Lomography, the camera company, has released many cameras in the past that have defied how photography should look like. The company’s products have typically allowed for creation of photographs with weird colors and effects which is a departure from how photographers usually prefer to take their photos and where they strive for color balance, sharpness, and etc. Now for those who own Micro Four Thirds cameras, you might be interested to learn that Lomography has announced an “Experimental Lens Kit” for your cameras which will bring about the same weird colors and effects to your photographs, although the main difference here we guess would be how your camera actually processes it.
The lens kit includes a 24mm standard lens, a 12mm f/8.0 wide-angle lens, and a fisheye lens with an aperture of f/8.0 as well. Each lens will come with a built-in shutter speed of 1/100sec and Bulb which will allow for multiple exposures, and a T-mode that will hold the shutter open for a normal live view. For those who wish to experiment with colors and effects further, each lens will have a slot that will accommodate color gel filters. The entire lens kits will set you back 79 GBP, although we suspect that this lens kit will probably not be for everyone, but could be worth checking out if you wish to try a bit of experimental photography.
If you like the look of tilt-shift and low-fidelity images, you should probably have a camera that looks the part. I’ve been playing around with one particular camera that fits both bills – creative lo-fi images and retro style.
The Bonzart Ampel Dual Lens camera is an unusual little camera that looks like an old-school twin-lens reflex camera, but in this case, each lens is being used to feed a five-megapixel digital image sensor. The top lens offers normal images, while the lower lens offers an optical tilt-shift effect.
The camera even has a clever pop open viewfinder like old cameras, which conceals a small 2″ LCD screen inside. This top-down position for viewing images while shooting takes a little getting used to, but is actually kind of fun once you do. As an added bonus, the pop-up sides around the viewfinder keep glare off of the LCD.
In terms of storage, the camera accepts standard SD memory cards, and gets its power from three inexpensive AA batteries. Controls for switching between effect and shooting modes are located on side of the camera, while the shutter and lens select buttons are on front. Menu controls for changing resolution, exposure, date/time and other settings are located on back.
So how about image quality? Well, I won’t say that the Bonzart Ampel can compete with today’s better digital cameras, but that’s not what it’s designed for. It’s designed to allow photographers to explore their creativity in the capture of artful, lo-fi imagery – and it does that well. Check out some sample images I shot below:
Outdoors, Tilt-Shift Mode
As you can see, it performs quite well in daylight conditions, and the tilt-shift effect is spot on.
Outdoors, Tilt-Shift Mode
Without any focus controls at all, it even captures pretty impressive macro images, complete with unplanned depth of field effects.
Close-up Outdoors, Tilt-Shift Mode
Close-up, Indoors, Front-lit
Close-up, Indoors, Back-lit
Close-up, Indoors, Vivid Color Mode
The camera also offers digital effect modes for vivid color, black and white, sepia tone, and something called “REF”, which seems like a washed out Fuji film style. While you could achieve many of these effects in post-production with image editors, it’s kind of fun to see them in real time on the LCD, and without need to boot up Photoshop.
In addition to still imagery, the Bonzart Ampel can shoot video in resolutions from 320×240 up to 720×480 at 30fps. It also offers a 1280×720 HD mode, but the frame rate is extremely poor at that resolution. Suffice it to say, this isn’t really designed for HD videography. Still, it’s kind of neat to be able to shoot SD video through a tilt-shift lens.
One caveat with this camera is that it’s pretty much useless in low-light conditions. It captures great daylight images, but even in dimly-lit indoor rooms this is the sort of result I got, even when playing with the manual exposure controls:
For those of you who like to use Instagram, the camera also has a built-in 1:1 proportion mode, so you can capture ready-cropped images for upload to the service (or for square picture frames).
Overall, this quirky little camera really grew on me, and I think it’s a fun addition to any photographer’s bag of tricks. If you keep in mind that it’s designed for creative imagery and not for precision, you’ll be much happier with the surprising and serendipitous results it produces.
The Bonzart Ampel Dual Lens camera is available from AC Gears for $180(USD).
