Smena SL

From Camerapedia.org

The Smena SL was released by the LOMO factory somewhere around 1970. The Smena name had been used by this factory for simple cameras since before WWII. Smena SL is the name in latin script; in cyrillic it is Смена SL. It uses a symbol-aided zone focusing and exposure system. The SL stands for SL System - Schnell Lade (Quick Load) cassettes, an eastern-bloc copy of Agfa's Rapid system for 35mm film.

Contents 1 Automatic exposure? 2 Specifications 3 Variations 4 Links

Automatic exposure?

Well, not quite. As you load the camera, you set the film sensitivity on the lens. This automatically sets the aperture. Note the scale is in DIN. DIN 25 corresponds to 250 ASA and with this setting all pictures will be taken at f/16. A scale from DIN 13 to 25 suggests that only 16–250 ASA films were used. Next step, judge the lighting conditions (see the picture below). A selector ring on the lens tube lets you select the weather from heavily clouded to very sunny. A small green rectangle moves to a position under a weather symbol. Actually, you just selected the shutter speed. Other Smena models have 1/15 to 1/250s shutter speeds, so by selecting very sunny, you probably select 1/250s.

Practical example

Lets say you put in a 200 ASA film. The sensitivity selector on the lens put the aperture on f/16. You go out on a sunny day, which selects the 1/250s speed. Judging by the sunny f/16 rule that just works out fine.

Specifications

The Smena SL takes twelve pictures on 35mm film. Just twelve? Yes, this was one of the limitations of the Rapid or SL system. The camera has a T.43 40mm/4 lens and a blade shutter with speeds of 1/15–1/250s. There's a clear viewfinder with bright framelines. It has a cold accessory shoe and a metal transport lever. The body is made of ribbed plastic.

Variations

At least two variations of the Smena SL are known: one with only latin script on the front plate and one with cyrillic and latin script. On this last version, "SL" is in latin script only.

Links

• A very good Smena SL description on Alfred Klomp's site.
• A DIN/ASA conversion table
• Smena 4, Smena 8, Smena 8M on www.collection-appareils.fr by Sylvain Halgand