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. However with this tipster multiple exposures are possible.
Photo by cornborn
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.
There’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.
26 comments
superlighter
not bad! very nice pictures!
mephisto19
i just found one in my camera board and started using it... but i think i tend to overexpose.... i will see... i know i did it to the first film as i did not know what was in.... very nice gallery
acaprahman
romullolima
kdstevens
Nice job!
ra
kvboyle
Lovely pictures and an interesting review - thansk!!
maelstrom
Great review!
lakandula
Awesome shots. Very informative review.
nadinadu
wow! those are some really nice shots!
koalasve
the symbols in the viewfinder are adorable...If I'll have some money to spend, this could be an option! thanks for the review!!!!
holydarkyfied
nice camera :D I seriously like the design
paramir
great shots!
chroniczny
Everything in this article is TRUE! Vilia gave me more than I expected looking at it! I totally recommend this camera. Try and enjoy!
vandal
ia have the Vilia Auto and it's really cool...too bad you can't shoot in B mode
gatokinetik-o
I love the vilia. It's almost my favourite 35mm camera!!
bernardocople
Yeah, I got my hands in one recently, but haven't use it yet.
so_r3tro
abhoan
I like the look and feel of it
hanke
rio
very nice pictures
cornborn
Thank you everyone for the amazing feedback!
@hanke I added some pictures with cross processed slide film, I know this doesn't represent what a regular color negative film would give you, but maybe it helps: http://www.lomograph(…)vilia-x-pro
trw
Great article and very informative. I had never heard of this camera before, but now I think I need one!
martin-hantabal
martin-hantabal
vovka1981