Lomo Kompakt Automat 35mm Camera by Lomographic Cameras
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Digital camera reviews of Lomo Kompakt Automat 35mm Camera
Digital camera Review: Actually zero stars. but that wasn't an option.
Summary: 1 Stars
I don't care about whether pix taken with this camera are good or asthetically pleasing, if you like blur or vignetting or whatever, well great you can take pix like that with this camera or any other camera. and you can take sharp pix too. LS (lomographic society) makes several inaccurate claims about this camera.1 they say it is sturdy, and robust: It's not. mine broke from a drop that wouldn't break an egg. (i'm not exaggerating). Ive heard of many other people having similar experiences, There are even glowing reviews and testimonies of the lomo that mention getting second and thirds because the first and second broke.
2 They say it is unique. Rollei 35 (series). Minox 35 (series). Olympus XA (series). Chinon Bellami. Cosina CX (series). The lomo is a copy, a poor copy, of Cosina's CX1. need i say more.
3 Dazzling supersaturated colors. If you put Portra VC through it you will get that. If you put Portra NC through it you get normal colors. If you put HP5 through it you won't get any colors. Generally lower speed film has greater color saturation and since it is only 400 fast (i think 800 is the begining of fast) results are generally saturated. it has nothing to do with the lens. I've seen the comparisons
4. it's hip. Maybe four years ago it was.
5. It's a russian spy camera. Never was. it was a camera for the glorious prolatariat. Can you find mention of it in any KGB history/trivia/fan sites?
investigate your options before you buy if you are willing to pay big monies get a minox 35ml if you want it on the cheap get a olympus XA.
Digital camera Review: Actually, zero stars. but that wasn't an option
Summary: 1 Stars
I don't care about whether pix taken with this camera are good or asthetically pleasing, if you like blur or vignetting or whatever, well great you can take pix like that with this camera or any other camera. and you can take sharp pix too. LS (lomographic society) makes several inaccurate claims about this camera.1 they say it is sturdy, and robust: It's not. mine broke from a drop that wouldn't break an egg. (i'm not exaggerating). Ive heard of many other people having similar experiences, There are even glowing reviews and testimonies of the lomo that mention getting second and thirds because the first and second broke.
2 They say it is unique. Rollei 35 (series). Minox 35 (series). Olympus XA (series). Chinon Bellami. Cosina CX (series). The lomo is a copy, a poor copy, of Cosina's CX1. need i say more.
3 Dazzling supersaturated colors. If you put Portra VC through it you will get that. If you put Portra NC through it you get normal colors. If you put HP5 through it you won't get any colors. Generally lower speed film has greater color saturation and since it is only 400 fast (i think 800 is the begining of fast) results are generally saturated. it has nothing to do with the lens. I've seen the comparisons.
4. it's hip. Maybe four years ago it was.
5. It's a russian spy camera. Never was. it was a camera for the glorious prolatariat. Can you find mention of it in any KGB history/trivia/fan sites?
investigate your options before you buy if you are willing to pay big monies get a minox 35ml if you want it on the cheap get a olympus XA.
Digital camera Review: That's Lomo!
Summary: 1 Stars
I fell prey to the carefully controlled hype and bought this little piece of junk, mostly because I yearned for an antidote to gross expense, the maddening slowness, the exasperating lack of spontaneity of digital photography. The premise seemed so seductive: wide angle, bright colors, shoot from hip, only four focal settings (close-up, near, middle, infinity). Not only would Lomo liberate me from my Nikon 5700, it would liberate me from my computer, my ink jet printer, and the gadgety geekness of photography, both film and digital, and possibly even expand my thinking and make me more hip. . . well. . .I shot a bunch of film and paid more for the processing than the price of the camera, and this is my conclusion: minus all the useless little hipster booklets and the two free rolls of film, this camera is probably worth about $19.95. The optics are awful (although some the effects can be interesting), and the rest of the camera equally crude and heavy (but cute). . .
As far as the aforementioned 10 aesthetic principals of "Lomography" are concerned, there is an aesthetic space that can only be entered mindlessly, subliminally, and this approach is sometimes desirable. So I agree with Lomography, and applaud it even, BUT you don't need to plunk down $160 on this little piece of junk to practice it. The biggest success of the Lomographic Society International is that these con artists have managed to convince so many people (including me!) that you need a Lomo to get your cool back and have fun again. The 3 weeks I spent snapping my first 8 rolls of film was indeed a lot of fun. But when I got the prints back the honeymoon was over. I had about 10 aesthetically appealing pictures out of out of 288. That's when I realized that serendipity can be awfully expensive. . .
The truth about Lomo is that it's more a fashion accessory than a camera. The premise of fashion is "Buying this thing will make me feel good, cool, more alive, etc." It works for sneakers, blue jeans and skateboards, and now these Viennese guys have applied the formula to junky, virtually worthless Russian "spy" cameras. . . Think disposable Fuji that can be re-loaded. Hype it. Mark it up wildly. Laugh all the way to the bank. That's Lomo!
Digital camera Review: Aha! That's what I was looking for.
Summary: 5 Stars
This is such a fun little camera (and yes, it is small). I was looking around for a camera that would make unique pictures--not always perfect, but different--and I found a relatively inexpesnive one that does this perfectly.
Go to ...... and look at the pictures people are sending to the site. You can tell when a photograph is a lomograph.
But let's stop screwing around and get down to the pros and cons.
Pros: Small, sturdy, versatile (for its type) takes great pictures (blurred, smeared, or very clear, depending on lighting conditions and film speed) fun, takes regular 35mm speed film. Fun. Super-cool.
Cons: Seems a bit expensive at first, but it is quality material. Maybe the price is OK for you. Ummm... That's about it for the cons. It won't take professional, portrait quiality pics, but it has a nice lens and is capable of some really crisp shots.
OK, now let me tell you why the LOMO takes unique pictures. Stay with me. The lens has some kind of coating on it that enhances the colors. The colors you get from this camera can be wild.
Also, there is an auto-shutter speed option (which you want to leave on all the time, really) that gauges how much light the shot will need, depending on the situation. So, if you're using 100 speed film, and are in a dimly lit room, or outside at night, the shutter will stay open a little longer, allowing the film to soak up the shot. Sometimes this results in a blurred image, sometimes not, but the blurred ones are the most fun. But say you're using that same 100 speed film and you're outside on a sunny day; the shutter snaps much quicker when it has ample light, giving you a clearer shot.
It's a lot of fun to mess with, you'll find that out.
I've never had so much fun getting my pictures developed before--you never know how they're going to turn out. It's great.
So, get one. Have fun. Send me a million dollars.
Digital camera Review: Something the Russians did well
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this camera a little while ago, and I'm amazed by it. I've taken pictures at 100, 200 and 400 ASA film...if you want to get pictures that are fairly sharp, use 400 film on the automatic settings, and you'll be pretty impressed. At 400, the picture is more sharp then 100 or 200, but you really get a hint of the rich color that abounds at the lower speeds.I bought this camera because I wanted to make "Artistic" looking pictures without having to haul around a bulky bag with filters, lenses, flashes, etc. only to have 1 or 2 good pictures on an entire roll. So far, this camera has done the trick, and I've gotten lots of compliments, albeit from "normal" people, but they think i've spent a lot more than I actually have.