Today’s blog is the 3rd in our 4-part travel series and focuses on images from our Lubitel 166, twin-lens, medium format camera.

We put a few rolls through the Lubitel during our trip, but it is fairly new to our collection. It was acquired back in March and it takes a bit of getting used to, but I have definitely made some frames I really dig. A few months ago I made a blog post highlighting a few of the first rolls through it. (<—– click over there to check out the first Lubitel blog!)

The Lubitel 166+ (the version we own) is a twin-lens medium format camera that is a reissue of the older Lubitel models, which were actually based on the old Voigtlander Brillant camera. Unlike its predecessors, our version is plastic and very lightweight, which is both a benefit and a hindrance depending on how you look at it. On one hand I love that I can hang it around my neck and almost forget it’s there, but at the same time, I get nervous when I have to stuff it in the bottom of a full camera bag for fear it might be crushed, or crack somehow. Luckily I haven’t had any issues. The controls are fairly simple, but anyone who has ever tried to carefully compose a shot with a TLR and a waist level viewfinder (without a tripod) will understand the frustration. As someone who came from a graphic design background and puts a lot of stock in careful composition and lines, I sometimes find myself frustrated when trying to fine tune a shot, but after the film is developed and I realize I nailed it, (if I actually did nail it) I feel like I just conquered the world.

Given the time and effort that goes into every frame, we only managed to run 3 rolls of 120 Kodak Portra 400vc through it during the trip. Shooting the 6×6 format (which I prefer to the rectangular) we only get 12 exposures per roll, meaning that we walked away with 36 total frames about half of which I liked and are in a slideshow at the bottom of the post. That is an almost 50% keeper rate, which in the world of photography, isn’t bad at all. The vivid color film makes the colors pop nicely as you can see in the above image of the cornfield against the blue sky. The images have a definite mood and texture to them which I like. If you’re wanting a quick snapshot of a scene and have only a few seconds, there are other cameras that will do a better job, but if you can spare a few minutes and can take your time in a fairly static scene, the Lubitel can give you a nice image. Of course, it’s no Hasselblad, but for the price and weight, it can’t be beat.

15 of our favorite Lubitel images from our trip are below, including a few more double exposures as well. Let me know what you think of them on the Todd Spoth Photography Facebook page or Twitter page and stay tuned for the last post in the series (which may be the most interesting) coming soon!

JULY 2010: LUBITEL OHIO – Images by Todd Spoth

The abandoned building which once was a bustling Hoover Appliance factory. North Canton, Ohio.

I just wanted to start this post off by thanking everyone that took the time to check out the previous blog post about the huge Blurb book we created for my grandmother. A record number of viewers checked out the blog and I am still getting positive comments from all over the globe.

I talked a little about the trip to visit family in the previous blog, however this blog will be the first in a series of four, dedicated to the images made during that trip. Even though it was a mostly personal trip, I still managed to capture plenty of images along the way. The fact that the trip was a no pressure, non-business, situation allowed me to take out some old toys and have a little fun.

Each of the four blogs will concentrate on images captured with a certain camera or device, digital, film, cellphone or otherwise. You’ll have to stay tuned to check out the upcoming blogs, but today’s blog focuses on the Lomo Oktomat, a tiny plastic camera that captures 8 different frames onto one single frame of film. The tiny plastic lens all aimed in slightly different directions make this toy camera one of the funnest cameras in my collection. And you can’t argue with the price either!

I must have picked up this little 35mm toy camera from Lomo for about $35 or so, at least 4 or 5 years ago (before Lomo and Urban Outfitters got in bed together) and have used it fairly sporadically ever since. I guess that is the nature of the toy camera or at least for the cameras in my collection. I have a ton of toy cameras and old Polaroid cameras that get taken out randomly. There are a few that I really love and travel with me often, but most are just for fun. There are a few Polaroid cameras in my collection I would love to take everywhere, but given the scarcity and thus, the price, of certain Polaroid films that is impossible, but that’s a story for another day.

For the Oktomat, there are few concerns. It is 35mm, which makes it easy to find and process the film, the size is tiny in comparison to some of my other toy behemoths, and the controls are pretty much non-existent, in a good way. There is no (real) viewfinder for you to fine tune compositions, no manual exposure dials and no options for a flash. You simply point (in the general direction of) and shoot. With a quick crank of the film advance lever you are ready to go. Since its 35mm you will change film less as it can have 36 exposures rather than 12 or 16. It takes the saying, “shooting from the hip” to a whole new level.

The frames are grainy and dirty (mostly due to my shoddy scanning abilities), some frames come out dark and unusable, some blurry and sometimes the plastic film advance dial doesn’t want to properly advance the film, but it’s all of the above that add to the overall appeal of the camera, especially when you can pull a nice, dreamy, diamond from the rough.

