Is it or isn't it????

[colray]

Is it or isn't it ....Just a not so well made low cost Russian camera.. or another plastic toy for the kiddywinks ???it's the Lomo Smena I'm asking about the Col

[daveh]

Dunno. I know more about slowmo than I do about Lomo.

[PeterW]

Is it or isn't it ....Just a not so well made low cost Russian camera.. or another plastic toy for the kiddywinks it's the Lomo Smena I'm asking about the Col

The short answer is yes, it is and it isn’t.

The only Lomo Smenas I know about are the two plastic bodied 35mm models that were imported into the UK under the name Cosmic. The first one was called the Cosmic 35, and the second the Cosmic Symbol.

Those aspiring to be “serious” photographers looked down on them as cheap Russian rubbish, but both took excellent pictures and both were pretty reliable but the Cosmic 35 was ergonomically horrible. An annoying camera to use. It didn't stay on the market for very long.

In contrast the later Cosmic Symbol, with an uncompromising brick shape, was very easy to handle. The Lomo factory put right just about everything that was wrong about the Cosmic 35. IMHO it was an ideal first camera because it took better pictures than many cheap folders, and better than almost all cheap 126 or 110 instamatics, and the symbol system was excellent for anyone who knew nothing about shutter speeds and f-stops. This one was imported for nearly 20 years, and thousands were sold.

If you want to read more about my views on them go to my website www.peterwallage.com click on My Cameras, then on Russian Cameras and then on Cosmic.

After I wrote this piece I read that the Lomography people call the Cosmic 35 the Smena 8 whereas I believed it was the Smena 7. I still don’t know which one of us was correct.

Anyway, go and have a look.

PeterW

[colray]

Thanks for all the info Peter.
Oh and by the way.. beaut web site Colin

[PeterW]

Thanks for the comment on my site, Col. I have a slight correction to my previous posting.

I wrote

After I wrote this piece I read that the Lomography people call the Cosmic 35 the Smena 8 whereas I believed it was the Smena 7.

I got my 7s and 8s the wrong way round. That should have read

"... the Lomography people call the Cosmic 35 the Smena 7 whereas I believed it was the Smena 8."

And I still don't know who was correct!

PeterW