BeLomo Vilia (1973-1986)

BeLomo Vilia (1973-1986)

Características

Vilia is a 35mm film viewfinder camera made by BelOMO and produced between 1973-86 with quantity of about 2.000.000 units. Вилия = Vilia is a river flowing through Belorussia and Lithuania.

Vilia is an elegant simple camera, looking a little bit like an improved Smena Symbol, but is in fact a completely independend design. The shutter is of leaf type, while the four leaf diaphragm has a nearly square opening – both are located just behind the lens. The lens is focused manually from 0.8 m to infinity, while symbols on the distance scale help to assess correct distance for given subjects (portrait, group portrait, group, landscape). Film is advanced with a lever located on camera's back, coupled with shutter cocking. The camera is equipped with a hot shoe for synchronizing a flash, as well as with a synch cable socket. The excellent viewfinder has bright lines with parallax marks as well weather symbols connected with aperture setting.
Vilia is equipped with symbolic system of exposure setting, similar in its idea to that used by Smena 8M or Smena Symbol. When the system is used, the shutter speed is preset according to film speed scale on its ring – from 1/30 s for 25 or 32 GOST/ASA to 1/250 s for 200 or 250 GOST/ASA[1], while the exposure is adjusted by changing the aperture from 4 (heavy clouds/rain) to 16 (bright sun). Weather symbols are visible at the bottom of the viewfinder only and are pointed by a small bright dot, depending of aperture setting.
A further developments of the Vilia, using the same body and lens, were the Vilia-Auto, this time equipped with automatic exposure setting based on a selenium meter, as well as Orion EE and Siluet Elektro with a CdS meter.

There are 4 types and 7 sub-types of the camera.

• Lens:Triplet-69-3 (ТРИППЕТ) 40mm f/4, coated glass, filter thread 46mm ,
• Aperture: up to f/16 setting: by a small lever below the lens
• Focus range: 0.8- 8m +inf
• Focusing: manual front cell focusing, symbols on the distance scale (portrait, group portrait, group, landscape) and DOF scale
• Shutter: leaf type , speeds: 1/30-1/250 +B
• Shutter release: on the shutter
• Cable release socket: none
• Cocking lever: also winds the film, short stroke, on the back of the camera
• Frame counter: auto-reset, additive type, window on the bottom plate
• Viewfinder: bright frame, w/ parallax correction lines
• Re-wind lever: folding crank, on the top plate
• Re-wind release: button on the bottom plate
• Flash PC socket: on the left side of the camera
• Hot-shoe
• Memory dial : on the back of the top plate
• Self-timer: none
• Back cover: hinged, opens by a sliding latch on the left side of the camera
• Tripod socket: ¼"
• Strap lugs : none
• Body: plastic; Weight: 357g
• Serial no. on the bottom plate

Fonte: Camerapedia

Meet the BeLomo Vilia, a cheap, sweet looking camera with a surprisingly good lens.
The Vilia is a camera very similar to the Russian Smenas, but it was built in Belarus and it’s actually an individual design. It looks somewhat bulky and it’s certainly not the most compact or light weight camera out there, but still I find that it holds a charm of its own.
They must have made quite a few of these cameras because they’re still readily available – for little money! In my case shipping was more expensive than the actual camera.
The Vilia takes regular 35mm film. It’s equipped with a hot shoe for flash use. Unfortunately shutter cocking and film advance are coupled, so it doesn’t allow for multiple exposures.
Let’s now have a look at the camera’s heart – its lens. The Vilia uses a Triplet 4/40mm lens, and this lens is much better than expected. Actually, I’m surprised that such a crappy looking camera would come with such a nice lens. At 40mm it isn’t particularly wide and I find myself using the viewfinder more frequently than with my other cameras. Even at F4 the Triplet shows almost no vignetting and it’s exceedingly sharp. This only gets better as you stop down! So if you’re into dark corners and mysteriously blurred images, the Vilia is probably not the camera for you.
Choose a shutter speed of 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, or 1/250, and an aperture of F4, F5.6, F8, F11, or F16, and you’re good for almost any lighting situation. Aditionally, the Vilia offers a ‘B’ bulb setting for those looooong exposures.
here’s one more thing I’d like to mention: the viewfinder. As you look through, you’ll notice a series of weather symbols at the bottom. Each weather symbol stands for an aperture value and as you set your aperture, a white dot underneath the weather symbols indicates where you’re at accordingly. So if you set the aperture at F16, the dot will appear underneath the “very sunny” symbol in the viewfinder. This is not only cute, but actually quite handy in practical use.
So overall the BeLomo Vilia is a very capable camera at a very low price, and a true alternative to a Smena.

Fonte: Lomography


Modelo

A minha parece ser do tipo 4e (CT439):

Lens Triplet 69-3
minimum found number 6065320
maximum found number 6066282
Produced pieces Unknown
Rarity R1
Distinctive features of type
Without Quality label

Não tem o logotipo (quality label) no canto superior direito, vista de frente e possui o n.º de série 5265300, o que parece não coincidir com a descrição.

Fonte: Fotoua


Manual

Manual em inglês


Sítios de referência

Camerapedia
Fotoua
Lomography
Lomography (other)


Film

Fujicolor C200/24

Pictures taken with this machine

BeLomo Vilia sample 1

BeLomo Vilia sample 2

BeLomo Vilia sample 3

Vídeos