The
Lomo Belair X 6-12 is a strut-folding 120 film camera, 3 formats: 6x6,
6x9 and 6x12,
released in 2012 by Lomographische AG, Vienna. It's a toy or fun
camera, all plastic, even the lenses. There is an instant film back
available, it takes Fuji Instax Wide film, shown here. The camera design resembles
to early Polaroid J66 cameras with their struts and their "electric
eye". It's not a cheap camera, but sometimes it has reasonable prices second hand. I have had 2 of these cameras with failing shutters. So I have made a page about shutter repair
The Lomo Belair X 6-12
is a more recent model of a 120 film camera. It has 2 basic finders with format
index, 4-zone focus, an electronic shutter system and 2 Lomo plastic
lenses.
Size (mm): 180 x 84 x 49 body only, 180 x 108 x 68 folded, finder and lens attached Weight: 400 g, 450 g Lens: LOMO Plastic 8/58, 8/90, closest focus 1 m Shutter: electronic, B >1 - 1/125, F 8 or 16 Finder: 2 simple finders, 1 for each lens Film advance: red window
Later Lomography introduced 2 more lenses, made from multi-coated glass
and produced
by the Russian Zenit factory. These were very expensive and did not
sell well, so they are quite rare, it is said that there were only 200
of each. They are heavy, the 90mm weighs as much as the entire camera.
Because of the exposure system they had to stick to the 2 apertures, F8
and F16. Because of their weight these lenses stress the locking
system, the strut system and the tripod to their limits, so handle with
caution.
Here
are some photos of the camera, first a Cityslicker, some of a
Jetsetter model and of the Belairgon lenses. There is a short introduction to the use of it and how
it
feels at the bottom of the page.
The box.
Box open.
A Belair set. Camera with body cap, 2 lenses, 2 finders.
The
set + 2 more masks, 6x9 and 6x6. The filter comes from the Instant
back, a ND4 filter which reduces the 800 ISO Instax film to ISO 200. It
is to be placed before the shutter, just under the lens.
Camera still folded, one lens and its finder attached. Do not forget to unfold the camera, there is no warning...
Camera
front. Body cap off, no lens attached. Left: shutter lever. To the right of the lens opening: photo cell.
Seen
from the back. 2 red windows, slider for choice, one stays open.
Camera back open, film chamber and back detached, with 6x12 frame installed.
Detail
of film chamber. I put some foam the prevent film slackening, as there
are no springs. If you have "fat rolls", i.e. rolls that are not wound
tightly, you can put some foam into the other film compartment as well.
Have it well glued, if not, it detaches and will be wound into the film
roll and ruin it.
Roll film equipment. 3 format masks, 6x6, 6x9 and 6x12.
Film speed setting at the back of the lens board. Half
pressing the shutter button lights a LED. No light = battery problem.
With no or faulty batteries, the shutter opens at a fixed speed of
1/125s. In this case B will not work, it's 1/125 as well.
Camera
extended. Front, 90mm lens set to infinity and finder attached. The battery compartment sits on the upper right edge of the lens board (2x LR44).
Seen from the bottom. Camera unfolding button, tripod socket. Far left and right: camera back unlock.
Seen
from above. Hot shoe, Finder attached (and lens), film winding device. Lens board:
Aperture and distance setting at the front of the lens. Lens set to 1m.
Left side. Shutter lever.
58mm ultra wide lens, set to infinity and 58mm finder attached.
Seen from above, lens set to 1m.
Seen from the bottom.
As promised, some photos of the Jetsetter model:
The silver colour of the housing is just sprayed on a black body. It wears off.
Camera open.
There is a "leather" covering glued to the body.
58mm lens and finder.
And finally photos of the Belairgon lenses:
Camera and both lenses with their finders and their pouches.
90mm lens:
Camera and 90mm lens.
Camera extended. The lens is very heavy and brings the struts to their limits.
Lens and finder attached.
Lens and back cap.
Zenit Russia.
Detailed engraving.
Front.
Back with special Belair fixation.
And the 114mm lens:
Camera and 114mm lens.
Camera extended.
Lens and finder attached.
Lens with both caps.
Caps off.
Lens extended.
Front.
Back.
