Captured by Sam

Hey guys, this is Sam. Welcome to another episode of buying unnecessary camera toys to temporarily boost my low self-esteem. Today, we’re talking about the LOMO LC-A.

I’ve had this camera for over 10 years now but never used it. Why? I don’t know. Is this what we call “collecting?” Unlike all the black lantern figures my roommate collects that are still in sealed boxes, my collection of cameras is, at least, put to use… after 10 years.

I bought this camera at an absurdly high price, 2000 yen, that’s about $300, 10 years ago!! What was I thinking?!! That’s like buying the Contax T2 today. No offense to all the T2 owners; I’m secretly super jealous of you…

Anyway, you can find this camera on eBay for about $40-$100 now, depending on the condition. As I was doing research, I found out there are all sorts of different special editions of this camera, and one is obviously specifically made for the Moon Knight fans.

I’ve only shot one roll with this so far. I’m going to show you how this camera works first, and then we’ll see some sample photos.

HOW TO USE THE CAMERA

First, you need to put 3 S76 batteries at the bottom. Next to the battery, consider this the on and off switch; when the lens and the viewfinder are closed, the shutter won’t release.

Next, looking at the front, on one side, you have the aperture from 2.8f all the way to 16f, and you also have an auto mode. On the other side, you have a focus range, from 0.8 meters to infinity. This is very new to me; I have to pretty much guess where my focus point is. After I shot the roll, I realized there is a little needle at the very bottom of the viewfinder that indicates your focus distance; I mean, the whole viewfinder is so tiny and distorted. Another thing I did not notice is the LED light in the viewfinder; when you half-press the button, one light means you are good to go, if you see two lights, it means it might be too dark to handhold the camera. The shutter speed on this camera is 1/500s to 2 minutes; you can actually shoot long exposures with this thing, but who would do that?

Another mistake made when shooting with this camera is forgetting to set the film speed. There is a tiny little wheel next to the viewfinder where you set your film speed. I was shooting on Kodak 200, but half of the roll was shot at 50 speed. When I realized it, I set the speed to 100, since this film has expired about 10 years ago. No, we are definitely not done with the expired film yet!!

And on the top, you have your shutter, basic hot shoe mount, and film winder. You can see how many frames you have left here, and when you’re done, press this button in, and wind your film back like most other manual cameras. Easy peasy.

LIKE AND DISLIKE

My favorite thing about this camera is how tiny it is. It’s smaller than my iPhone; I can literally put this in my pocket, and I guess that’s what we call “a point and shoot.” It’s very low profile; it’s an everyday life, having fun with friends type of camera.

That’s it. This is the only thing I like about this camera. And I don’t like anything else about it.

First, it feels like a toy. The body is made of plastic; it is a cheap camera overall, nothing wrong with that. But listen to this… like WHAT??? Every time I press the shutter, I have a second guess; did the shot happen? It sounds like a toy; the shutter also has a plasticky resistance; it just doesn’t feel good pressing down on the shutter!!!

Second, I understand this is a very basic point and shoot, but me being a total control freak, I feel like there is very little I can control, and I don’t like guessing the shot.

The Lomo LC-A has the signature lomography look, high contrast, high saturation, and heavy vignetting. Personally, I’m not a big fan of vignettes; with other cameras, I would manually correct the vignette in editing. Overall, the images that come out of this camera are too rough for me. This is my only point and shoot camera for now, but I still don’t think I would use it often.

By the way, I am on the hunt for a point and shoot camera. If you have a recommendation, please leave a comment below. I would like to know which one is your favorite 35mm point and shoot film camera. Please don’t say Contax T2. Alright, this is Sam, I will see you next time. Bye.