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Review: Lomo ColorSplash 35mm Camera

October 7, 2008
lomo_colorsplash

After having so much fun with the Fisheye Lomo camera, I picked up another lomo camera. This time I got the Lomography 35mm Colorsplash camera. From the second I saw the photos taken with other colorsplash cameras, I was pretty sure I was going to love it. After getting my first roll of film developed, I can honestly say I’m hooked.

The camera is very light weight. It has a bit of an odd shape thanks to the flash sticking out the side. I can’t really call the camera “pocket-sized”, but for you ladies, this would easily fit in a purse. It does have a hook for a strap on the side, so hanging it around your wrist would be pretty simple, too. I’ve just thrown mine in my camera bag and keep it with me all the time. I hold off on winding the film until I’m ready to shoot to avoid the shutting being fired while inside my camera bag. That’s not a big deal with digital, but an expensive habit for film cameras.

The fun part about the colorsplash is, well, the colors. The flash has a dial on it that lets you change the color of the flash. Clear, Yellow, Red and Blue are your four choices. I’ve found the red to be quite overpowering, the yellow is subtle when used outside and the blue adds an amazing “1970s” effect to the shots. The camera also comes with a collection of gels that you can hold in front of the lens to further alter the colors of the shots. I have yet to play with this aspect of it, but I’ve seen many shots on flickr and it seems that the possibilities are endless.

As you can see from the pictures below, the flash is pretty powerful, so it seems I need to back up a bit from my subjects. However, the shots taken on the beach have an amazing feel to them.

The Colorsplash has definitely earned a permanent spot in my camera bag. It’s light weight, inexpensive and a lot of fun. Pick one up and color your world wild.

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Review: Fisheye Lomography Camera

September 11, 2008
Lomography Fisheye Camera

I recently purchased the Lomography Fisheye Fixed Focus camera after a introduced me to the Lomo group on flickr.com. I was really intrigued by the many different styles of Lomo cameras, but have always been a fan of fisheye photos. When I found out the camera was less than $40, it was a no brainer. I had to have it.

It arrived a few days later and I opened the box like a kid on Christmas. For a unique camera like the Fisheye, it was little surprise that the box it came in was also unique. When you open the square box, the first and only thing you see is your new camera staring up at you like the boy in the plastic bubble through the plastic dome cover. A nice touch, if you ask me.

The fisheye camera is very light. It takes a single AA battery (not included) to charge the flash. The wrist strap and lens cover are both made of rubber and are quite stretchy. There aren’t a lot of buttons or gadgets to mess with on the camera, so from the time you get it to the time you are ready to take your first shot is no more than a minute or two. For a guy as impatient as me, perfect!

The camera comes with a full-color booklet of sample photos that is really cool. One of the things that I liked most about the booklet was that they didn’t include only “perfect” shots. It really captures the essence of Lomography by being a collection of “from the hip” photos. That’s not to say they aren’t good, they just don’t feel like staged shots. They look like I expect my shots to look after walking around with the camera and taking interesting/silly shots.

With camera in hand I headed out to shoot my first roll of film. I had a goal of taking all the shots on this first roll of film without once looking through the view finder. I’m happy to say that I was able to reach that goal and surpass it. I have yet to look through the view finder, but my wife tells me that if you do, you’ll see about 25% of the view finder is taken up by the lens. The view finder does not show you what the shots are going to look like once they have been “fisheyed.” I believe I’ve read that the fisheye 2 camera has a fisheye view through the viewfinder, but don’t quote me on that… I’m not reviewing that camera, yet.

The front of the camera has an on/off switch for the flash. It takes only a few seconds for it to be up to speed and ready to go. This is a film camera, so there’s no LCD screen for chimping your shots once you’ve taken them. Once you hit the shutter button, it’s going to be a few days before you see what you’ve taken. I already told you I’m impatient, so this is a feature that I’m going to have to get used to all over again after having nothing but digital cameras for the past 10 years.

One drawback to the camera is the fact that once you wind the film forward, accidentally pressing the shutter button seems like it would be very easy to do. If you put the camera in a backpack or purse, you are definitely going to have a shot of the lens cover when you go to develop your film. To remedy that situation, get in to the habit of taking the shot and NOT winding the film forward until you are ready to take another shot.

I carried the camera with me for 2 days in order to take the first roll of film. The best thing I can tell you is that I’ve learned a lot about the camera after just 1 roll of film. For example:

  • Shots with the flash taken up close tend to blow out the subject (see shots 1-3 below)
  • Shots taken inside without the flash tend to turn out really dark (see shots 11-12)
  • Shots taken outside in daylight look great! (see shots 22-27)

To sum it up, the fisheye lens camera has no chance of becoming my everyday camera. But, I can definitely see carrying it along to take some “flavor” shots while out and about. I’m quite pleased with the camera and can’t wait to start shooting roll number 2.

As a secondary incentive for purchasing the camera, I’m also entering the $50 Film Camera contest over at EpicEdits.com. Wish me luck!

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What is Lomography?

September 3, 2008

One of the designers at my office is in to all sorts of quirky types of art. I think as a designer, that’s about par for the course, right? He knows that I have been getting in to photography quite a bit lately so he started telling me about something called Lomography. No, I’m not making that word up, if that’s what you are wondering. I won’t bog you down with a technical explanation of it here. I’ll leave that to Wikipedia. But basically, Lomography is the practice of taking casual snapshots that have over-saturated colors, off-kilter exposures, blurring and (my favorite term) “happy accidents.” One of the characteristics of lomo-photos, displayed in the photo to the left, is called “Vignetting”. This is where the edges of the photo have a dark ring almost giving it the look like you’ve shot it through a tube. It gives the photos such a cool look. These photos aren’t meant to be overly serious. It’s more about having fun and capturing slices of your day to day life. That doesn’t mean the results can’t be visually stunning (again, like the shot on the left.)

As luck would have it, and timing being what it is, I received a paypal payment notice via email at the exact same time I was checking out B&H Photos. I always consider the money in my paypal account to be my “Fun Money” and I try not to spend it on anything important. This Lomography Fisheye (170-degree lens) fixed focus 35mm camera seemed like a perfect thing to spend my fun money on. At only $39.95, I sorta felt like I was getting away with something. But, I had to take in to account that this camera is NOT digital and would require me to purchase film (standard 35mm film) and then have the photos processed once I take the shots. At least the camera was inexpensive, right? I’ll just keep telling myself that.

After I placed my order, I spent the next 3 hours checking out the LOMO group on flickr. That’s when I realized that I may need more than 1 Lomo camera. I haven’t even received my first one in the mail yet and I’m ready to purchase 2 more. One is called the “Action Sampler” and it has 4 lenses. Each time you take a shot, it fires 4 individual shots all on to the same negative.This will give a result that looks something like this shot. Another steal at only $30.00. The second camera is called the “ColorSplash“. It has 12 color gels that go over the flash. This can produce results like this yellow gulls shot. This camera is a little more pricey at $75.00. But still, it seems like so much fun, I must have it!!!

Once my camera shows up I’ll rush out and shoot a roll or two of film and get the results uploaded shortly thereafter. I can’t wait.

Do you have a Lomo camera? Leave me a comment with a link to some shots you’ve taken and let me know what kind of Lomo you have.

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