Topic: Lomo Instax Lubitel 2 with Belair back

[clagom]

Hi!

Since I'm waiting to get some other prints for the Yashica T4 lens project, yesterday I tried something else. I wanted to test this out for a while now, to adapt a film camera with an instant back. I saw many great - and working - examples here and on Flickr, all very inspiring.

So I got a Belair back yesterday, and I tried to match it with an old Lomo Lubitel 2.

- I removed the back cover of the Lubitel 2, that's was very easy.
- The height of the Belair back is almost exactly the same size of the width of the Lubitel 2.
- I put the Lubitel in the Belair back, but the knob didn't let the camera to be as close as it could with the film plane. Anyway before disassembling the Lubitel any further I wanted to test it out:


(fast and dirty )

Surprisingly it worked better than expected.

Yes, I had very low expectation

The lens being more far away from the film plane, it behaved more like a macro, so I tried a closer distance:


Happy with this first try, I proceeded with removing the knob of the Lubitel 2, in order to get the camera much closer to the film plane of the Belair back.



I forgot to take photos of this second try, but the results this time were below my expectation. I thought that being quite closer to the film plane I could use the Lubitel with its focusing system, through the view finder... but it seems the focus is still behind, quite a lot. I couldn't get the infinity either.
I wonder if there's something I could do, but probably I need to get even closer to the film plane... meaning to slim the body of the Lubitel.

I don't know if I'll proceed any further, but I kinda liked the idea of a all manual instant camera. Also it covers just about 2/3 of the height of the instax film, while it gets almost all the width, with a square format, being a 6x6 120mm camera.

Cheers!

[Francois]

This is definitely showing some potential.

[clagom]

Thank you Francois!

Here's an update, since I decided to continue testing this solution

Now I can fit the Lubitel without taping it, it stays firmly on the place. I think on the next try I can remove all the light leaks.


The Lubitel 2 had a problem with slow shutter speeds, fortunately it was enough to oil the gear to get it working properly again.
It still focuses back, so I cannot use the view finder to focus, but I kinda understood how different the focus is, and I could get some sharp results:







I think I will still experiment with this solution, since I would like to have a complete manual instant camera, and I don't mind the fact that the exposed portion is smaller than the film. The main problem now is the focus... Do you have any suggestions about it or in general?

Thank you!

[Francois]

Since the two focus wheels on the lubitel are somewhat independent of one another, it should be possible to remove the lenses, adjust the bottom focus using a ground glass or some other collimating method like taping a target to the back at the desired focus plane and looking through the lens with another camera with a powerful lens. The good thing about instead is that you can always take a used pack and modify it so that it can become a focusing device. It makes adjusting the focus plane very easy.
And once the bottom focus is found, all that's left to do is adjust the viewfinder lens.
You can use a fine point marker to identify the focus point on the lens and body if you need to disassemble the bottom part to reinstall the top lens.

[clagom]

Cool, thank you for your suggestions. I'll definitely try this solution... hope to succeed, it's the last missing bit to have this setup working completely!

[Francois]

You're welcome

[clagom]

Here's an update...

Thanks to the suggestions Francois wrote, I proceeded to sync the focus lens with the view lens of the Lubitel, using a DIY ground glass:



Opaque sellotape, sure not good looking, but it worked



This is the infinity focus... sadly just about 1.5 m


So I set the view lens at 1.5 m to match the viewfinder with the focus of the lens.
1.4 is the minimum closest focus of the original focus and view lenses, so the infinity now is the closest position of the view lens. Due to the mechanism between the two lenses it basically means that I cannot turn the lenses any further, and the focus is locked to the "infinity" 1.5 m.

A result:


The focus lens of course could go closer, but I wouldn't have a visual feedback in the viewfinder/view lens.

I think I probably reached the end of my experiment... I hoped a better result in terms of focusing.
I might decide to forget the viewfinder to focus (using it just to frame), and get closer with the lens for small instant portrait

[Francois]

It's always much easier to set focus on some infinity point. They say that any object at a minimum of 200 feet (about 70m) is the best.

[clagom]

I couldn't reach the infinity, the longest distance point I can get is that 1.5m. I cannot get any closer to the focal plane, unless I slim down the body pr bring the lens closer somehow...

[Francois]

I wonder if putting a biconcave lens at the back would help?

[clagom]

Mmmm I could try a bit, even just to extend the fun

[clagom]

I find the Lomo Belair a pretty bad camera... the main complaint I have is that is not manual, but it's not automatic. In particular when used with the Instant back, it's quite a pain. I find it difficult to nail the exposure, and I waste so many film... you can just adjust the iso (and f8 or f16 aperture, ok...), ND filters, fixed shutter speed. It'd be much easier to have it completely manual. I got much better results with this my DIY Lubitel 2, but sadly the shutter broke. So I tried to do the opposite, change the horrible Belair lens (both plastic lenses are horrible) with the Lubitel one. Didn't get great results though, I think I'll just give up. Fortunately I got the Belair + the Instant back for less of the price of the Instant back only... I'll probably keep the Instant back to try something else, and sell the Belair.

With the bellow closed the lens reaches infinity, but of course doesn't cover the whole film surface




With the bellow opened it becomes a macro at about 30~ cm covering not all, but 3/4 of the film


Anyway, even if through the ground glass it looked sharp, I couldn't get any results really on focus...

[rotarysmp]

Would you mind posting a few photos of the Belair back interface to the camera, please. I'd like to mount something like this to a Polaroid 100 or 250, and wondering whether it would be easier to start with Belair back, or to butcher a Fuji 100/200 Instax wide (which would be cheaper).

Mark

[clagom]

Would you mind posting a few photos of the Belair back interface to the camera, please. I'd like to mount something like this to a Polaroid 100 or 250, and wondering whether it would be easier to start with Belair back, or to butcher a Fuji 100/200 Instax wide (which would be cheaper).

Mark

Hey! Sorry, now the back is attached to the front of the EE100: http://www.filmwasters.com/forum/index.php?topic=8712.0 so I cannot easily take it apart.
But I could slim the back even more, removing other front-parts to make it closer to the focal plane. I think the Belair back is easier, also because it already has a manual system for the rollers, while with the Fuji 100/200 you have to consider to replace the motor I think.