JPG Magazine: Stories: Feature Story: Feeling Lomo with Digital Cameras

Feature Story

Feeling Lomo with Digital Cameras

By Ta King

13 March 2008

My objective is to dissect the lomo rules to pinpoint what actually makes lomo style images. I will then go on to analyse the findings and see if I can come up with a list of features that will help creating the lomo feel. I will make some attempts to match them up with some cameras and will be doing some testing. Finally I am hoping to be able to list out some guidelines of what to look for in a digital camera to take lomo style pictures.

Lomo Rules Explained and Analysed

01. Take your camera everywhere

Imagine a small camera in your hand in your pocket with your index finger ready at the shutter button.

To take this rule further, the camera in question must be small, handy and definitely not any DSLR with interchangeable lenses or the DSLR-like type. Think pocket size camera, one you can shoot with one hand.

02. Use it anytime, day or night

Basically, just take snapshots of everything all the time like films are free or grow on trees. This rule distinguishes lomo pictures from most of the conventional pictures. You get asked what you were taking picture of and why! You answered and people still didn't understand why you took them. Some objects you took or some moments you captured were of nice ones but others were not so nice and you have a reputation of being someone who 'takes pictures of everything'. Toilet and self shadow shots are a must for most lomographers.

03. Lomography is not an interference in your life, but a part of it

Imagine having a camera as a part of your body, or extended memory. You eat when you're hungry, drink when you're thirsty, scratch when you itch and walk when you want to get somewhere. You go to the loo when you need to, feel warm when you think of someone dear to you and click when you see something you want to remember. It's that simple, so natural.

04. Try the shot from the hip

The idea is that you don't need to use the view finder. There are a few implications by not using the view finder instead shooting from the hip or from over your head or from anywhere. First of all, you don't have to worry about the composition, well, you can't and you get pictures from interesting angles. This, I believe, gives the lomo pictures something special about them. There are these words that came into mind while I was writing this, bold, raw, fun, strange or even weird. Some pictures you would never take as they were if you saw them through the view finder or LCD panel just before you pressed the button You would just move your camera a little bit to the right to avoid a bit of that thing in the left hand corner, or angle your camera up a little bit to get the top of that lamp post. You also tend to take a few of the candid type shots by not looking through the view finder because no one would notice that you are shooting. That aside, you get the excitement of not knowing how your pictures will come out exactly, a bit like shooting with films, especially if your camera doesn't have an LCD display which is quite rare these days. If that is the case you will have to wait until you transfer your pictures onto your computer which is like waiting for your films to be developed.

05. Approach the objects of your Lomographic desire as close as possible.

Smile as you go...well...you will have to especially if the object of your lomographic desires is a huge person who does not know you. Yes, you will get some up-close and personal and interesting expressions. Animals are interesting to get close up shots too providing that they don't eat your camera. What you do is to just stick your camera right in front of your object as close as you feel like and click.

06. Don't think (William Firebrace)

Just snap away, shoot everything that crosses your path, and don't even think about it.

07. Be fast

Don't waste time to do any camera settings, light measuring etc. You'll lose your moments.

08. You don't have to know beforehand what you captured on film 09. Afterwards either

You don't have to know who, what or where you captured on your camera beforehand and when you look at the pictures afterward you might not remember anything about them but don't worry about it, you don't have to know, just enjoy them.

10. Don't worry about any rules.

Forget all the rules, just shoot. You can even make up your own rules.

Features in a digital camera

Small, compact, non-intimidated looking, pocket size camera, one that is easy to use and can be operated with one hand.

With or without flash. If with flash, it's better to have one with flash off as a default setting.

With a view finder (no LCD) or no view finder with a tiny LCD. If there's an LCD try not to use it to view what you captured because if you do you WILL delete the ones you don't think are good and you'll lose your moments.

No optical zoom. Digital zoom is ok as you won't be using it.

Take AA or AAA batteries as they are convenient and easy to buy anywhere so you don't need to carry another charger everywhere.

