Looks like Lomography (company) might be in trouble

A friend of mine bought the White Stripes Holga for his wife ... that was pretty cool actually. 😀
 
I'm embarrassed to admit I bought a La Sardinia with cork cover the other day for 50% off. Fun little toy.

My Diana Mini, my only Lomo camera before this purchase, is very flaky with film advance. "Quality" items they are not 🙂
 
kaiwasoyokaze said:
I wanted to go the branch in Seoul but that one closed down recently too. I don't how well it is doing but I always thought LOMO was strong in the Asia. Hopefully the one in HK doesnt close down too.
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There is at least one store in Chunmurro, on the South side of the main street in "movie town" that still carries them. You can see them displayed in the window.
 
Whatever their quality is, they are a good thing for us. Hipsters who get motivated to shoot film, can graduate to real gear and keep our love alive longer. I feel this is sad news in the long run.

I'm actually having fun with the belair-x 6-12, it supposedly has a two year warranty, with no stores I may be SOL when it breaks, and it will. I'm not gentle with my gear.

Oh, and JSrocket, your comment in now way sad, honesty is a good thing. I agree, we all scream "Fire, Fire" when there's a death of film thread. Just hoard film, and keep shooting, it's the way it's goin and bitching won't hold back the inevitable. There are not enough of us to pay their bills.
 
I hope I didn't help make this a "death of film" thread or a Lomography-bashing thread. I think Lomography is a great company with great products ("great" in the sense of fun, clever, and interesting). They have done an AMAZING job of marketing analog photography, and I'm sure (and I hope!) they will continue to do so for a long time to come. I feel like they have had a big hand in the recent growth in film sales: http://www.pdexposures.tv/americans-buy-35-million-rolls-of-film-in-2012/

They made a bad business decision in going aggressively into retail, but they are taking the difficult steps required to recover from that decision. To me, this speaks well of the management of Lomography and the long-term prospects of the company. Their products are not necessarily right for our store, but I'm VERY glad that Lomography exists and i wish them well.
 
FWIW... Lomography has introduced a new "camera" today, the Konstruktor. It's a 35mm SLR kit camera that looks to be similar to some of the TLR kits out there.

Single aperture, one shutter speed (1/80th) plus a Bulb mode, waist level viewing system. I ordered one because I am curious and it was surprisingly cheap for a Lomography camera. But I am honestly expecting it to be flimsy and probably break within a short time. Still it will be fun to try.
 
It's unfortunate as they helped introduce young people to film. Hopefully, some really liked using film and discovered they can get a "real" 1970s-80s manual focus camera (e.g., Minolta, Pentax, Olympus, Canon) in great condition for the same cost.
 
mwoenv said:
It's unfortunate as they helped introduce young people to film. Hopefully, some really liked using film and discovered they can get a "real" 1970s-80s manual focus camera (e.g., Minolta, Pentax, Olympus, Canon) in great condition for the same cost.
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Been seeing more 20 year olds with older SLRs than lomo stuff these days in NYC. In fact the last lomo type camera I saw in action was used by a tourist on Wall St. 😱
 
Vince, so sorry to hear about the Diana Mini. I had considered getting one from Freestyle Photo but this has changed my mind. I really like half frame but even at Freestyle's price of $35 I would expect it to work out of the box and last more than two or three rolls of film.
 
zuiko85 said:
Vince, so sorry to hear about the Diana Mini. I had considered getting one from Freestyle Photo but this has changed my mind. I really like half frame but even at Freestyle's price of $35 I would expect it to work out of the box and last more than two or three rolls of film.
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I've owned one that lasted more than 2-3 rolls of film. It is NOT that crappy.
 
Tell you folks what I'd really like to see from some outfit like Lomography.

A battery powered, LED enlarger and safe light kit for B&W wet darkroom.

With super bright white LED for the enlarger light source and a 570nm narrow band bright red LED for the safe light

I'm thinking a power pack holding three 'D' cells with a built in electronic timer and two 'mini plug' sockets for the wires from the enlarger and safe light.

It would be very compact and only handle 35mm FF, half frame and 110 negatives.

Of course it would have clip on paper hold down mask's for the baseboard. And could be dismantled and set up easy.

