I almost didn’t write this review. But a little over a year ago, I bought a special edition of the Lomography Lomomatic 110 camera. There was no press or influencer discount — I bought it outright. It genuinely was one of the most beautiful cameras I’ve used in the past few years and it filled me with a bit of excitement that quickly subsided. It subsided so much in fact that I ended up giving the camera away. Just recently, I got the images back from developing. The Lomomatic 110 is capable of delivering an organic looking image unlike anything else around right now. When I say it made photos that made NY look like it was from over 30 years ago, I’m not kidding about that. And while it’s one of the more unique experiences in photography, I just don’t think that it’s worth the purchase if you’re experienced — and there’s very good reasons for that.
If you know anything about Lomography, then you know that their products come with quirks. And the Lomomatic 110 had tons of quirks — but that’s also part of the charm in how it works. It requires a battery to work the light meter and there’s also a flash that can be mounted onto the side of the camera. You elongate the camera, shoot, and then collapse it fully and reopen it to advance the film. It’s a very fun and tactile experience but it gets kind of annoying after a while. And when you have to get through an entire roll of film, you start to lose will.
Perhaps more than anything, I liked carrying it around because it just looked so stunning. I’m not even kidding you when I say that even looking at my images of the camera make me feel like putting on a retro Bulova watch and enjoying a bit of an ode to history and funner times. But then the truth sets in.
When you’re done, you still need to develop your film. Few places develop 110 film easily unless they’re a specialty lab. The Phoblographer had it done by Blue Moon Camera — and we always recommend them over anyone else.
At the same time, I wonder why companies haven’t tried to make a digital variant of this camera.
I think the 110 format is very fun — in fact, it’s the closest thing to digital Four Thirds formats. Most of all, the film format is capable of giving me images that look like a genuinely old-school NY as long as you’re really being conscious of the scenes you’re photographing.
But in the end, my friend didn’t end up using this camera more than once. And I think the problem there is inherently in how it’s used less so than the format and the fact that it’s film. If I had en advance lever on the camera, I’d probably be happier as long as it didn’t jam. Often, the Lomomatic 110 seemed to jam on me. And the truth is that I don’t want to deal with that. Why spend the money on this when I can probably get a Pentax 110 that won’t jam on me instead?
The Lomomatic 110 is a very fun camera that’s beautiful to look at, and can be very fun. But for $159, I can find so many other things well worth spending my money on — like film and development.
