Lomo 135
LOMO 135BC image by Tony Kemplen (Image rights) |
LOMO 135M image by Paulo Moreira (Image rights) |
The LOMO 135BC and 135M are 35mm cameras with spring-motor film advance. They were made by LOMO in the USSR from around 1980 to 1985. They have some resemblance to the Smena Symbol, with a similar lens barrel and weather symbols, but are more heavily built with metal top- and bottom-plates and top-plate release. Both cameras have a coated Industar-73 40mm f/2.8 lens.
LOMO 135BC
Also called the Cosmic 135MS and LOMO 135VS (Cyrillic: ЛОМО 135ВС), the camera has shutter speeds from 1/15 to 1/250 second + B, with hot shoe flash sync. The hot shoe, rewind release and rewind crank are in the base (as in the Rollei 35, to which the 135BC is a response) with only the knob to wind the motor, the exposure counter and the square shutter-release on the top plate.
The top of the motor winding knob incorporates an exposure calculator, where the user selects the film speed, then reads off the aperture against a row of "scene symbols", and sets the shutter speed to an appropriate weather symbol. The lens barrel has a shutter-speed ring with weather symbols on top, and speeds underneath. The aperture is set via a ring around the front of the lens.
The motor is capable of giving short runs of multiple shots, at 2 or 3 per second.
LOMO 135M
The 135M has the same lens, but has the exposure calculator on the faceplate rather than on the motor winder, which is thus a little smaller.