With a 50mm enlarging lens it would have a maximum of 8X enlargement on the base board for FF 35mm negatives. Lens mount should be the 39mm standard.

A staggered plastic rack that holds 4 trays for 8X10 (somewhat like those office bins for plastic 'in' and 'out' trays). Top down they would be; developer-stop-fix-dead water rinse.

If you can black it out you can set it up. Running water optional, after dead water rinse take prints to kitchen for final rinse. (this is where RC paper would simplify your work flow)

This is a crazy idea I know and with a LED white light source would probably only work with graded paper (don't know if they put out the spectrum that would allow for VC paper). Probably not much market now days, but the idea has been bouncing around in my fevered brain for a couple of years now.
 
Lomo has such a huge web based market they don't need stores anyhow. I don't see them as being in any real financial trouble at the moment. There stores remind me of Leica stores. Only placed in niche locations. I wonder how many Leica sales come from their stores compared with B&H or Tamarkin Camera.
 
zuiko85 said:
Tell you folks what I'd really like to see from some outfit like Lomography.

A battery powered, LED enlarger and safe light kit for B&W wet darkroom.

With super bright white LED for the enlarger light source and a 570nm narrow band bright red LED for the safe light

I'm thinking a power pack holding three 'D' cells with a built in electronic timer and two 'mini plug' sockets for the wires from the enlarger and safe light.

It would be very compact and only handle 35mm FF, half frame and 110 negatives.

Of course it would have clip on paper hold down mask's for the baseboard. And could be dismantled and set up easy.

With a 50mm enlarging lens it would have a maximum of 8X enlargement on the base board for FF 35mm negatives. Lens mount should be the 39mm standard.

A staggered plastic rack that holds 4 trays for 8X10 (somewhat like those office bins for plastic 'in' and 'out' trays). Top down they would be; developer-stop-fix-dead water rinse.

If you can black it out you can set it up. Running water optional, after dead water rinse take prints to kitchen for final rinse. (this is where RC paper would simplify your work flow)

This is a crazy idea I know and with a LED white light source would probably only work with graded paper (don't know if they put out the spectrum that would allow for VC paper). Probably not much market now days, but the idea has been bouncing around in my fevered brain for a couple of years now.
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Cool idea, I'd consider buying it.
 
zuiko85 said:
Vince, so sorry to hear about the Diana Mini. I had considered getting one from Freestyle Photo but this has changed my mind. I really like half frame but even at Freestyle's price of $35 I would expect it to work out of the box and last more than two or three rolls of film.
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$35 is a pretty good price! We can't get them wholesale at that price. It will last for a few rolls for sure. Another half-frame camera we really like (also sold by Freestyle) is the Golden Half. And it has a hot shoe!
 
zuiko85 said:
Tell you folks what I'd really like to see from some outfit like Lomography.

A battery powered, LED enlarger and safe light kit for B&W wet darkroom.

With super bright white LED for the enlarger light source and a 570nm narrow band bright red LED for the safe light

I'm thinking a power pack holding three 'D' cells with a built in electronic timer and two 'mini plug' sockets for the wires from the enlarger and safe light.

It would be very compact and only handle 35mm FF, half frame and 110 negatives.

Of course it would have clip on paper hold down mask's for the baseboard. And could be dismantled and set up easy.

With a 50mm enlarging lens it would have a maximum of 8X enlargement on the base board for FF 35mm negatives. Lens mount should be the 39mm standard.

A staggered plastic rack that holds 4 trays for 8X10 (somewhat like those office bins for plastic 'in' and 'out' trays). Top down they would be; developer-stop-fix-dead water rinse.

If you can black it out you can set it up. Running water optional, after dead water rinse take prints to kitchen for final rinse. (this is where RC paper would simplify your work flow)

This is a crazy idea I know and with a LED white light source would probably only work with graded paper (don't know if they put out the spectrum that would allow for VC paper). Probably not much market now days, but the idea has been bouncing around in my fevered brain for a couple of years now.
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I agree this is a crazy but fun idea, one we would love to carry in our store at the right price. We would want a complete package, with RC paper, chemistry, and instructions all included. If this were retail priced around $150, we would probably sell about one a month, and sell a dozen or more during the holidays.
 
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