Maybe Lomography will save us all

[Ronald_H]

They just re-introduced 110 film:

http://www.lomography.com/

They may attract the hipster crowd and sell quirky cameras for too much money, but they do a lot to keep analogue alive.

Btw, last weekend I bought a Pentax 110. Talk about coincidence.

 

[jsrockit]

Kind of cool... I have a soft spot for 110. Not sure I'll be messing with it again though. Now, when is 126 coming back?

 

[raytoei@gmail.com]

dang...they have alot of stores around the world.

 

[migtex]

They just re-introduced 110 film:

http://www.lomography.com/

They may attract the hipster crowd and sell quirky cameras for too much money, but they do a lot to keep analogue alive.

Btw, last weekend I bought a Pentax 110. Talk about coincidence.

There are no coincidences in Life, just cross flows.... :angel:

 

[shadowfox]

Lomography is Leica.
Their respective target market will scarf up whatever they put out.

Amazing.

 

[uinku]

I'm curious if Hipstamatic/Instagram has lowered the number of Lomography users.

 

[al1966]

Kind of cool... I have a soft spot for 110. Not sure I'll be messing with it again though. Now, when is 126 coming back?

I would be well happy to get some 126 in monochrome, but not at Lomo prices.

 

[Ronald_H]

I would be well happy to get some 126 in monochrome, but not at Lomo prices.

Their own brand film isn't all that expensive. No idea if it is any good though. I am tempted to buy a few rolls, but the film advance of my 110 is slipping, have to fix that first.

 

[Araakii]

I'm curious if Hipstamatic/Instagram has lowered the number of Lomography users.

Probably not. Lomo shooters are hip and now it's not hip to shoot hipstamatic anymore.

 

[TXForester]

Might make the Pentax 110 SLR worth getting just for kicks, but the prices will go up if 110 is readily available. May not be worth what you get out of it. If you still own one, then its good news.

 

[HHPhoto]

They just re-introduced 110 film:

http://www.lomography.com/

They may attract the hipster crowd and sell quirky cameras for too much money, but they do a lot to keep analogue alive.

Btw, last weekend I bought a Pentax 110. Talk about coincidence.

Hi Ronald,

yes, they do indeed a lot to keep film alive.
They are the only ones who have a marketing strategy, and who are really making strong efforts in marketing.

The lack of marketing from the others, who earn their living by selling film, photopaper and photochemistry, is one, if not the
major problem of the market.

Freestyle, B&H, digitaltruth, Silverprint, Firstcall, AG-photographic, labo-argentique, fotohuis, Maco, Fotoimpex, ars-imago, Riegler, Puntofoto and all the specialised dealers.
They do nothing for film marketing. How stupid!
If you want to sell film, you have to do marketing for it. You have to get new, especially young people to get interested in it.
These companies have to wake up!
Probably we as their customers have to give them a 'stark' kick in their ass.

Lomograpy alone can not save film. There is more necessary.
Besides much much more action from the spezialised dealers of course we have to do our part:
1. Shooting more film.
2. Shooting all types of film: Color-reversal, BW-reversal, color-negative, BW-negative.
3. Now is the time to shoot film! Digital can wait, film can't. It has to be supported now.
4. Spread the word. Show your film pictures and film based cameras to others and get them interested.
If every film shooter convince two other guys to shoot film as well, then film is stabilised.
It is not difficult. Everyone is able to do that.

As to the Lomo 110 film:
I guess that is the product of a cooperation between the LSI and Adox. AFAIK Adox ist the last company having the machinery to convert 110 film.

If this first run is a success we will probably see 110 color film and 110 Lomo cams in the future.

Cheers, Jan

 

[jsrockit]

Freestyle, B&H, digitaltruth, Silverprint, Firstcall, AG-photographic, labo-argentique, fotohuis, Maco, Fotoimpex, ars-imago, Riegler, Puntofoto and all the specialised dealers. They do nothing for film marketing. How stupid!
If you want to sell film, you have to do marketing for it. You have to get new, especially young people to get interested in it. These companies have to wake up!

