanical refinements. The 166B, introduced around 1980, added a hotshoe, making flash use more convenient. It was succeeded by the Lubitel 166 Universal (approximately 1983), which added a self-timer and additional aperture markings. Production of the line wound down in the mid-1990s with the collapse of Soviet state manufacturing. Lomographische AG later licensed the Lubitel name for the Lubitel+ (2009) and Lubitel 166+ (2010) reissues.
The Lubitel 166B occupies a specific niche: affordable medium format with minimal mechanical complexity. For lomographers, the T-22 triplet's rendering - sharp on-axis, soft in the corners, with moderate vignetting at wide apertures - is considered a feature rather than a flaw. The waist-level finder encourages a different compositional posture than eye-level cameras, and the 6x6 square format forces deliberate framing. The camera democratized medium format in Eastern Europe in the same way the Smena 8M democratized 35mm. The Lomographische Society International's later reissue of the design under the Lubitel+ name confirmed the camera's enduring cultural traction.
C41
Kodak Portra 160 is a professional C-41 color negative film with fine grain, soft contrast, and natural color.
View profile →LOMO Lubitel 166B
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