BBC News about Lomo

I see they are selling reproduction Diana Cameras.

Thanks for the link Jon. Had no idea about the Putin connection.
 
Did Diana's cost 50 bucks (the 1960s equivalent) when they were first produced?

edit: well according to a couple websites originally cost 1 - 3 dollars in the early 60s :p

I did see on ebay they are fetching quite the price these days.... oh well more power to'em if they can sell'em
 
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It seems, it's the in thing to been seen using a Lomo.

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Brad Pitt with Angelina Jolie at the Venice Film Festival.
 
Heh fun read Jon.. I'll use my Argus C3. It cost less and saturates, vignettes and softens everything I shoot.

The Lomo is just a 'crappy cam' when it's all over. Even a disposable does a credible job as a 'crappy camera'.

BTW , nice lens cap on your avatar. Reminds me of another RFF member who was "a specialist in lens cap photography"
 
The BBC has typos.... oh dear.

The more I read from that article, the more it winds me up. Lomography seems to undermine everything photography attempts to achieve, not necessarily through the results, but through the attitude of the user.
 
jan normandale:


Yes, I too use disposables. But I wonder why when they cost the same as basic 35mm camera plus a film... Anyway I like the look they can give a photo.

Thank you for that nod at the avatar.
 
I had no idea photography actually had goals to acheive. Certainly folks buying plastic cameras and having fun should not be part of photography. We certainly do not want folks come together over a particular camera type or photographic style.
 
I think this sums up how different Lomography is from Photography:

"It feels like a fairytale sometimes," he says of the life of a Lomographer.

"It's not all about having the biggest lenses or the latest equipment. We just like walking around and taking photos."

This is something that should be condemned. I certainly don't understand that sentiment.
 
this is one of the best threads on RFF in the last month!

@varjag: "Just confirms that Putin is a bad guy" .. I love it!

@Finder (the genius) : "Certainly folks buying plastic cameras and having fun should not be part of photography." .. one of the most radical thoughts on RFF in a long time. I agree. Stomp on that one right now!

Who sez RFF is boring, this is great. I'm so pumped I'm going to succumb to marketing hype and buy a Lomo and put the shots up on RFF!
 
Except that it's not true. Lomography is all about equipment :)

"It's not the camera that matters", say young metrosexuals and then buy a €70 Holga in authentic Lomographic society box.

Not that there's anything wrong with it, but they sure could spare us from their attitude to "old-fashioned" photography, which is getting through in every Society's statement.
 
maybe if we spoke with the mayor of Krasnogorsk, the Zorki would still be made at this very moment.
 
What the BBC piece fails to tell us is what happened to the original Lomo factory and its workforce.
Having been saved by the intervention of Prez [2B] Polonium, we then read that the cameras are now being manufactured in China.
A rather sad irony.
 
The Russian LC-A (which are almost all sold out) are selling for $30US more ($280US) than the new China-made ones.

The cost of joining our society here is, what, $40 for an XA (the camera which a lot of "lomographers" leave their lomos for)?
 
You'd obviously need to rip out the light seals on the XA and smear crap all over its lens, maybe cover the optional flash unit up with some colored markers, if you want the Experience.
 
I received a Lomo LC-A 5-6 years ago as a gift and it is a great rugged camera. 20 years earlier I had used an XA - the experience was very similar and the LC-A is a truly good shooter. Now that the prices have tripled I don't think another will be coming into my arsenal.

need to rip out the light seals on the XA and smear crap all over its lens
No so with the LC-A, not sure about the new Chinese production models. Mine is light tight with a sharp high constrast lens. Maybe you are thinking Holga...
 
Sorry, but I don't think that this story is true. I was doing a lot of business in St.Petersburg back then and had the pleasure of visiting the LOMO plant just outside the city. Well, the parts of it that were available to a foreign visitor, mind you. They make submarine periscopes and FLIR sights for helicopters. Those departments is not available for citizens of NATO countries. To put it mildly.

You see; LOMO was privatized already in 1993. There is no way that the deputy governor of St.Petersburg, Vladimir Putin, had the power and reach within a then privatized company then owned by a flock of oligarchs. Back in 1995 he was busy getting rid of the corrupt, but popular governor Chobchak. - Who fled to France and died mysteriously shortly thereafter. Strange, he?

Further; the LOMO craze was about to take off first in 1996 -97. I remember well the many small photo shops selling russian photogear up and down Nevsky Prospekt. - Or other unique russian colectors items at small 'torgs' around the city, be it WWII artifacts, fake classical paintings, ikons, painted boxes, night binochulars etc. etc. 1994 - 95 was just a little early before the flood of collectors came across the border. But those who came were, first of all, germans and very possibly austrians, looking for WWII artifacts, german antiques etc.

Today this is a very mature market. Back then you could by rare and very valuable collector items for 'a song'.
 
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