I really like the Lomo Action Sampler. I shoot digital today, but there is a warm spot in my heart kept for the Action sampler. I’ve been wanting to write an Action Sampler post for a long time now, and the 50$ camera project initiated by Brian Auer from Epic Edits, just gave me enough of a kick to go and make this post. (Brian was also so kind and asked me to be one of the judges along with the excellent Jim Talkinton).
One of the major reasons why I love the Lomo Action
Sampler (LAS), is its absolute lack of control. It drives your mind to
totally different districts that my usual strobe lighted photography.
The Lomo Action Sampler lacks any type of control, no focus, no exposure settings and no real control over framing. Even the exact time of the exposure is vague as the camera takes 4 different images at a small interval. I found this lack of control actually enables me to look for an artistic say in a different way then I would normally do with an SLR. I went about looking for stuff that would be fun to capture, and had a strong weird attraction to bicycles. I shot with out composing to hard. I could do this since the camera allowed me to change my expectation from the results. It’s Fuzzy? OK; Weirdly composed? Great; Tilted? Magnificent! Subject is cut half way through? Bring it on!
Since this is a technical review as well, (and not just me poaring my artsy emotions on ya all) I decided to go DPReview on this one and compare it side by side with my candidate for next body: the Nikon D300. (Hint: Left column is boring real facts on the Nikon D300m; Right column is real time experience with the Lomo Action Sampler)
| Camera | Nikon D300 | Lomo Action Sampler |
| Image |  |
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| Buy At Amazon |
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| Format | SLR | Format, you make me laugh, I make my own format. |
| Price | $1620.63 | $24.95 |
| Max resolution | 4288 x 2848 | No limits other then your creativity (divided by four) |
| Low resolution | 3216 x 2136, 2144 x 1424 | Always |
| Image ratio w:h | 3:2 | 3:2 (quadruple) |
| Effective pixels | 12.3 million | Pixels? |
| Sensor size | 23.6 x 15.8 mm (3.72 cm²) | Good old 35 millimeters |
| Sensor type | CMOS | Dynamic sensor – depending on creativity and refrigerator of photographer |
| Sensor manufacturer | Sony | Kodak, Fuji, Ilford, Agfa and some others |
| ISO rating | 200 – 3200 | 6–3200 |
| Zoom wide (W) –> (T) | depending on lens | Zoom? Got legs? You don’t need to zoom! |
| Image stabilization | No | Hands, Rocks, Walls. what ever is around |
| Auto Focus | Yes | I could not find a manual focus ring, so I guess it is autofocus |
| Manual Focus | Yes | It did not beep on a half press, so it could also be manual |
| Auto focus type | Nikon Multi-CAM3500 DX | Lomo AlwaysFuzzy ™ / HumanEye |
| Normal focus range | The closer, the better | |
| White balance override | 6 positions, plus manual preset and Kelvin | Mostly daylight balanced. actually, it really works best in daylight |
| shutter (Min –> Max) | 1/8000 –> 30 | 1/4 |
| Built in Flash | Yap | nope |
| Metering | 3D Matrix metering II, Center weighted, Spot | State of the art fixed metering and exposure settings |
| Focal length multiplier | x1.5 | x4 |
| Continuous Drive | Yes, 6 fps, 100 JPEG | 4 FPS |
| Timelapse recording | Always!! | |
| Storage types | Compact Flash (Type I or II) | Good old negatives |
| Storage included | Nope | 2 rolls of film |
| Quality Levels | Fine, Normal, Basic | Quality is in the eye of the observer |
| Viewfinder | Optical (Pentaprism) | Optical – two weird square thingies |
| LCD | 3.0 “ | No, but finish is reflective and can be used as a mirror |
| Video out | Available here under “animate” |
And here is an entire roll of film taken with the Lomo Action Sampler on a particular hot and steamy Friday. I used a Fuji NPC160 – my favorite color film.
So sit back, turn your fuzzy mode on and enjoy the show (or check out the set here):
This is an actual picture of my Lomo Action Sampler:
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