If
you never had a Lomography camera, this one might be too expensive for
a start. Get yourself a simple one like the Diana, maybe second hand,
and have a test, whether you can live with this kind of basic plastic
camera. Lomography is more a state of mind, there is also some hype
about it. Seen the quality, you may find them expensive; on the other
hand people buy I-Phones although you can easily find out how much the
production costs have been. Lomography still believes in film and
they make new products, like this Belair.There is a price for this,
just take it or leave it. It's capability to take 6x12 photographs is
quite unique. If you want to buy a solid camera for this format, it's
10 times the price of the Belair.
The
Lomo Belair can do 3
different formats. You have to make your decision before putting the
film roll and to clip the according mask into the camera. The masks are
a bit smaller than usual, you only get 52mm width instead the usual
56mm. Maybe they were cautious because of the plastic frames and the
absence of a pressure system to keep the film flat. So the 6x12 gives
only 52x104mm instead of the standard 56x112 (some 6x12 backs even give
full 120mm). As film flatness isn't good, image size has to be reduced
even a little bit further.
The 58mm lens
gives you the equivalent of about 17mm (that's really ultra wide!) on
6x12, 23mm on
6x9 and 35mm on 6x6. The 90mm lens gives about 26mm on 6x12, 35mm on
6x9 and
55mm on 6x6. The lenses are simple all plastic and only do F8 or F16,
which isn't very bright and neither a wide range. The 90mm glass lens
is similar to the plastic one, but has much better image quality and
contrast. The 114mm glass lens is still wide on 6x12, about normal on
6x9 and slightly tele on 6x6, about 75mm equivalent. Because of the
apertures, higher sensitive
film is a better choice, but bear in mind that the shortest speed is
only 1/125. So on sunny days you may hit the limits.. Focusing has 4
zones for the plastic lenses, no intermediates; it's
1m, 1,50m, 3m and ∞. At F8 with the 90mm lens there are gaps, areas out
of focus, e.g. between 4m (3m setting) and 6m (∞ setting). At F16 zones
just overlap. The 58mm just overlaps at F8 and has wide margins at F16.
If you keep this in mind, you can adapt your picture composition and
have nice effects. The glass lenses have a continous facussing scale.
Handling
a Lomo Belair X 6-12 is a bit different, but easy once you are used to it, the rest is quite like other folding cameras. Loading film
is fine. Open the
camera back and put the
film roll into place, the pegs are on bendable plastic, so don't force. Same
procedure for the take-up spool, the wind knob is retractable. Insert the film
paper
backing
into the spool and advance it using the advance device until it's firmly engaged. Close the camera back. Advance the film
via the device, until the appropriate red window will
show "1" for 6x6 and 6x9. For 6x12 it's the even numbers, 2, 4, ... in the 6x6 window.
Press
the camera opening button on the bottom and extend the struts. Set
aperture and focus distance. Look
through the finder and compose your picture. Press the shutter lever.
That's
it. Advance the film to the next
picture. Press the middle of the struts and collapse them to fold the
camera. The finders are quite random, they show much more than you will
have on the photo. So no need to leave any margin. The exposure measuring system
gets it quite right under normal circumstances. If your subject is in
the shade and you are in a more sunny area, it gets it completely
wrong, it under-exposes severely. You can easily compensate with the
ISO dial, but don't forget to put it back.
I
bought the Belair for the 6x12 format and the Instax back.
The Lomo Belair X 6-12
is a nice, very light camera, easy to use. With the small plastic lenses, it fits
into a coat pocket. It's Lomo, so it should be
fun, no strive for quality. You should want and accept some surprise
results. I like it a lot, as automatic exposure is a real help.
Some
gereral words about Lomography and their service: There is a 2-year
warranty, at least in Europe. My personal experience with their service
is very good. As most of their cameras are made of (cheap) plastic,
there is no repair, they just exchange your defective camera. You have
to send it in to their Vienna office at your expenses, which is not cheap
if you are not based in Austria, but they try to compensate by adding
film or so to the return. You absolutely need a proof of purchase,
there was heavy abuse by fraudulent customers they told me. So if you
buy second hand or your camera is gift, be sure to put your hands on
the proof of purchase. After the 2-years warranty period it's over.
They will try to help for the expensive not-so-plastic cameras like the
LC series, but for the rest there is no repair. Keep this in mind for
the prices you pay for older gear.
I
have had 2 of these cameras with failing shutters. The Belair is no
longer produced, but as it was not cheap at all, I hoped for a repair
service. I wrote to Lomography for a repair service or some hints at
least, but they said that they could not help at all. So I have made a
page about shutter repair.
