Lomography

More articles by the same author

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  Vilia image from "thecamerasite.net":http://www.thecamerasite.net/07_Viewfinder_Cameras/Pages/smena.htm

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  Smena 8M The Smena 8M is a b-e-a-utiful piece of Russian deadstock. With a contrasty and saturated lens, dead-easy manual controls, and a look that says, “I AM RUSSIAN, I AM AWESOME” – with a fleeting glance at the bottom of the lens barrel – “I WAS MADE IN THE USSR!”, this babe is a hot one, but she’s pretty useful as well. The Smena can be used in two ways. Just as the manual illustrates, you can set it up in what I call my “snapshot mode” where the aperture is 16, the shutter corresponds to those little diagrams, and the depth of field is set perfectly so I have everywhere from one meter to infinity in crystal clear, saturated, contrasty view. However, with a fiddle of the aperture, and an attitude that says, “Screw you, little diagrams, I can take the REAL numbers!” –heck, I just peer aside the camera and there they are – the Smena has a whole new, creative potential. And of course, with its dead simplicity, the Smena is easily modifiable with awesome behind the lens “masks”, the sensational lens is PERFECT for x-pro, and a “re-cockable” shutter makes for insane multiple exposures.

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  The Zenit E The very best thing about the Zenit E can be summed up in one word – Versatility – well, that or weight (and either way get your head out of the gutter boys). So it is heavy as heck, which is great for urban exploring as you can use it as a pretty bitchin weapon if the need arises. Aside from that it has all the bells and whistles, as much as any old Russian has bells and whistles. Aperture setting, B setting, shutter speed, manual focus but the best thing is that the SLR lets you look at your picture as you take it, like a 1970s digital almost, what you see is what you are gonna get, except in 1-2 weeks instead of 1-2 seconds, anyways I digress. As you can see with my gallery this allows you to get the macro distance correct every time for sharp close-ups, oh thank the lord! Works well with black and white, slide, redscale, or just your standard color 35mm. You can also work it for a crisp overall look or get super wacky field of vision with the blurry back and the sharp central image. You can even go ahead and throw on the Holga filters for fun, do what you do, the Zenit E allows you.