Lovely! I still want one of these cameras! I remain a trepidatious chicken but this could all change tomorrow!LCA-120
Holga vs Lomo LC-A 120
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- Thread starter Joseph Bell
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TheFlyingCamera
Membership Council
It is a very weird camera, but that's a significant portion of its charm. I just shot two more rolls with mine that I have to scan - when I have them done I'll post some.
Good to know! I am certainly a fan of charmingly weird/weirdly charming cameras. By any chance has your LCA120 seen much subzero weather? I'm wondering how it fares in cold temperatures...
TheFlyingCamera
Membership Council
I haven't used it in winter yet. If we get a decent snowfall, I'll take it out and put a roll through it to see, but I suspect it will be fine so long as I keep it inside my coat when not taking photos - it takes 3 button batteries to drive the meter, so it is susceptible the same as any battery operated camera.
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- 35mm
When I had mine I called it a moody stallion. You have to wrestle with it, to learn its behavior. The shutter button is notoriously hard to press as you're tensioning the shutter before tripping it in the same go (apparently since the camera is largely designed from scratch, it's beyond Lomography's capability to make a film advance mechanism with auto stop that also cocks the shutter). So hard it's like the camera just refuses to work with you. Definitely has a personality.
It's difficult to shoot the 38mm Minigon too, as Hasselblad SWC users would agree. It's awesomely capable when you figured it out.
It's difficult to shoot the 38mm Minigon too, as Hasselblad SWC users would agree. It's awesomely capable when you figured it out.
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I have used mine below "0", no problem at all. it seems as if I have been lucky with mine, the advance works well, cocks the shutter and there is no problem with the shutter button. exposure system works well and gets it right. the only snag on mine is the film start. if you match the arrow on the film backing paper with the marks, the last photo is cut off partly. so I stop abour 3 cm before the marks and it's all fine. I'm also fine with the lens. yes, I would like some information about speed and aperture chosen by the camera. but there is NO alterative seen its price, size and weight. fits into a coat pocket, is as small as a folder and even weighs less. and it's a real ultra wide angle.
TheFlyingCamera
Membership Council
St Francis Xavier Catholic Church, Leonardtown, Maryland. LCA 120 with Ilford FP4+, Pyrocat HD 1:1:100.
TheFlyingCamera
Membership Council
Backlit Flag, Downtown Leonardtown, Maryland. Lomo LCA-120, Ilford FP4+, Pyrocat HD 1:1:100
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- fabulousrice
- Deleted
Funny seeing such a question, as I own these 2 cameras and I use them together to be able to build differents shots of a scene as the lens are not the same. It's a manual zoom 
I own also a Diana, Kodak Cresta, Agfa Isola etc but I always come back to both of these cameras, mostly because I've been able to customize the Holga and the wide lens of the LC-A 120.
I own also a Diana, Kodak Cresta, Agfa Isola etc but I always come back to both of these cameras, mostly because I've been able to customize the Holga and the wide lens of the LC-A 120.
I'm looking in these days at any review about Lomo lca 120, what stops me from
buyng one is that i read more times about a problem that can have the shutter and consequently the loss of some frames.
I think this is a great contraddiction , a camera with a good - professional quality lens
but that can miss some shot .
I have a kiev 60 with a Zodiak 30mm and Mir 45 mm, but the pocketable wide angle
in Lomo 120 is a great altesrnative if one doesn't want to carry a big bag.
I wanted to know if someone has experienced this shutter default and if eventually
there is a way to solve the problem, if not, i consider the about 400 eu. of the lomo
a price too high for a not reliable camera.
About the comparison with holga 120, Lomo has surely a better image quality but
holga has more personality, i've seen some photo made with Holga either by famous
photographers or by common people that are really masterpieces.
buyng one is that i read more times about a problem that can have the shutter and consequently the loss of some frames.
I think this is a great contraddiction , a camera with a good - professional quality lens
but that can miss some shot .
I have a kiev 60 with a Zodiak 30mm and Mir 45 mm, but the pocketable wide angle
in Lomo 120 is a great altesrnative if one doesn't want to carry a big bag.
I wanted to know if someone has experienced this shutter default and if eventually
there is a way to solve the problem, if not, i consider the about 400 eu. of the lomo
a price too high for a not reliable camera.
About the comparison with holga 120, Lomo has surely a better image quality but
holga has more personality, i've seen some photo made with Holga either by famous
photographers or by common people that are really masterpieces.
Had one and sold it. I found it to be a poor "user experience" but it did take very sharp photos. The lens was quite good imo. It has an interesting shutter system. Unlike most that precalculate the exposure, it's system only closes the shutter once once "the bucket has filled with the proper amount of photons". It seems to be a good system for nighttime photography. You have several stops of exposure compensation though by changing the iso rating of your film on the fly. It does seem fairly flimsy and light. Zone focusing worked very well. I can't remember ever having any mechanical issues or malfunctions with it. It was difficult to put film into the machine until you learn to adjust the little film retainers on the bottom before trying to load. The shutter sounds like a spring lets go. It's a cross between a loud "sproing and a clunk". I never fell in love with the camera but it did provide good results.
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My understanding is that Yashica Electros work the same way, which some see as a bonus in very long exposures (the camera adapts mid exposure if the light changes).
Polaroids as far back as the peel-apart rangefinder era (100, 250, 350) used this method, and the SX-70 family did as well. There's no convenient way to mount one on a tripod or attach a cable release, but an original SX-70 will take exposures up to a couple minutes if it's dark enough.
I shot mine all winter long. It didn't seem to suffer being out for an hour in -10C.
If you are talking about the camera no letting the film being advanced after taking a pic, there is a very simple and easy work around. Cover the lens with your hand and take another shot. The light meter is not in the lens, so is unaffected. If you covered the lens adequately, there will be no effect on the image you took.
The camera will then let you advance to the next frame.
I own both and like both, but I'm not sure I really consider the LC-A 120 lo-fi like the Holga, as its lens and feature set are a bit more advanced.
Although it doesn't technically have a bulb setting, it will automatically do long exposures where necessary. I would prefer manual exposure settings on the LC-A, but the only thing that wide and that portable in medium format would be a lot more expensive. It has its issues, but good balance of features/strengths for the money. I tend to use the LC-A 120 as my secondary camera when travelling.
Perhaps I missed saying this earlier, but lovely pics!
Do you use the infinity focus setting for the majority of your pics?
Tmax 100. And I forgot to follow the instruction w DF96 - for films like TMAX you are meant to double the time to clear the base. Which I did not do... but I still really like it cuz it's my Peppers!
Thanks. For those photos I previously posted, yes, the focus was set for infinity, but I certainly make use of the other focus settings as appropriate too.
Yeah, there's nothing lo-fi about the LC-A 120
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