First of all, the whole “lomography” fad is a complete rip-off. They charge absolutely outrageous prices for a crappy PLASTIC camera! Especially the Urban Oufitters website. I just can’t believe that place, and how gullible some people must be. They’ll pay $300 for a crappy plastic TLR, when they can get a REAL, all-metal vintage TLR, like the Yashica A, on eBay for less than $100!

What really concerns me though is that some people who just don’t know any better will confuse “lomography” with REAL film photography. They’ll think that ALL film cameras take blurry pictures with streaks and lines, etc. They won’t understand the difference between a lomography camera and a REAL film camera. I can take razor sharp pictures with my vintage 35mm SLR or rangefinder cameras. And the detail you can get with 120 roll film and a decent medium format camera is absolutely incredible. But if someone doesn’t know better and only uses crappy plastic lomography cameras, then they would never know that.

I’m already starting to see people get lomography confused with real film photography.

Good on ya!

the p-sharan is available elsewhere(freestyle carries it for one) for about 26 bucks(though i believe it retails for less in japan). it’s not the same as the dirkon, so not really fair to compare the prices in that way(the dirkon should be free anyway).

the holga 120PC(pinhole) is available elsewhere for about 32 bucks which is about what i paid for mine locally. i suspect the holga 135pc is available at the same prices too.

All this has been said before. That letter to Lomo Joe in St P? How old is that now? C’mon!

Look, I have bought stuff off the LSI and I enjoy my lomohome as part of the deal. I enjoy taking part in larger group events (missions, themes and projects) and I respect that they need to make some money off me in order to keep this community humming.

We all know that things can be bought cheaper elsewhere but what sort of a-hole are you if you really want to have your cake and eat it too? I buy things from LSI every once in a while and I see it as my support for the community they have built. I could have got it cheaper through an unknown e-bayer but I didn’t and LSI gets the difference.

At the end of the day, it’s a choice. If you don’t like it, close down your lomohome, get off their mailing list and go start a group called non-lomo or “I hate LSI” or something similar (it’s been tried!) and have a blast!

What you’ll soon find is that you miss the community. You’ll then find that building one takes time and effort, which, of course comes down to money, unless you want to and are able to do it part-time and on a shoe-string…

So, when you really want to get your new anti-lomo community growing, will you stop working to build it? Or will you start thinking about revenue streams that can support and maintain the growth?

Don’t see them as overpriced, don’t see it as supporting some group of guys in Vienna, see it as supporting a community of people who enjoy shooting film and sharing the results. If you don’t want to play, then don’t! That choice is yours. But if you do want to be part of it, stop bitching! Last time I checked, buying through LSI was still optional!

Exclent blog entry … I wonder if the good people at worldwide pinhole day know about this?

This has to be your best post ever!! Its caused a major storm amongst my local photography groups and those LOMO people.

The only good thing about LSI is that they have a knack of seducing people (back) into film-based photography and for that I’m willing to pat them on the back (albeit with clenched teeth). What I’m not happy about is the bullshit that surrounds their operation and the insane prices they charge.

The point was, to show the lack of knowledge typical of many lomographers about photography in general.

One example is the claim of one poster above that LSI democratized photography. Or that it liberated it. The only true event which did this, was, as quoted, the arrival of the Kodak. That little black box liberated photography and turned everyone who can press a button (or more accurately allowed) access to photography. The complicated cameras, heavy plates, subsequent developing which made photography formerly an exclusive turf of the professional and hardy hobbyist were done away with.

Like Pinhole photography, it appears that LSI or its followers are trying to usurp everything that has to do with film and cameras.

The second evidence of lomographers’ knowledge deficiency of course, is the fact that they will bite – hook, line, and sinker- at anything the LSI will toss at them.