Since you've last heard from me, I've started getting into film. Or rather I should say, I started getting back into film. The old becomes new again. With Lomography selling their overpriced "cool" plastic cameras and touting their "anything is art" mentality, among other factors, film is slowly but surely making a bit of a comeback. I guess I can't complain too much about them because they're a big reason that I'm even back into film in the first place. Let's start from the beginning, shall we?
It all started one fateful day at the MoMA design store in Soho. I saw the Lomo Diana Mini and, being something of a photographer, I was immediately interested. Oh, it's so cute! It shoots film? How delightfully novel! A free ticket to the MoMA with any $50 or more purchase? Perfect!
Thus began my descent back into the world of film. As my interest in Lomography grew, I began eying the Diana F+, big sister to my Diana Mini. Then, my eyes fell upon the Lomo LC-A+. It's admittedly very retro looking in a very good way. I wanted it. Bad. My eyes then fell upon its price tag. I then did what I usually do when something is extremely overpriced but I still can't help wanting it: I went home and did some research. Along the way, I came to realize that the LC-A isn't exactly worth the money unless you're a hipster with a lot of money to burn. A couple reports of the terrible build quality of the LC-A, some comparisons with other much much much cheaper cameras, and soon, the spell was broken. I'm still in love with its looks, but the LC-A definitely wasn't for me unless I could catch one of the decent deals on ebay.
Instead, I ended up looking at one of the cameras commonly compared to the LC-A (that more often than not comes out on top), the Olympus XA. It can be had for about 1/5 of the price of the LC-A, has much better optics, and is built sturdily. As I was looking at photos of the XA, it began to look very familiar. I vaguely remembered my grandmother having a film camera that looked similar when I was a kid, some 10-15 years ago. Lo' and behold, she had an XA2 just taking up space in her closet that she was more than happy to pass down to me! Everything was still in working condition (except for the flash), and after picking up some film, I was ready to go. Photos will be up on the ol' smugmug as soon as I can finish up this roll of film.
I also cleaned up my old Canon A-1 and ordered up a couple of FD mount lenses on the cheap. I say cheap only in comparison to my Canon EF mount lenses. When those come in, the film resurgence will begin in full.
P.S. It's not that I don't like Lomography or its ideals. I just find it ridiculous that they charge such extravagant prices for cameras that have equivalents or superiors that can easily be had for less than half the price (often even less than that). Even the film on their website is waaaaay overpriced compared to any other camera store. The price is nearly doubled for every single roll of film except for their own Lomography branded film and the expired films. I love my Diana Mini and the roll of film I just got developed from it looks deliciously lo-fi, but I feel just a tiny bit ripped off when I consider how much I paid for it. What they don't tell you on their wonderfully "artsy" and "fun" website is that the two students who started the whole Lomography movement were MARKETING STUDENTS! Kudos to them for having so successfully built a business, woe is me for falling for it. I should have known better since I have a marketing degree too. Education fail.
