First experience with the Lomokino

[Fabrice Ducouret]

I received my Lomokino yesterday. I always loved the idea of an amateur 35mm 2-perf camera for a long time, but finally decided to buy one.
I've used other (better) film cameras in the past (Super-8, 16, 35...) but still was very curious to see what could come out of it (and still think that someone should make a quarter frame still film camera! but that's a discussion for another day).

Here are the following issues I encountered while trying to shoot my first roll:

Loading
The crank that one uses to move the film in the camera is designed in a way that you can still turn the crank even if the film is jammed or stops because you're at the end of the roll. When that happens, it produces a clicking sound but the film doesn't move in the camera as it should.
This was my main issue, as when I loaded the film, the crank would click and the take up spool wouldn't turn to secure the film on.

Filming
When I was filming, I feel like the same thing would happen: instead of moving continuously through the camera, it seemed that the film would move a bit, then stop, the crank would make the clicking sound, and the film would move forward again.
In the user guide, they recommend looking at the rewing knob to see if the film is advancing in the camera. While I was shooting, the rewind knob would move then stop then move then stop etc.

As I had expected, holding the camera steady was extremely difficult (there is no handle of any kind). I will definitely try my second roll with a tripod.

Rewinding
Rewinding was extremely difficult. I felt like the materials were very flimsy and risked breaking as I was rewinding. The rewinding knob kept popping out so I had to push it down at the same time as I was rewinding. I am not sure yet if this resistance was due to the path that the film takes in the camera, or if I just used a roll of film that was particularly jammy, or if it's just really difficult for anyone.

I haven't gotten the roll back, but compared to my other 35mm attempts, this was sadly a bit disappointing. 

Could anyone share their experience shooting with the Lomokino and if they've hacked it to make it more usable?

[Aapo Lettinen]

I purchased mine something like 10 years ago and I think I shot one or two rolls with it total. 

Purchased a Konvas later and shot thousands of feets with it.

The Lomokino is a cool toy but it was not very useful even for art projects.

One can hand crank a Konvas much more easily and get very usable results even for cinema release of the camera is properly used and maintained.

The Lomokino is more like, look how cool new toy I have, then getting bored to it and putting it into storage forgetting it even existed. It is a nice toy but not a real camera by my opinion and one could get real cameras with almost the same price

[Fabrice Ducouret]

4 hours ago, aapo lettinen said:

I purchased mine something like 10 years ago and I think I shot one or two rolls with it total. 

Purchased a Konvas later and shot thousands of feets with it.

The Lomokino is a cool toy but it was not very useful even for art projects.

One can hand crank a Konvas much more easily and get very usable results even for cinema release of the camera is properly used and maintained.

The Lomokino is more like, look how cool new toy I have, then getting bored to it and putting it into storage forgetting it even existed. It is a nice toy but not a real camera by my opinion and one could get real cameras with almost the same price

Thanks Aapo! I think part of my interest lied within the portability, and part lied within the fact that it's probably the only small 2 perf 35mm camera (quarter frame by still photography standards), so I wanted to play with it as a photographic instrument, and experiment (maybe put some anamorphics on it, why not... hehe).

 
A mix of the Lomokino for the idea, and the Yashica Samurai for the manufacturing quality (motor drive/zoom lens) would have been amazing. I also have a 35mm Kinamo - also very small and hand-cranked - but the loading of the film is slightly more tedious so I haven't used it yet.

How much did you pay for your Konvas including lenses?

[Aapo Lettinen]

my cheapest Konvas was 50 euros. The cheapest lens was something like 50 or 60 euros I think. They need some cla of course before one can use them but for such a low cost camera I am happy to take risks and cla them by myself. has worked fine so far ?

[Fabrice Ducouret]

On 10/10/2021 at 5:13 AM, aapo lettinen said:

my cheapest Konvas was 50 euros. The cheapest lens was something like 50 or 60 euros I think. They need some cla of course before one can use them but for such a low cost camera I am happy to take risks and cla them by myself. has worked fine so far ?

Wow, that's a great deal! Impressive. Might get one too if I find a similar deal, although a lot of the ones I see don't have a manual crank option.

Where did you CLA it?

[Aapo Lettinen]

I cla the lower price cameras by myself because I need to be able to repair them in field conditions if needed. much easier that way though it might be required to purchase two camera bodies to get spare parts then.

one can get great deals on Russian gear if having time to wait for the best deals. generally the straight viewfinder side latch models with the 6v rheostat motors are the way to go if wanting to get the most affordable and portable solution (though a 15epss to 24v wild motor modified Konvas 1M is pretty neat for mos shooting and has the orientable finder)

Edited October 16, 2021 by aapo lettinen