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A tale of two cameras
2007.05.27
Shot two test rolls to check whether the cameras were working, as I'd got them off ebay recently. Had to wait to get batteries (both use Italic Textthe same batteries by the way SR44s). Wasn't really trying to compose as much as point and shoot if you ken what I mean?
The first eight were shot using an Olympus XA2.
The others using an original Lomo LC-A from Russia. Both cameras are at least thirty years old if not older.
You can see the difference immediately as the Lomo shots have their trademark vignetting in the corners ...
The Olympus XA2 has only two settings, one for the ISO, and the other for distance (landscape, midrange, and closeup). Every single shot came out perfectly exposed and razor sharp, without any further work. Colors in the actual prints were deeply saturated (film ... Fuji Superia 200), and the first shot done while riding the bicyle shows that it can hold focus and maybe even potentially do some panning shots etc. The light was close to twilight mellow and has been perfectly captured by this camera. Amazing ...
I had to work a bit to get the Lomo LC-A working. Luckily I'd bought two together, and was able to swap a couple of parts around, clean the oxidized contacts, jiggle some wires etc ... but in the end, the vignetting, the slight distortions on the close shots, the inexplicable softening on some others, the knack of giving an almost added dimension to certain colors, the rough almost tarry or machine oil kind of smell as you hold it up to your eye ... this is a camera with a soul to it and it's difficult to describe how much fun it turned out to be ... oh by the way this one lets you set aperture, distance, and ISO so it's got one extra setting over the Olympus XA2.
Now to fix the other Lomo LC-A. Right now it's band-aided together with some stickies but should still work a charm. This one has the ISO numbers right. The one above has some weird numbers 16 30 60 125 and 250 ... no I'm not kidding :)
Oh by the way I love the way this blog spell checks as we type ...
Two russian classics together on the same page at last :)
The first eight were shot using an Olympus XA2.
The others using an original Lomo LC-A from Russia. Both cameras are at least thirty years old if not older.
You can see the difference immediately as the Lomo shots have their trademark vignetting in the corners ...
The Olympus XA2 has only two settings, one for the ISO, and the other for distance (landscape, midrange, and closeup). Every single shot came out perfectly exposed and razor sharp, without any further work. Colors in the actual prints were deeply saturated (film ... Fuji Superia 200), and the first shot done while riding the bicyle shows that it can hold focus and maybe even potentially do some panning shots etc. The light was close to twilight mellow and has been perfectly captured by this camera. Amazing ...
I had to work a bit to get the Lomo LC-A working. Luckily I'd bought two together, and was able to swap a couple of parts around, clean the oxidized contacts, jiggle some wires etc ... but in the end, the vignetting, the slight distortions on the close shots, the inexplicable softening on some others, the knack of giving an almost added dimension to certain colors, the rough almost tarry or machine oil kind of smell as you hold it up to your eye ... this is a camera with a soul to it and it's difficult to describe how much fun it turned out to be ... oh by the way this one lets you set aperture, distance, and ISO so it's got one extra setting over the Olympus XA2.
Now to fix the other Lomo LC-A. Right now it's band-aided together with some stickies but should still work a charm. This one has the ISO numbers right. The one above has some weird numbers 16 30 60 125 and 250 ... no I'm not kidding :)
Oh by the way I love the way this blog spell checks as we type ...
Two russian classics together on the same page at last :)
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