Are some Lomography cameras scams?

[PtJudeRI]

I have been a lurker on this site as I have been fiddling with some large format photography fun. I also have a few "lomo" cameras, and I feel that this is just a tool that gets me excited about photography... I started out, as many did, with a nikon and a 50mm lens... Well that gave way to a N80, an F2, a few Mamiyas, etc. etc. etc.

But after a while, I found my cameras sitting on the shelf, as I ebbed and flowed with my hobbies, and they really wern't getting any use. Enter Lomography... while not new ideas, they were new to me, and they were fun, and sometimes experimental, and quirky and different from the multitude of cellphone and digi P&S shots I see on facebook 100 times a day. They caught my eye and got me shooting again.

As far as the price of the cameras, sure, they are getting a hefty markup, and I personally look at the Lomo website like I do Williams Sonoma. I go there for the ideas, and then I shop around and get what I need at a price I feel comfortable with. That said, I did buy one of the limited edition Diana kits because I really wanted it, and I think the Instax back is a LOAD of FUN! I get more questions on that damn plastic camera than I do with my Speed Graphic and AeroEktar lens....

 

[Stuggi]

Yep they are overpriced but so are Leicas and Hasselblads.

Oh, I don't know, I just paid the same for a Hasselblad 500C/M body in full working condition as what a LOMO LC-A+ costs at lomography.com And I have bought abouts 5 Smenas for 1/16th of the price that they are selling for on the same site.

 

[CGW]

I don't think lo-fi cameras are bucking for lamestream status but the whole "lomography" branding thing is trite. Just another hipster chum slick that happens to not to be doing film photography much good.