These companies change with the times. Their objective is to sell the things that they will sell the most of. Film is not a huge business anymore and it isn't the job of the aforementioned companies to preserve film's legacy. They will market the most relavent items.

 

[shadowfox]

Freestyle, B&H, digitaltruth, Silverprint, Firstcall, AG-photographic, labo-argentique, fotohuis, Maco, Fotoimpex, ars-imago, Riegler, Puntofoto and all the specialised dealers.
They do nothing for film marketing. How stupid!
If you want to sell film, you have to do marketing for it. You have to get new, especially young people to get interested in it.
These companies have to wake up!
Probably we as their customers have to give them a 'stark' kick in their ass.

Cheers, Jan

Jan,
I couldn't agree more.
By the mention of those European companies, I gather that the lethargic attitude that I've seen here in the USA are also exhibited there.

Freestyle so far has done a good job with their quarterly catalog publication (now on PDF also). Reading their catalog *always* motivate me to use film without fail.

The problem is how to get the word out so people who are oblivious to film still existing, can start to notice.

I wonder if a small group of motivated film user can band together to change this situation?

 

[jsrockit]

I'm not sure you can change film's current rate of usage without the masses. The masses have benefitted from digital's advent generally speaking. The only thing they may miss is getting prints from local stores.

 

[JoeV]

So, I got an email from Lomography (yes, I'm on their list, I've purchased a LomoKino and Fritz-the-Blitz flash) that the first batch of 110 film is absent the frame numbers on the backing paper strip, meaning you have to guess your film counter when you advance the film. They also said there's the possiblity of some of the film getting fogged in this first batch. So, maybe the whole paper backing is missing? Hmm...

Personally, I'd like to wait until they get this sorted out, but unless people buy the first batch, I fear there may not be a second batch. Kind of like the Impossible Project's dillema.

Yea, Lomo seems to be doing their part in keeping film alive. In my town, if I want 36 exposure rolls of 100-speed color print film, I go to Urban Outfitters and buy Lomo film.

~Joe

 

[seanbonner]

I'm curious if Hipstamatic/Instagram has lowered the number of Lomography users.

It's actually increased it. The people who are attracted to Hipstamatic et al share social graph space with the people who like to be more at the source than anyone else, so having the real gear, even unused, is bonus points.

 

[driver]

So did my Rollei A110 just increase in value? 🙄

 

[Out to Lunch]

The LOMO brand as we know it has to do with two yuppies looking to make a fast buck in the former USSR. Not for me.

 

[HHPhoto]

These companies change with the times. Their objective is to sell the things that they will sell the most of. Film is not a huge business anymore and it isn't the job of the aforementioned companies to preserve film's legacy. They will market the most relavent items.

You are right for B&H and Adorama for example.
But all others I've mentioned are spezialised dealers for film photography, not digital.

And if you are spezialised on a certain product range you have to do marketing for this product range to be successful in the long term.
Especially if these products are endangered.
In the current situation marketing for film from the film dealers is absolutely necessary.
And it is extremely dissappointing that such big companies like Freestyle are completely ignoring what the market needs to survive in this respect.
You as American customers should take them in responsibility.
We are currently doing it here in Germany with our dealers. First, but still small successes are there.

Cheers, Jan

 

[HHPhoto]

The problem is how to get the word out so people who are oblivious to film still existing, can start to notice.

Well Will, e.g. by photography forums like this one. Here we can do quite a lot. New, young members are regularly registering here.
We can explain to them what film has to offer.
Furthermore we can write photography blogs, articles in (online) magazines, make exhibitions etc.
We can show our pictures and the very nice film cameras we have in the circles of our friends (in the real, not virtual world) to get others interested.

I wonder if a small group of motivated film user can band together to change this situation?

Well, an avalanche is always started by a very little snow ball....😉

The LSI started in 1991/92. At that time no one had thougt that Lomography will be still there 20 years later, and that it will build up a movement of about 2 million Lomographers worldwide.

Cheers, Jan