Lomographic Insanity?

[comp_wiz101]

No offence meant to anyone that enjoys the "Lomographic Experience" and I imagine this may have been discussed before, but has anyone else here looked at the prices in the Lomographic store lately? They want $100 for a Fed 5! $1000 for an F-21 spy camera that they have altered the faceplate on.... is it any suprise that this "society" was started by marketing students?
Edit: I'm not terribly sure if they are altering them... but they are the only F-21 type cameras I've seen with a designation like that.

 

[captainslack]

I saw the topic of this thread and thought, "What are they up to now?!" 😀

So, they've discovered the FED 5? Was wondering how long that would take. And they're charging $100 for it? Surprised they're peddling them that cheap. Figured it would be at least twice that.

 

[Nexium]

I stopped trying to understand them a long time ago. I just feel sorry for those who buy a camera from them. In my opinion, the Lomographic Society is guilty for the high prices that FSU cameras are reaching nowadays, even outside the Lomography website. Ebay for example! 😱

 

[comp_wiz101]

*IMHO*
What really bothers me is what it seems to reduce photography to... now, I know that breaking the "rules" of normal photography can still produce a good photo, but when your motto is "Don't think, just shoot"... well, I cannot agree with that. A good lomograph should still be a good picture. Just because you have an oversaturated, vignetted out-of-focus picture and it qualifies for all of the "lomograph" requirements doesn't mean its a good picture.... It's all too "paint-by-numbers" for me to like.

 

[SteveM(PA)]

I am not nearly diesel enough to be on that site. And I must get alittle crunkier.

 

[Jocko]

I remember around about 1986, when Lomos were sold for £17.00 in British chemists [drugstores] as an alternative to the Konica Pop. I find the whole Lomographics scam the absolute antithesis of everything creative photography stands for. It strips the innocence from simple cameras in favour of posturing and so-called irony, whilst totally misrepresenting the heritage and ethos of the FSU camera. I seethe with contempt.

Neeeerrgh to Lomography!

Cheers, Ian

 

[morgan]

The prices are high, and the whole thing is basically a marketing scam, albeit wrapped in a great package (the site, the copy on the site, the imagery). But at least people are using film. The holga is a fun toy, and even the lomo does some decent shots. Yes, what it's done to the prices of FSU's may not be good, but in a way, the holga and lomo were a gateway drug for me to 'real' photography, whatever that is. There are some great shots in the gallery over there that would stand toe to toe with the great work here.

 

[clarence]

I agree with Morgan. My first ever camera was an Action Sampler.

Clarence

 

[chenick]

Lomography annoys the hell out of me. I have no problem with people enjoying their lomos and all that, but beyond the shiny happy face of lomography is a lucrative business, a monopoly backed up by agressive lawyers who defend their 'rights'
However, I admire the founders for their neck and marketing skills. They could probably sell sand to the Saudis* or snow to the Inuit. 🙂

[rant off]

* I heard the Saudis import sand for their construction industry as the sand they have isn't suitable for building!

-Nick

 

[Macpod]

I read something similar on a web page. the author was fuming over it as well.

to me. i think lomo has done a good job of getting people back into film. People will charge what others will pay. thats always been the case. nothing new.

the holgas are stil reasonably priced, as were the lomos before they went out of production.

 

[ZorkiKat]

Like Jocko, I have nothing but contempt for the so-called "philosophy" which the lomographic society stands for. It has claimed for itself the tennets of otherwise honest-to-goodness toy camera photography, and has put a price tag on it. What irks me the most is that it has turned passion into utterless shallow fashion.

Jay

 

[ffttklackdedeng]

Besides being jealous for their good business idea 😉 I like their anti-technical approach, the campaign surely draws some people into photography which were previously afraid of the minimum sharpness etc which a good picture has to have.

Of course there is not much sympathy for charging several times the money for the cameras, but on the other side they are not only selling the cameras but also some kind of a 'being part of'. I think there are more of those 'clubs' where you buy a certain brand or so paying also some amount of the price to be 'in the club'.

 

[comp_wiz101]

Hehe... I guess I'd rather pay less and stay in the FSU Forum 🙂

 

[rolleistef]

We're having a similar discussion on thephotoforum.com.
I went to a lomographic shop in Paris wednesday. They were selling amazing things, but the camera that stroke me most was a 450€ (570$) Kiev 645😱😱. It's ludicrous!!

