Lomography and the London Underground

I spent Wednesday and Thursday last week working in London, although the rain made it difficult to be productive I did get the job done. After work on Wednesday I stayed the night at my brother in law's flat in Kilburn. I slept well but woke up early at 5.30 am on Thursday. My working day wasn't due to start until 10.30, so I had time to kill. I had breakfast, showered and watched the TV but by 6.30 I was getting stir crazy, so I got a train back into central London and looked for photographs.

At 9.30 am I was in Liverpool Street station when I remembered that I'd read that the Lomography Gallery were once again selling 110 film, this is a significant event. The film has been not been available for many years and although I have a dozen cassettes in the freezer, I decided to do the 20 minute journey and head west and buy a roll of film.

Every visit to London is inspirational, whether it's something I see or hear, the place always leaves its mark. So I share with you a short journey from Liverpool Street to Soho.

Cameras to avoid - Number 1, the Cosmic 35

The Cosmic 35, and it's alias the Smena should be avoided at all costs.
Sadly I've never taken my own advice, and lured by the cheap prices I've owned several of these beasts. You see - they used to be sold cheaply via large adverts in weekend newspapers, they must have sold in big numbers, but isn't it strange that during the 70's and 80's you never saw them being used!

Cosmic 35 used for glamour photography

When you see them for sale at the same price as a regular latte they do look to be a bargain, but in fact they're a total waste of time and money and you'd be better off with a latte.

The first one I bought wouldn't re-wind the film. The second wouldn't count the exposures. The third one, the film advance jammed up on the first film.

When they work, they're hard work. The aperture ring is deep inside the lens, almost touching the front element and it's a nightmare to adjust. Whilst it's possible to get your fingers inside the lens to turn the aperture ring, it's impossible to see the apertures at the same time!

The only positive point I can make for the Cosmic 35 is that it has a damn good viewfinder. You've been warned.

CODEG a Diana Camera Clone

Hello to everyone - wherever you are!
It's St. George's Day here in England, a great day to kick off this new blog.

Suffolk coast - From a Diana clone, CODEG camera

Let me introduce you to the Diana clone.

This particular one is a CODEG, number 151, made in Hong Kong. However, there are dozens of other brands from ACME to Zodiac. These Diana cameras were re-badged and given given away as promotional gifts by companies like Readers Digest and Avis cars, some were branded by shops and sold under thier own name. All Diana's and her clones are very similar and they're usually very good cameras.

These cameras take 120 film and you get 16 photographs from a roll. A nice touch is that the negative is square and measures 425mm x 425mm. I don't know if this was an intentional design feature but by not exposing the edge of the negative there's no vignetting (dark corners), that you get on some toy cameras. Also the image isn't central on the negative, quirky eh!

Negative showing edge fog

Except for the shutter and the control levers, everything on this camera including the lens and viewfinder is honest plastic. The controls are:
Aperture - sunny, sun with cloud and cloudy.
Focusing - 4-6 ft, 6-12 ft, 12ft to infinity.
Shutter - B and I.
Other features, err no!

I've used my CODEG on three outings, sticking with Kodak Ektar film each time, the results have been consistantly to my liking. I set the exposure to suit the weather, the distance is left on 6-12ft and the shutter on I and that's it.

I discovered after my first roll of film that you have to take care loading the film, make sure it's nice and snug on the spool otherwise it becomes slack and you get edge fogging. Having said that, because the image is away from the edge of the film the fogging is minimal.

The lens on my camera is very nice. Unique, low image contrast and full of charm.

To sum up, I'd say the Diana and her clones are very elegant cameras allowing you to concentrate on the picture. After you've seen the results from a couple of rolls of film you'll get a feeling for what works and what doesn't, when to use it and when to go home.

Don't forget to wind on after each shot!