I hybridized my LOMO Smenas.
Before on the left, after on the right, more info below the cut!
I've had these two Smenas for a good while. The Smena 8 on the right was the first film camera i bought, even. All the way back in mid-2024 after seeing it in a 2nd-hand store and wondering what a camera with Cyrillic on the front was doing in the Home Counties. The Smena 8M on the left i bought a little while ago for bugger-all, and somewhat predictably, neither worked. The Smena 8's film advance is broken (hence the lack of top cover), and the Smena 8M's focusing helicoid is... Somehow Broken™. I don't know how yet, i haven't dismantled it. Fortunately, i'm in luck. Once you get past the different externals, the internals to the Smena 8 and 8M are very similar. See below.
The Lens/Shutter units are held on by two long screws, and two long screws alone. The screws are identical in design and length between the cameras, same head, same thread, same everything. Very handy, considering these two cameras were made, in my case, twenty years apart. '69 for the 8, '89 for the 8M. The Screw pattern on the backs of the Lens/Shutter units is, unsurprisingly, also the same. See below.
The linkages are, unsurprisingly, identical also. As is the shutter, and the lens. Same unit, different styling. This makes things REAL handy to swap over if, in cases like mine, you've two cameras with different malfunctions. I'm gonna be testing the Smena 8G ("Гибридный"/"Gibridnyy", "Hybrid", according to google translate) whenever i have the energy, which currently i do not. It's bloody cold here and it's sapping all of my energy and motivation. My kingdom for a dry sunny 25C+ day, good fuckin' god. Once i've put a roll through it, i'll be posting updates. Keep an eye out!
