Lomo Cameras?

Dr.Louis

Hey! Anyone here ever use a lomo camera? They look like a bit of fun with interesting results.... I was looking at one with a built in fisheye lens... Does anyone know anything about them? thanks

Chochese

I use the Holga myself. Great little camera.
The fisheye is an excellent little bit of kit too...

You'd be best to ask Fajitas! He's mad into the whole lomo scene.

Fajitas!

Fisheye is a handy piece of kit. I got the 'plastic fantastic' package a while back, well worth it.

A lot of people say it's a waste of money, but as one person put it here, you could spend it on a lot worse.

The fisheye is basically light, simple and plastic. Get's good photos if the light is right. It's just point and click, so there's no complications in focusing.

The fisheye, along with the Holga, would be my favourites out of the package.

Go for it!

dalk

The only problem i have with the lomo cameras is that they are about twice as expensive as they should be... The brand is a triumph of clever marketing. These cameras should be cheap.

So my advice would be to avoid buying it direct from the lomography site but look for them second hand or new off ebay.

PS. If you want the lomo effect on a 35mm camera: Put a tube over the lens to get the desired level of vignetting/edge to edge light falloff, defocus slightly and then underexpose... Or do the same thing in photoshop.

Fajitas!

I'd agree somewhat on the price issue, but would disagree with buying them second hand to be honest. Most lomo's go through the wars really. Might aswell buy yourself a new one.

Best way to get a Lomo effect is to buy the Holga or a Lensbaby for your 35mm!

Gyck

I've got a Holga, great fun. Pick them up on ebay for nothing. Good intro to medium format photgraphy.

I've also got an action sampler, not used quite so much, but again is fun.

The brand is a triumph of clever marketing

very true! But I love some of the stuff on the Lomo site.

ender ender

If it's the old Russian deadstock you want look on e-bay, I got a Smena for €15 there and another on lomography.com for €63 that was broken (

Placebo

lca lomo, areound 130 ish, my friend uses, its wide angle, some of his pictures are jaw dropping. Holga would be good starter wth colour flash. and some color filters, also with a fish eye lense.

Dr.Louis

I think I'm going to buy a holga on ebay (new) and keep my eye out for the fish eye too...
But what exactly is a "holga"? I mean is it the name of a type of camera? or Just a brand name that lomo came up with? I know its a cheap medium format camera but thats it! lol...
Do you even focus it or adjust the f. stop?
thanks

Placebo

ive been meaning to borrow it from my friend, holgas a name for a type of lomo, russian, plastic lense.

Fajitas!

You have 4 focus settings, not that they matter too much really. You have 2 ap settings. Night and Day. Best off to just keep it on the night setting to be honest.

The Holga is a P&S camera, that Lomo started selling, along with their other Russian stock.

Dr.Louis

Ohh cool, thanks... And what about medium format film? Is it much more expensive to buy and get processed/developed than 35mm?

Gyck

As Fajitas! says, the Holga is pretty primitive. I find it realy comes into its own in bright light, preferably sunny days.

Film is more expensive than 35mm. Developmet is more expensive, and is more difficult to get done (unless you do it yourself), you can't walk into a local chemist and get it done. Try Gunns on Wexford Street for development. The film gives you 12 or 16 shots, depending on the aspect ratio you choose.

Fajitas!

Best thing you can do when buying film is buy expired film. If your from Dublin, I noticed today that Jessops have a box on their counter packed full of freshly expired 120mm film. It is more expensive getting it done alright. Worth it in my opinion though.

Dr.Louis

cool thanks a mill...
Thats the jessops just off grafton street yeah?

thanks again... i cant wait to get snapping with my camera now... (well, when i get it!)

Fajitas!

If it's any interest to you, I started modding my Holga tonight. Made a kinda verticle landscape frame, a flap for the back window, and started it on its way to having a cable release. Plan to make a rangefinder for the top soon.

Edit: Yup that's the Jessops. Conn's do it too.

Beano

Fajitas! wrote:

If it's any interest to you, I started modding my Holga tonight. Made a kinda verticle landscape frame, a flap for the back window, and started it on its way to having a cable release. Plan to make a rangefinder for the top soon.

Edit: Yup that's the Jessops. Conn's do it too.

When you're finished with the cable release can you let us know how you did it?

Fajitas!

Not finished with it yet, but essentially, I have a Jessops standard cable release. I'm using epoxy resin to attach a piece of strong plastic above the normal shutter release. in theory, when I push the cable release, it'll fire it off. Hoping to find some way to thread the piece of plastic so it's not 100% permenant, but I'm not too bothered. If it becomes a permenant feature, i'll make the shutter release bigger so the cable won't get in the way.