Hasta La Gadget!

There was some uproar about the possibility of using unarmed drones over US soil to locate that cop turned killer fugitive, but maybe that’s because drones have a bad rap because of all of the bombs they’ve been known to drop. Now, engineers at FliteTest are trying to make a kinder, gentler drone, the kind that captures artsy images.

The Lomo-Copter is a remote-controlled tricopter, outfitted with a medium-format Diana F+ Lomography camera with an instant back and remote-triggering mechanism. This brings fuzzy, light-leaky, and vignette stylized imagery to secret spy footage.

The Lomo-Copter also has another camera mounted to the Lomo-cam’s viewfinder, which transmits real-time footage to the operator’s stylish goggles for first-person-view operation of the drone, so they can snap pictures remotely with the old-school analog camera. Here’s a comparison of the FPV goggles and a Lomo print:

So if you’re worried about drones flying over your neighborhood, don’t be because some of them are actually pretty nice, and they might just Instagram you some photos of your garden gnomes.

For the most part, film is dead and dying: we’re taking more photos than ever before, and an increasingly small percentage of them are taken with old-fashioned chemical film. But Lomography, the company behind toy film cameras like the Diana, is trying as hard as they can to keep film alive for a small number of people who love the process. And for some things, film is still significantly more cost effective than digital: medium format cameras produce photos with more detail than almost any DSLR can match. So Lomography’s introduced a new 6×12 medium format film camera that comes complete with a sweet retro bellows.  (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Impossible Project Instant Lab turns iPhone photos into instant film, Lomo launches Fisheye Baby 110 cameras that are small enough to fit in your pocket,

What’s there not to love about Lomography and their various low-fi cameras. Sure, your smartphone probably has nicer resolution, but the analog flavor of these little cameras is hard to beat, even with Instagram’s retro effect filters.

The new Diana Baby 110 is Lomography’s newest tiny camera. The miniscule camera fits in the palm of your hand and produces technically flawed photos that lomographers will adore. The camera is compatible with a wide-angle 12mm lens or a 24mm standard lens, which are made out of plastic, hopefully not the cheap kind.

The Diana Baby 110 uses 110 film that’s available in color or black and white directly from the Lomography website. The socket on top will accept a flash, if you’ve got a PC Flash Adapter. The camera sells for $49 (USD) from Lomography, but for $59 you’ll get the kit with both lenses.

[via NOTCOT]