Photo Mojo

At times my camera collection has approached the double digits in number. Whether or not all of the cameras are functional at any given moment is debatable, but the fact remains that, leading the nomadic life of a college student, every few months I pack a sizable box full of bodies and lenses before moving to my next location. Whichever refrigerator houses my meals for the season also suffers a door stuffed with film. Though my collection has its staples—a DSLR, a fully-manual 35mm SLR, a Polaroid, a point-and-shoot digital for videos—its growth has Lomography.com to blame.

First came the fisheye, at $30—a great cheap thrill for someone who can’t afford a real fish-eye lens for a DSLR. The body and lens, like most cameras sold by Lomography, are made of plastic. Though exposure and color saturation is ideal with outdoor shots, the fisheye has a flash to accommodate indoor shots as well.

The most recent addition to my collection? The Action Sampler.

If you’re considering one of these, I highly recommend throwing a bit more money at the version with a flash. You might also consider the Supersampler, which shoots frames in a more linear fashion, and allows a little more room for action (compare with above image, whose frames move counter-clockwise from top left).

What’s so easy about expanding a camera collection with lomographic cameras are the cheap prices and wacky results. In addition to plastic toy cameras, you can also find great hand-crafted pinholes, Russian swing-lens panoramics, medium format TLRs, and—this is what really gets me—a DIY large format kit. Elsewhere, a large format camera (that is, a camera that shoots incredibly detailed negatives that measure 4×5 inches, or sometimes even 8×10) can go for nearly $2000, sometimes more if it’s antique. At the Lomography shop, it’ll only set you back $325.

I’d encourage any photographer, however married to the digital age, to check out Lomography’s inventory. See if there isn’t a cheap little something that’ll make you fall in love with film all over again.