This trend was launched by lomo when they got close to bankrupt at the end of USSR.
They thought at that moment : why not claiming our cameras made out of sh...ugar are fantastic because they can take incredibly poor pictures? We could sell them twice as much we used to!!
And then, the most appalling cameras started to get pricier and pricier...
"Have you seen my Holga? It has a PLASTIC lens and I get rainbow chromatic abberations with it!" "Not as cool as my Smena that has a built in Hamiltonian Lens on it!"

A year ago, a Lubitel cost 10$ at the very most. And now;...
http://cgi.ebay.fr/TLR-Reflex-GOMZ-Lubitel-2-Clasica-Rusa-6x6_W0QQitemZ330003619786QQihZ014QQcategoryZ27994QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

that's great marketing! One cannot deny that it was the best anti-photographic ad campaign ever don't you think??😎

 

[mac_wt]

I bought a Yasuhara T981 from them. I tought the price wasn't so extreme. It's a metal camera, with built in lightmeter, good built quality, lens included and they are rare. I'm happy with it.
If they find a market for their cameras at those prices, good for them and good for their buyers. If you prefer your Zorki 3 (which isn't exactly a cheap camera either...), good for you. Live and let live.

Wim

 

[comp_wiz101]

Funny.... the Yasuhara was one of the few cameras I figured that was around a reasonable price, because of their rarity. I suppose the crux of my problem with it all is the idea that you need to slap down ___ amount of dollars to magically become some special grade of photographer, instead of learning about photography and figuring out how to make your own style.

Edit:
P.S.... my big thing over the Zorkis (especially my Z3) mostly roots to the fact that it's all mechanical, so I can fix it... this is the first and only camera I have ever retensioned the shutter on! (And it looks good, to boot!)

 

[mac_wt]

Oh, I can agree on liking mechanical cameras.

Slapping down a lot of money for new equiment will not magically improve your photography, but slapping down small amounts of money doesn't do it either. From your signature I can see that you own several cameras. Did buying the Zorki C improve your photography?

Don't get me wrong, I have way too many cameras. When going out for shooting, my first problem is deciding what to take with me. The problem with cheap cameras is that it's so easy to buy another one. I think that some customers of the Lomographic Society, who buy just one Lomo, or whatever, and learn to use it, might be doing better at becoming a good photographer, than some other people (like me) buying lots of cheap cameras and never learning to know one completely.

I guess, what I'm trying to say is that it's not all black and white. There is a lot of grey out there.

Wim

 

[comp_wiz101]

Yes, I totally agree with you. I do admit that I am generalizing, you are correct in that regard. Certainly, if buying a Lomo kit makes someone a better photographer, I'm all for it.
As for my Zorki C... funny that you chose that one.
It was my first Rangefinder camera, and I purchased it when I was just getting started in photography. I also purchased an auto-everything Canon EOS 1000 with a 35-80mm zoom (AF, AE, Motor drive), which I was using the most at the time (Zorki was a shelf-dweller). Now, I understand that it's not the gear that makes the photographer, but... the EOS made me lazy. My composition was terrible, I snapped entire rolls away that turned out horrible pictures. When the EOS met it's end (defective shutter design), I looked to my old manual everything Zorki C. Using the C taught me to take my time with my composition and exposure (with a handheld meter), which I feel helps me produce better photos. One of my favorites on my wall is out of one of the first rolls of film out of that one. Hyperfocal distancing became an important skill to learn for me.
After I started shooting more calmly, I allowed myself a few luxuries on my SLRs (mostly)... aperture-priority exposure w/manual override and an add-on motor drive (which I still have to restrain from overusing, as I get too trigger happy).
The experience I had using a full-manual camera that I had to repair myself gave me experience to build on, both in taking my photos and caring for my equipment.

But that, of course, is simply my own experience. It all depends on the person 🙂

...and yes, I am a bit sentimental about that camera 😉

Part of the attraction for me: I like old engineering... always have found it interesting. I'm saying this with the WWII navy reciever I built a power supply for sitting behind me, just below my WWI-era spark telegraph key. Of course, it also helps that the FSU gear is often relatively inexpensive for my tiny budget 🙂

 

[Valkir1987]

I don't think film will disappear so quickly, many good second hand cameras find there way back in the second hand market and there are enought people who would like to use them with film. Another problem is that film might gets more expensive because the market for film is shrinking. Many studends with a cheap digital camera laugh at my Zenit, but it still produces better images.

 

[comp_wiz101]

One more thing: hats off to mac_wt - you brought forth a very good point which does help me look at the whole lomo gig from another angle. Not too nuts about that myself, but if it works for someone then it has served its purpose.