P&S/Lomo-type camera with long auto exposure capability?

[principe azul]

A camera promotion at a local charity shop got me reading up about the Olympus XA-2 I saw there, which in turn got reading about the Lomo LC-A.

I'm fascinated by what people say about the Lomo and what they shoot with it, but I don't want to pay £75 on ebay or £140 from lomo.com for a secondhand LC-A. I'm aware of the hype, and I'm aware I could get Lomo-style shots myself if I contrived vignetting and saturation and, gulp, forced myself to shoot in colour...

What really intrigues me about the LC-A is that it can autoexpose up to 30s, according to the official specs, and up to 2 mins, according to some reports. Though it seems you have to keep your finger depressed until the shutter shuts again or else it will close prematurely.

Anyway, any suggestions for a similar take-anywhere camera that can be pressed into service at night? Or stick to the original plan to get a Canonet? (Ordered a black one, meter not working, for £19 (in photography-adjusted exchange rates, that's twenty bucks!), but someone else's email got there before mine. 😡 )

 

[Trius]

The original XA has long exposure times. I've made some wonderful night shots with it.

 

[principe azul]

Thanks, Trius. I find I always forget about the camera I first thought of!

 

[dreilly]

I think the XA will also vignette a little wide open, which should make the Lomography people skip and dance!

 

[pvdhaar]

You could also consider a Minox 35. Like the Lomo LCA, they're manual focus and aperture priority. You have to put some care into selecting the particular model though as they all seem alike but really aren't. Some models are capable of doing long time exposures (GTE, GTS, GTX). Officially listed at 8sec, they'll do a minute when light is low. Others (ML, MB) have a 100/ISO seconds limit.

 

[jan normandale]

Step one... buy a Yashica Electro 35 GSN.. it will take shots up to 30seconds
Step two... buy a jar of vaseline and put some around the perimeter of a ND filter, screw onto the GSN lens .. presto Lomo-time all for not much.

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

For night time you often need long long exposures. Film reciprocality will make any metering system way off.

Do some tests on manual, for example five to ten seconds in a bar or brightly lit street to up to 30 minutes for a really dark place.

 

[lubitel]

Get a minox 35, a lovely camera with sharp lens. If you want a lomo, the LCAs are overpriced. Get a Lomo 135, scale focusing, everything manual, sharp 40mm 2.8 lens, funky advance spring mechanism -- get up to 8 shots without having to wind the mechanism. And its not a very known camera among so called "lomographers" so it will go for about 30 bucks on ebay.

 

[Duncan Ross]

Get a minox 35, a lovely camera with sharp lens. If you want a lomo, the LCAs are overpriced. Get a Lomo 135, scale focusing, everything manual, sharp 40mm 2.8 lens, funky advance spring mechanism -- get up to 8 shots without having to wind the mechanism. And its not a very known camera among so called "lomographers" so it will go for about 30 bucks on ebay.

I've had many lomos including the 135M, it has an additional benefit; if anyone ever attacks you just hit them with it.

The lomo lca lens is absolutely unique though, it is very wrong to pretend just ruin a normal lens and you're there. It is a proper mult-element glass lens that is incredibly sharp and contrasty in the centre while exhibiting what can only be described as 'motion blur' around the edges like a crash-zoom effect and of course the heavy vignetting. Doctor Radinov wasn't an idiot, his brief was to create a lens that was sharp and contrasty in the middle. He just did it without considering any other aspect of the lens.

The nearest I have found is the Industar 61LD which (under suitable conditions which I have yet to determine exactly what conditions they are) produces the same sharpness contrast and punch as the centre of the minitar but pretty much all over. Add a centre-spot filter and you're halfway there. You're not going to find a P&S like that though.

My old Kiev 35 happily produced very long exposures but the lens really was dire. In fact I had two and both had equaliy dire lenses (and I'm not a lens snob!) so the common factor appears to be the dire lens. If Agfa used the same opto-mechanical setup in their 110 cameras as their 35mm ones the optima range might fit the bill, certainly the pocket Agfas can produce shutter times in minutes and you can get an Agfa Optima rangefinder too (is it the 1535) so might be worth a splurge!

Good luck!

 

[Jeroen]

One of the later Agfa Optima cameras may do. The 335 and 535 are easy to find, the rangefinder version (1535) is mostly sought after by Japanese collectors. A smooth shutter, great finder, nice auto exposure (according to a few web pages 15-1/500 sec, but I think it goes beyond those 15 seconds) and a stylish exterior.

http://www.erikfiss.com/foto/cams/optima/e.html

 

[principe azul]

Wow! Thanks, all of you. Some neat ideas which will give me direction.