How Do I Take Better Flash Photos With The Lomo'Instant?

The Lomo’Instant features a clever little built-in flash which is capable of illuminating your instant shots. Here are some tips for getting the very best possible flash photos:

  • When you are shooting on the 0.4m-0.9m focusing distance, the flash sensor calculates how strong it needs to flash to avoid overexposed photos. If you are shooting at this focusing distance, it’s best to have a clear path to your photographic subject. Since if you shoot a photo with 2 objects within the 0.4m-0.9m range, the flash will calculate its strength according to the closest object to you. When shooting at the 1m-Infinity focusing range, the flash will always shoot at its full power.
  • If you’d like to get a bit more creative with your flash photography, we recommend shooting with the Creative Mode (Flash On) and setting the shutter to B (long exposure) mode. This is especially useful when shooting in darker environments where you need to allow a bit more light into your shots. Using this mode, the flash will fire at the start of your exposure and then you should keep the shutter open for 1-2 seconds. This is also a fun technique when you are shooting with lights in the background, since then you will get light-streaked backgrounds in your photos.
  • If using the above method results in shots which are still a little underexposed, you can try holding the shutter open for a bit longer or by setting the exposure compensation dial to +1 to increase the exposure of the image further.

It is also important to note that like all cameras with a built-in flash, the flash on the Lomo’Instant is only able to illuminate subjects up to a certain distance. When shooting on the Auto mode, the effective flash distance will be approximately 1.4m-1.8m. If you would like to shoot objects more than 1.8m away, we recommend switching to the Creative Mode (Flash On) and adjusting the exposure compensation dial. Here is a table to help calculate what exposure compensation you need depending on your distance to your subject:

Flash Distance 2.8m – 3.5m = Use +2 Exposure Compensation (f/8 aperture)
Flash Distance 2.0m – 2.4m = Use +1 Exposure Compensation (f/11 aperture)
Flash Distance 1.4m – 1.8m = Use Auto Mode (Default Aperture f/16)
Flash Distance 1m – 1.3m = Use -1 Exposure Compensation (f/22 aperture)
Flash Distance 0.7m – 0.9m = Use -2 Exposure Compensation (f/32 aperture)

Find out all our tips, tricks and advice on the Lomo’Instant.

written on 2015-01-05 in #camera