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It might be handy to know something elementary about first-aid for homo sapiens, but it's vital for a Lomographer to have crucial information about how to keep their beloved photographic tool ticking. In this chapter we provide you with simple explanations and tips to help you look after your camera properly and to prevent simple mistakes. Remember; any attempted repair that is not mentioned in this text is at your own risk and is not covered under the warranty.
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After the Minitar 1's calculations were finished at the world famous GO1-institute by Mr. Tarabukin (the "tar" in Minitar stands for the first three letters of his name) and Ms. Zhukova, they were transferred to the LOMO PLC in order to produce the first prototype pieces.
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There are two main reasons why a lens like the Minitar 1 yields its supernatural saturated colours. First is the high-quality of the Russian glass used and second, the complex coating of the lens.
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The famous vignette of the LOMO LC-A's images was in fact seen as a flaw in the beginnings of its production. The Russian engineers have tried to get rid of it for years, but thankfully, never succeeded. See, because of the handy little size of the LOMO LC-A, the distance between the lens and the film can only be very small.
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Blurred, shaken and definitely stirred Lomographs are usually enough to satisfy your hunger, but sometimes even the most hardboiled Lomographers have the urgent need for a crisp and clear long-exposed shot. If this sounds like you, then there are two possible options.
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To serve all Lomographers' needs, the ISO capability of the LOMO LC-A+ reach up to 1600. The range of ISO settings gives your bags of freedom for over or underexposing (often recommended when you do multiple exposures) your shots and are generally a great tool for experimenting with different types of films and exposures.
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The multiple exposure feature comes straight from the hearts and minds of the worldwide Lomographic community; it involves exposing the same single frame more than once.
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With the automatic exposure feature you're always good to go in any light conditions. Nevertheless, the LOMO LC-A+ gives you ever more scope as it's equipped with a flash hotshoe that takes any standard flash.
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Contrary to most other cameras and high-tech autofocus models, the LC-A+ allows you to adjust your distance setting in a split second, instead of waiting forever for the autofocus of a digital model to get your desired sharpness.
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With its automatic exposure setting, the LOMO LC-A+ selects the aperture and exposure time automatically. The small light meter on the top right of the camera measures the outside light, then the corresponding shutter speed and aperture combination is selected; for indoor and outdoor shots, day, night, anytime.
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The Minitar 1 Lens is at the very heart of both the LOMO LC-A and the LOMO LC-A+ camera. It remains unchanged since 1984 and is made to the exact specifications of the Russian State of Optics(GOI) and the experts at LOMO PLC.
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You think you know your beloved LC-A, inside and out?
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The LOMO LC-A + however is a nearly exact copy of the original LOMO LC-A (which itself is a copy of a copy of a copy as you know) and nowadays stands at the top of a very long history of analogue 35mm compact cameras.
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But not all companies hopped onto the newly invented Autofocus-cameras bandwagon, instead choosing to concentrate on pushing the concept of mechanical ultra-compact cameras to unknown heights.
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The Ronica CF35 AF hit the market in 1977 and was the first mass-marketed camera that featured sensors that automatically adjusted to the correct focus. Thus autofocus was invented. This function, which made photography a lot easier (but also a bit more restricted) and pushed the concept of `point and shoot' cameras to new levels, quickly gained large popularity amongst the public.
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Between 1963 and 1970, an incredible 50 million cameras were produced. Certainly, many competitors released similar or more advanced versions (Canon, Olympus, Minolta, Rollei and Ricoh). However, it was still good-old Kodak who once again dominated the market for easy and inexpensive photography with simple and compact cameras during this era.
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The Olympus Pen series used several tricks to avoid this problem. By using a complex series of internal prisms rather than a pentaprism and a half-frame format (meaning that you could take up to 72 shots on a roll of 35mm film) that also allowed the use of smaller lenses, the Pen was one of the smallest SLR-cameras ever and stands at the beginning of the success story of Olympus as a manufacturer of small innovative cameras.
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As the Germans were trying to top each other with annual new inventions in the 1930s, foreign markets kicked into gear. So it was in 1930, our friends at LOMO PLC in Russia were producing their first camera, the FOTOKOR. But this camera was still quite a big hunk of metal and couldn't be considered a compact camera.
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Kodak well and truly announced its active presence on the German market. The Brownie had immense success there before US products disappeared from Germany during the First World War. During this time, German producers decided to develop and promote their own products and seriously combat the models from overseas.
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The first compact Kodak camera is considered to be the Kodak No. 1 of 1888, which used roll film. At first this film was still based on paper, but with later Kodak models was replaced by the use of a celluloid base. Consisting mainly of a rectangular wooden box, the No. I didn't have a viewfinder and therefore necessarily required "shooting from the hip" a technique well known and promoted by we Lomographers nowadays.
