girl power

Yesterday a family heirloom has found its way into my hands: the Lubitel 2 that belonged to my grandma! My mum even told me that my grandma used to develop and print the pictures herself! After my grandma died the camera disappeared for 25 years into a box though and now it has quite a bit of fungus in the lenses. Repairing it will be a little complicated, but I will try and maybe I can restore it to its former glory. It obviously won’t reach the image quality I’m used to by now, even if I manage, but it would be very nice to shoot with this special camera anyway.

I’m very much looking forward to coming home in a couple of days. After this journey I won’t be travelling for a while and I’m looking forward to staying in one place for a few months. The first half of this year was a bit manic with travel and I’m a little tired of it, if I’m honest. It’s nice to see new places and have the opportunity to shoot new things, but it becomes very tiring after a while. I need a break and a bit of a relaxed summer to recover and finish a few things that need a more settled lifestyle.

Obviously I will keep on working though and have already ordered enough 35mm film to keep me happy for quite a while. The next black and white experiments will involve HP5+, T-Max 400 and a batch of Xtol. I also have a batch of Kodak Gold 200, a good number of Kodak Farbwelt 400 and various rolls in 120. And then there are of course all the rolls I still need to develop! I won’t get bored photographically, that’s for sure!

All pictures taken with: Leica M6 + Zeiss ZM C-Biogon 35mm f/2.8.
dm Paradies 400 developed in Fuji Hunt C41 Kit.

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

© Lilly Schwartz 2015

Comments

  • Harry Stevens

    Hello Lilly I bought a Lubitel in the late 70s it cost £11.00 new the focusing gears kept jumping out of sync with each other, it went for that reason plus it isn’t that sharp but nice LOMO result are possible.

    Lilly do you have any experience with Ilford Delta 3200 I have 3 120 rolls that came my way, dreary winter street maybe ?

    Regards Harry,

    • Hi Harry, Sorry for the late reply, must have slipped my mind with all the travelling stress! Well £11 truly is cheap! I still haven’t even tried the Lubitel yet, but it has been sitting in the sun to exorcise the fungus. I’m going to give it a try when I’m through with all my development … might still take a while.

      I have only ever shot one roll of Delta 3200 and I wasn’t too impressed to be honest. It was more grainy than pushing Kentmere 400 / RPX 400 to 3200. The true speed of the stuff is somewhere between 1250 and 1600, so 3200 is a push too. However, if you happen to have this stuff anyway, then I’d recommend shooting it at 1600 and just seeing what you get. Best used on a cloudy day or with an ND filter because 1600 will have you at f/22 with 1/1000 in the sun. Or at night / indoors of course. How are you planning on developing it?

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