With external memory card slot so you can shoot to your hearts content and with proper card readers you don't need to install cameras on your computers.

4MP or lower. If higher select lower option otherwise the process for each shot will take too long. I'd suggest at least 1.3MP in case you want to print some pictures out.

Mobile phones are likely candidates too I suppose, but mine uses up batteries so fast, I can only make three phone calls and I'll need to recharge it.

Where to find the cameras

The best place to look for the cameras of sorts is eBay. Depending where you are, for me I would go to ebay.co.uk. Under Categories I'd go to Photography and Digital cameras under that. Under the 'Search Options' | Item Prices I'd put in minimum 1 GBP and maximum 20 GBP and have a look through the list. You'll get some ideas of the cameras I was talking about. Personally I am not interested in mainstream cameras as they are to me, too perfect in terms of image qualities. I would go for cheap, cheerful non-branded cameras and hope for some 'unique characteristic' that can only come from the imperfection.

Once you've found a camera of interest, you can search for sample images from that camera from web sites such as:

http://www.flickr.com/cameras/

http://www.pbase.com/cameras

http://www.photographyreview.com/samplephotoscrx.aspx

See if there's any one with character that takes your fancy. Next step is to try to get hold of that camera. I usually bought mine from eBay as these 'lo fi', 'low spec' cameras are normally discontinued and the likely places to find them are eBay or secondhand markets.

Post processing

Lomographers, by this I mean people who use lomo cameras with films, don't do heavy post processing on their pictures after they scanned the negatives. Most of my lomographic friends said they did some basic things like adjusting curves and levels, only one or two saturated the colors. Others use cloning tool to get rid of dust or scratches. Taking pictures with film is a novelty in itself so they tend to leave the images pretty much alone. The characteristics of the camera i.e. vignettes, light leaks etc, are their prides and joys as they give each image the uniqueness. That uniqueness has been cleverly deployed (or exploited....whichever way you want to look at it) by people like LSI(Lomographic Society International). They make you feel belonged, accepted, united...etc...They make you (myself included) willingly spend a lot of money with them. I am pleased to say that I am over it now. I still like the effect of the lomo cameras especially the LC-A's which I still own one. I like the vignettes and all the rest but I don't feel now that I need any approval or endorsement. I can enjoy the same feeling of snapping away lomo style with my digital cameras. I have grown to like the pictures I took from these little cameras without having to add any vignettes or push up the colors or use one of the Photoshop actions to 'make digital pictures look lomo' anymore. I feel free, liberated plus it's cheaper! Have a go, you might enjoy it too.

Some sample cameras (cameras that I used)

Pretec DC530 a 0.3 MP plastic camera with focus-free lens with a CF card slot, a view finder but no LCD panel and no optical zoom that uses 2xAA batteries.

1.3 Mega Pixels Digital Camera a little no-brand camera no optical zoom, no view finder but with 1.1" lcd display and an SD card slot that uses 2xAAA batteries.

Packard Bell DSC-400 a 4MP camera without optical zoom, with a view finder and 1.6" lcd display, an SD card slot that uses 2xAA batteries.

Out of the three cameras, the Pretec one was the most enjoyable to use and gave the best 'lomo moments'. Having no LCD, you just point and shoot and forget about the images until you download them onto your computer. The draw back is if you want to print any of them out, you wouldn't get anything decent larger than a passport size pictures.

The 1.3 Mega Pixels one snuggled nicely in the hand. The flash was 'off' as a default. There's no viewfinder but the tiny lcd is a good replacement. At 1.1" it's only good for guess work which was perfect for the job. It gives reasonable 4x6 prints. This is my camera of choice for this project.

The Packard Bell is a very good performance little camera but every time you switched it on, there were four clicks to disable the flash and 2 more to switch off the lcd.

Please note: All pictures in this article were taken with the Packard Bell, as for the other cameras the resolutions are too low. I hope the idea would be of interest to quite a few people out there. I would appreciate some feedback. Thank you

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