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      (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov: Leningrad 80s >> ART>>

Reconstructing E-E KOZLOV's photo archive from the 1980s

Research and documentation: Hannelore Fobo, March / April 2021

Chapter 2. The LOMO 135 VS

previous page: Chapter 1. The FED-2 camera
next page: Chapter 3. Soviet black and white negative films

Table of contents: see bottom of page >>




Chapter 2. The LOMO 135 VS • ЛОМО 135 ВС

The label LOMO is an abbreviation of Ленинградское оптико-механическое объединение (Leningradskoye Optiko-Mekhanicheskoye Obyedinenie, Leningrad Optical Mechanical Association). The company itself was founded in 1914, and the label LOMO appeared only in 1962, following some other names. Today, the Saint Petersburg LOMO PLC produces and exports high technology optical and other products, while in the West, LOMO is best known through “Lomography”, a creative trend of taking pictures with cheap (toy) cameras to achieve unpredictable results.

(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov's LOMO 135 VS with a nonexchangeable Industar 73 40mm f/2.8 lens. Unlike in standard cameras, the shutter winding head is on the right. Photo: Hannelore Fobo

(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov's LOMO 135 VS with a nonexchangeable Industar 73 40mm f/2.8 lens.
Unlike in standard cameras, the shutter winding head is on the right.
Photo: Hannelore Fobo




The LOMO 135 VS was produced between 1975 and 1982 with a nonexchangeable Industar 73 40mm f/2.8 lens. Kozlov’s camera is from 1978, since the production number of the lens is 7803975 (again, the first two digits refer to the year of production). The lens is generally said to be one of the assets of the Lomo 135 VS, which was exported under the brand name Cosmic 135 MS.

LOMO 135 VS, top view. The pictogrammes on the shutter winding head – an exposure calculator – help to select the correct aperture according to the film speed. A square shutter-release and the exposure counter are located on the right. Photo: Hannelore Fobo

LOMO 135 VS, top view. The pictogrammes on the shutter winding head – an exposure calculator – help to select the correct aperture according to the film speed. A square shutter-release and the exposure counter are located on the right.
Photo: Hannelore Fobo

The LOMO with the baseplate removed. On the left is the take-up spool with a spring driven motor inside adavancing the film. From the cartridge, fhe film passes under the film cover or pressure plate which is seen open. When the camera is closed, the film cover is pressed tight by the camera back. Photo: Hannelore Fobo

The LOMO with the baseplate removed. On the left is the take-up spool with a spring driven motor inside adavancing the film. From the cartridge, fhe film passes under the film cover or pressure plate which is seen open. When the camera is closed, the film cover is pressed tight by the camera back.
Photo: Hannelore Fobo




The camera is quite unique in that it has a spring motor film advance. The spring is inside the take-up spool, with the motor winding knob on top. When completely wound up (like the spring of a clock or a wind-up toy), eight pictures can be shot in a row without rewinding the knob, at a speed of 3 shots per second. I couldn’t test it, because unfortunately, in Kozlov’s camera, the spring works properly only with the first exposure, and then you have to fully rewind the knob.

Because the Lomo 135 adopted the design of a Rollei C35, which has the take-up spool on the left side of the camera when looking at it from the back, the film must be loaded upside-down, from right to left.

LOMO 135 VS, bottom view The hot shoe for the flash (left) is fixed to the base plate of the camera. When shooting with a flash, it is recommended to hold the camera upside-down to avoid creating a shadow. Photo: Hannelore Fobo

LOMO 135 VS, bottom view
The hot shoe for the flash (left) is fixed to the base plate of the camera. When shooting with a flash, it is recommended to hold the camera upside-down to avoid creating a shadow.
Photo: Hannelore Fobo




Like the Rollei, the Lomo has the hot shoe for the flash at the base, which means you have to turn it upside down when taking pictures with a flash to avoid creating a shadow. The shutter speed range is different from that of the FED-2, with values of 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125 and 1/250  (the FED-2 goes up1/500 s), but it does have a bulb mode. With respect to the FED-2, it has some other shortcomings: no rangefinder and no portable case.

(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov, 1983, possibly with Ivan Sotnikov's "Zenit". Fragment of a picture by Hans Kumpf
(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov, 1983, possibly with Ivan Sotnikov's "Zenit". Fragment of a picture by Hans Kumpf more >>

The question of how often Evgenij Kozlov used the Lomo instead of the FED-2 is not of primary importance for the scope of the present work. But it is nevertheless interesting, and I will return to it from time to time.  

Actually, the only pictures I’ve seen with the artist holding a camera shows him with another camera, possibly a Zenit – at any rate, it is neither a FED-2 nor a LOMO 135 VS. Hans Kumpf took these pictures during a jam session with Sergey Kuryokhin and his friends in August 1983 more >>.

If it was a Zenit, then we may assume that Kozov was shooting with Ivan Sotnikov’s Zenit camera, because no pictures of this jam session are in Kozlov’s photo archive, but several are in Ivan Sotnikov’s archive and they show Ivan Sotnikov himself.  

(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov taking pictures during a jam session in August 1983 at Club 81, Leningrad, possibly with Ivan Sotnikov's "Zenit" Left: Vladimir Boluchevsky ; Right: Sergey Kuryokhin and Igor Butman Fragment of a picture by Hans Kumpf

(E-E) Evgenij Kozlov taking pictures during a jam session in August 1983 at Club 81, Leningrad, possibly with Ivan Sotnikov's "Zenit"
Left: Vladimir Boluchevsky ; Right: Sergey Kuryokhin and Igor Butman
Fragment of a picture by Hans Kumpf more >>




next page: Chapter 3. Soviet black and white negative films



Synopsis
Introduction
Part 1. Hardware
Chapter 1. The FED-2 camera
Chapter 2. The LOMO 135 VS
Chapter 3. Soviet black and white negative films
Chapter 4. Colour photography
Chapter 5. Loading the film cartridge
Chapter 6. Svema and Tasma filmstrip edge markings

Part 2. Software

Chapter 7: (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov’s contact sheets
Chapter 8. Reassembling filmstrips to their original sequence
Chapter 9. Numbering the films
Chapter 10. Not lost, just found: pictures of a Pop Mekhanika performance.
Chapter 11. Paper archive and digital archive
Chapter 12. How to bring a system to perfection



© Hannelore Fobo / text / pictures / lay-out
© (E-E) Evgenij Kozlov / artwork

Uploaded 3 May 2021