Lomography, maker of your favorite retro plastic film cameras, is diving into the world of digital with a new package of three experimental lenses for micro four thirds mirrorless cameras. The photos look pretty incredible, even if they’re not exactly "high quality."
Photography has come a long way since its beginnings, but there are still some amazing things to be discovered by looking at how things worked back then. Inspired by the early days of photography, this lens has been re-engineered from one that was invented in the 19th century.
The team of Lomography have released their Petzval lens, which is supposed to replicate the lens that was originally invented by Joseph Petzval in Vienna, Austria, in 1840. It will work with Nikon F-mount and Canon EF-mount DSLRs.
The original Petzval lens was used to create beautiful portrait shots, and the new lens keeps the same strong color saturation, depth of field, bokeh elements, etc for which the lens was lauded.
Lomography launched their project as a Kickstarter campaign, and it’s been wildly successful so far. They’ve already amassed over $833,000 versus their goal of $100,000 – so this lens will definitely be made. There are 25 days left of funding, but you’ll have to pledge $400(USD) to get yours.
In 1840, Joseph Petzval invented an optical portrait lens, which for the rest of the century would be used to take loads of photos. Now, the retro-fanatics at Lomography have reengineered the lens from the ground up for today’s Canon and Nikon cameras. And the photos are incredible.
When it was invented in 1840, the Petzval lens revolutionized photography thanks to its f/3.6 aperture. It’s legendary for producing images with super sharp centers and unique backgrounds with a whirly bokeh — as such it’s particularly well suited for shooting portraits. Most Petzval lenses today are defective because of age and not optimized for modern cameras, so Lomography set out to reinvent the lens for the 21st century. The company just launched a Kickstarter campaign to bring the Petzval lens back for $300 — it’s teaming up with Zenit to manufacture high-quality lenses for analog and digital SLRs with Nikon F and Canon EF mounts. Lomography’s Petzval lens is made of brass, features a gear rack focusing mechanism and comes with a Waterhouse aperture set (f/2.2, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11 and f/16). Are you as intrigued as we are? Follow the source link below for the full campaign details.
It’s easy to build your own camera if you’re determined to capture images on the cheap; it’s another matter if you want something just slightly more refined. If that’s the case, Lomography has you covered with its new Konstruktor kit. The pack gives DIY types everything they need to build their own 35mm film SLR, including a removable 50mm f/10 lens and customizable panels. There’s no control over aperture or shutter speed, but Lomography’s retro-inclined crowd will like the quick toggle for long exposure shots. They’ll also like the $35 price — it’s possible to buy 100 Konstructors before matching the cost of just one EOS 5D Mark III. Should that kind of math be too much to resist, you’ll be glad to hear that the camera is already on sale at Lomography’s shop.
If there’s one thing that’s keeping traditional analog film still alive, it’s Lomography’s relentless pursuit to keep the medium alive with unique cameras that always seem to bring a new approach to film photography. And this time around it’s introducing the Konstruktor: a $35 build-it-yourself plastic camera that gives photographers a crash course on how their soul-stealing device really works.
Lomography’s Smartphone Film Scanner has reached that moment that every crowdfunding project strives for, but often seems elusive: everyday sales. The peripheral is now sitting in stock at an ordinary, post-Kickstarter $59 price. As you’d expect, the functionality remains what we were promised earlier in the year. Slot in an iPhone, or certain Android smartphones, and scanning 35mm film or a slide is just a matter of lining things up and snapping a photo with the phone’s camera. Anyone who’s sitting on a treasure trove of old photos — or is just holding on to that film SLR for dear life — can shop for the scanner at the source link.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
Lomography, the camera company, has released many cameras in the past that have defied how photography should look like. The company’s products have typically allowed for creation of photographs with weird colors and effects which is a departure from how photographers usually prefer to take their photos and where they strive for color balance, sharpness, and etc. Now for those who own Micro Four Thirds cameras, you might be interested to learn that Lomography has announced an “Experimental Lens Kit” for your cameras which will bring about the same weird colors and effects to your photographs, although the main difference here we guess would be how your camera actually processes it.
