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Gotta Love The Lomo

Sep 9, 2008 by Udi Tirosh Leave a Comment

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Lomo Action SamplerI 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  Nikon D300  Lomo Action Sampler
Buy At Amazon
Buy at Amazon
Buy at Amazon
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:

My Lomo Action Sampler

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Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: Lomo, Photo Gear

About Udi Tirosh

Udi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

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