Holga vs Lomo LC-A 120

[Huss]

Lomo LC-A 120, Fuji Provia

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

 

[Huss]

Lomo LC-A 120, Fuji Provia 50

 

[Huss]

Lomo LC-A 120, Provia 50

 

[Huss]

Lomo LC-A 120, Fuji Provia 50

 

[Huss]

I miss my L-CA 120. If only they built it better....

Lomo L-CA 120, Lomo 400.

View from the San Francisco Art Institute.

 

[Huss]

Store front, San Francisco

Lomo L-CA 120, Lomo 400

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

The Enola Gay, draped in a tarp at the Air & Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Annex, to protect it from dust/paint during facilities work.

Amtrak platforms at Union Station, Washington DC, in the snow.

Both images are with a Lomo LC-A 120, Kodak Tri-X developed in Pyrocat HD.

 

[Huss]

Lomo LC-A 120, Arista 100, Cinestill DF96 Monobath

 

[Huss]

 

[rknewcomb]

There sure are some lovely photos in this thread.!
Robert

 

[Huss]

I have 2 LC wides. if they work, they are fantastic, but both of mine had issues with the shutter button. I had them repaired. no problems since then. IMHO the 120 and the LC wide are totally different cameras. google the photos of both and you will see what I mean. I made a page about the LC wide here https://www.plastikcam.com/lomo_lc_wide.htm and about the LCA 120 here https://www.120folder.com/lomo_lca120.htm

I love my LC-Wide! Great lens, the auto exposure is remarkably good, and so cool that it can shoot half frame or full frame. It also comes w masks so it crops in camera for square:

 

[aparat]

@Huss Fantastic photographs with the Lomo cameras!

I also like the LCA-120. Mine is still working okay. Occasionally, it fails to advance beyond the first frame, but I found a way to work around it. I can also now get consistent frame spacing and get 12 frames. A quirky camera, but worth it, in my opinion. The wide angle is great for casual street portraits because it has surprisingly low distortion. Here's a print I made the other weekend, taken with the LCA-120 on T-MAX 400, printed on Ilford MGV RC.

Smoker by Nick Mazur, on Flickr

 

[Huss]

Thanks Nick! I really loved the LC-A120, but the two I had broke and so that is that. I’d pay $1k for one if it was built to last, ya know, like most cameras!
There really is nothing else like it.

p.s. Great shot!

 

[aparat]

Thanks Nick! I really loved the LC-A120, but the two I had broke and so that is that. I’d pay $1k for one if it was built to last, ya know, like most cameras!
There really is nothing else like it.

p.s. Great shot!

Thanks! Hey, do you remember what happened with your LCA-120s? I have been trying to be very gentle with mine because I love that thing and would hate for it to break. I doubt anyone could fix it, especially if some of the moving parts break. I think you shoot a lot more than I do, so maybe it was just from a lot of use?

I think Lomo should try to perfect this camera. The anniversary models have been pretty cool, but I would have preferred a more durable body. I think they could do it, charge $200-300 more, and people would still buy it.

Speaking of the differences between the Lomo and Holga, I own both, and, to me, they are completely different cameras. The Holga is a toy camera, capable of great results, but the Lomo is almost a proper camera, with a great super wide lens.

 

[Huss]

I do shoot a lot, but I was not able to shoot a lot in either of the LC A 120 that I had before they failed. And I always baby my gear. I sold both - I did not have them concurrently as I bought the second one hoping the failure of the first was a fluke- with the disclosure that the shutter often would not actually open. And the film spacing was inconsistent. So the buyers were fully aware.

I think maybe I shot 10 rolls in each - and that would be the absolute maximum.

If Lomo built this camera to a much higher standard, I would be happy to pay much more for it.

 

[blee1996]

@Huss I'm seriously considering the LC-A 120, after having so much fun with the 35mm LC-A. There simply isn't any alternatives other than the SWC, which I will be saving up for. Lomo's LC-A 120 anniversary edition in leather looks quite sexy.

You mentioned in several posts that LC-A 120s are fragile and easy to fail. Can you clarify if you bought those cameras new, and then they failed after about 10 rolls? Or you started with a 2nd hand camera? Thanks!

I'm a bit late to the Lomography and x-pro, like 30 years late LoL. But I guess it is better late than never.

 

[Donald Qualls]

There simply isn't any alternatives other than the SWC,

I don't know, a 50 mm on 6x7 with an RB67 is pretty wide (not quite as wide as the SWC, granted). With a 0.45x filter, it's equivalent to a 23 mm, which IS wider than an SWC -- and lots cheaper and more versatile...

...but yes, lots heavier.

 

[blee1996]

I do have Pentax 6x7 with a 45mm lens, which is great in image quality but just a bit heavy and bulky. I am also considering doing DIY with a holga and suitable adapted lens.

 

[4season]

@Huss I'm seriously considering the LC-A 120, after having so much fun with the 35mm LC-A. There simply isn't any alternatives other than the SWC, which I will be saving up for. Lomo's LC-A 120 anniversary edition in leather looks quite sexy.

You mentioned in several posts that LC-A 120s are fragile and easy to fail. Can you clarify if you bought those cameras new, and then they failed after about 10 rolls? Or you started with a 2nd hand camera? Thanks!

I'm a bit late to the Lomography and x-pro, like 30 years late LoL. But I guess it is better late than never.

So far as I can see, the biggest Lomo killer is probably plain ole dirt and dust. And pants and jacket pockets are actually pretty hostile environments for a camera. So when I carry small cameras around (Lomo, Olympus XA, Pen, Minox 35, Sony RX, Minolta Hi Matic, etc) they go into a neoprene case before they are pocketed; makes a big difference in the amount of dust these things are exposed to.

Never did need to take apart my LC-A120 or LC-Wide, but I did service my own LC-A and LC-A+. The Soviet original was filled with dust and grit, so small wonder it hadn't been working. Chinese-made LC-A+ had some iffy hand-soldered connections, but worked perfectly once resoldered.

 

[ericB&W]

I love my LC-Wide! Great lens, the auto exposure is remarkably good, and so cool that it can shoot half frame or full frame. It also comes w masks so it crops in camera for square:

Great composition that sort of arrow in the sand pointing towards the viewer
and that sort of arrow in the clouds pointing to the horizon .

 

[blee1996]

Decided to jump into the Lomo LC-A 120 fun. Here are a few shots from the "Looking up in awe" project series. I really like the camera and what it can produce!







By the way, I got the 30 year anniversary edition.

 

[blee1996]

I have been using the Lomo LC-A 120 for a few months now, and even took it as the only camera to Chicago. It has all the faults people mentioned, and all the fun as well. On average I can get 11 frames out of a roll, and the shutter occasionally miss a beat.





It sometimes does double exposure "accidentally" and all by itself, as if it has a mind of its own. But I rather like the random double-exposure shots. And these photos fit the "Gotham City" vibe pretty well.