Libby's ink and watercolor representation of the Lomo Oktomat drawn on our trip.

We ended up carrying the Oktomat (illustrated above) wherever we went on our trip from roller coasters at Cedar Point to the middle of the Amish country. In total I believe we shot about 5 or 6 rolls through the camera which I had processed upon our return. They were then scanned in and rediscovered. Since the camera is so unpredictable by nature, it’s pretty interesting to see what came out when you are scanning the images in.

I did some basic edits to my 36 favorite frames and put them into a slideshow which is below.

Tomorrow will feature photos from a different camera so stay tuned!

JULY 2010: OCTOMAT OHIO – Images by Todd Spoth

For Libby’s birthday I got her a vintage Lubitel twin lens camera. She has always loved twin lens units so since the ones in our current collection had completed the transition from functioning camera to sitting on the shelf with the rest of the old-timers, I decided to get a new one. I went with the Lubitel, because it is lightweight (a definite plus for her) simple and is a nice marriage between accuracy and that nice vintage look.

She ran a roll through it while on a business trip a few weeks ago and the results were nice. This week, however, was my turn to test the new toy out. My “toy” for the past few months has been my vintage Polaroid Colorpack III camera so while I was used to the slow process, I was not used to the lack of instant gratification that I get with not only the Polaroid, but with my digital bodies as well.

It took some time to re-calibrate my sense of sight with a waist-level viewfinder once again, but the resulting images were decent. My design background influences my photography and the way I see the world, so my natural OCD with lines and things were put to the test with a very disorienting and someone dim viewfinder. There were scenes that I had wished I would have shot over the week or so that the roll was in the camera, but it gets rather cumbersome when I am juggling a digital camera, a Polaroid camera, an iphone with its own fairly decent camera, and now this Lubitel. The new toys are both fairly large and cumbersome in their own right as well as being plastic and not as robust as my digital bodies so there are definitely challenges.

After my assignment covering a triathlon (blog forthcoming) I swung by the lab and processed my initial test roll which took exactly 1 week to use. I used a 12 exposure roll of Kodak VC (vivid color) 400 ASA for the maiden voyage and was pleased overall. We scanned the frames in using our Canon CanoScan 8800F flatbed scanner with the included negative carrier. I ended up with about 5 images that I liked which I guess isn’t bad for a roll of 12 and for my first time using the camera. I do wish that I was able to somehow scan the images in with the borders intact so that I can see the film info and frame numbers, but I was unable to figure out a way. Libby even constructed a custom carrier, but the scanner’s native software kept throwing us error messages. If anyone has any idea on how I can accomplish this, please let me know.

The 5 selects from the 12 shot roll aren’t the greatest images ever, but I really enjoyed the simple square format and that good-ole film look. They all came out pretty sharp for a plastic camera. There are a couple snapshots from the triathlon this past Sunday, a couple from the previous Sunday visiting family and a random shot from a commercial assignment earlier this past week. The above image is one of the two double exposures that I attempted during the roll. I exposed an image of an interesting area of foliage with an overlay of an image of Libby rubbing her face.

Hopefully Libby will let me “borrow” the camera for some more random fun or possibly a project in the future.

LUBITEL 120 SCANS (APRIL 2010) – Images by Todd Spoth

I’ve been working on the set of the docu-drama The Messenger: 360 Days of Bolivar for months now. I am the associate producer and chief photographer, but since the crew is fairly small, we all take on many different tasks. We are currently in the process of putting together a few trailers for the project, which means filming and subsequently for me shooting stills, has ceased for the time being. Since my stills are being infused in the trailer and eventually movie, I have been editing them a lot over the past few weeks. The image above is one of my favorites thus far. Its moody and abstract. Its of Michael, one of the main subjects’ fishing vessels in Galveston Bay.

I’ve had an extra exciting week. Thursday I did an assignment for the Chron at Moody Garden’s on the relatives of the Titanic survivors. Friday I flew in a helicopter over Galveston and Bolivar for our upcoming movie, The Messenger. Friday, I photographed the amazing guys in Bayside. Saturday was a full day of UH spring football, Astros baseball (and Pence bobble head) and a get together at Kevin’s. Sunday was an epic Saves the Day show. Some great times with great friends. All the while I’m pushing myself to see differently. I think it may just be working.

Above image: Karen Little, 7, stares at a scale model of the Titanic through a glass case, Thursday, April 10, 2008 during an event held at Galveston’s Moody Gardens Titanic exhibit. Karen’s great grandmother, Karen Marie Abelseth was a survivor of the Titanic disaster. April 10th also marks the 96th anniversary of Titanic’s maiden voyage.