The Lomo and Canoes

One hand holding the 4 pounds of my fully auto focus frame advancing Nikon SLR camera with attached 35-70 mm lens and the other using a paddle thrust into the mud of the rivers bottom to hold the canoe steady, I eased myself into position to shoot a bow in the center of the frame shot that I love. The morning light glowed. I snapped. Snapped again, and once again. I put the camera into a dry bag and pulled the paddle out of the mud. I love photography, but sometimes wish for an easier method of capturing those great moments in time. In this age of mega-pixels, digital, 5 frames per second film camera and $10 slide films, getting back to an easier way to photography refreshes the inner vision and affords a needed rest.

The Lomo Compact-Automat camera is a capable toy camera with a worldwide cult following that affords the wary photographer a fun rest from the current auto focus mega-pixel race that drives the modern photography business. Most photographers, who employ this camera, use it as a small street photography camera that will attract little attention. The pictures it shoots in automatic tend to run slightly underexposed, color saturated, and blurry from slow shutter speeds, but it sports a fast Minitar 1 32mm f/2.8 lens making it an ideal simple camera for canoe and kayak photography. The pictures can be sharp and properly exposed if used correctly. It will vignette in bright light, but it usually adds to the unique quality of the images it produces instead of distracting.

The key to using a Lomo LC-A is to understand its limitations, exploit them, and have fun doing it. Most important is understanding how the apertures and shutter speeds are set on this little automatic wonder, and then how to apply them to kayak and canoe photography.

Auto-Exposure Mode

The Lomo sports an electromechanical program shutter controlled with electronic exposure meter according to the manual. It automatically sets the aperture and shutter speed according to the amount of light it thinks is necessary to properly expose the film. The upside of this is that you can simply press and hold the shutter release, and the camera figures everything else out. Most of the pictures taken this way have what can be described as a very lomo look to them. If the shutter speed drops below 1/30th of a second, a red light will appear in the viewfinder when the shutter release is depressed halfway. If this happens expect very lomo-like photos. The downside is that you will never know what settings the camera is shooting, so you will never have control of the final image.

Manual Exposure Mode

Although shooting in automatic mode releases you from thinking about the technical parts of photography and produces fun images that alone make this camera worth owning, the camera also provides a second way of setting exposure. Originally intended for flash photography, a lever to the side of the lens changes aperture settings from 2.8 to 16 and A. When the camera is taken off of A and set to one of the other aperture settings, the shutter speed is automatically set to 1/60th of a second. Knowing this allows us to use the Sunny 16 rule for exposing photos. Using this system, we can now set our own aperture according to the Sunny 16 rule and have more control over how our images appear. More importantly, it allows us to set our aperture at f/16, which will provide a deep depth of field, and it will keep everything from to foreground to the background in focus. It is best to use ISO 50 film, because of the set shutter speed of this camera, but a print film ISO of 100 should be fine. If using 100 ISO slide film make sure you have it professionally processed and let them know you want it pull processed. Dont mix any auto-exposure shots with Sunny 16 shots if pull processing slide film.

Sunny 16?

The sunny 16 rule is simple: On a sunny day you set your shutter speed to the same ISO as your film, then to get properly exposed pictures set your aperture to f/16. You can use any equivalent setting of aperture and shutter speed to achieve the same results. For example, with 100-speed film f/5.6 and a shutter speed of 1/1000 will also achieve the perfect exposure.

But it’s not Sunny

The Sunny 16 rule can be used when it isn’t sunny if you change the aperture. The important thing to remember is that the darker the scene gets, the wider you have to open the aperture. The Lomo is no different than any other camera, so the apertures work the same. Each step on the lever of the lomo is called a stop. If you imagine the aperture of a camera as a circle, and view each setting as a fraction of that circle you can see that 1 / 2.8th of the circle is bigger of 1/16th of that same circle. A bigger opening lets in more light. Each step of the aperture lets in exactly half or double of the setting below or above it, respectively.

Knowing this we can make some changes to the Sunny 16 rule for correct exposures in other circumstance. When an object is side-lit (side light creates shadows, shadows are darker, so you have to let in more light), instead of front lit we must open up a stop to make it properly exposed (f/11). When the sun is low in the sky, like in morning or evening, you consider it side-lit. When an object is back-lit (the whole object is in a shadow), you must open up two stops (f/8). On slightly overcast days with thin light clouds, you must open up one stop. When the sky is very cloudy, you must open up 3 stops. You best bet is to experiment on a cloudy day. Step outside at noon with the film you like to use and shoot 6 images of grass in your yard. Shoot a picture at each setting of your aperture. When you get back your prints look at each exposure and decide which one you like best. You will eventually come up with a chart that you can tape to the back of your camera.

Focusing the Lomo LC-A

One of the best parts about the Lomo is that focusing is easy. The camera has a lever that sets at four stops. The first is when the subject is less than 2 feet away, the second is when the subject is 4.5 feet away, the third is when the subject is 15 feet away, and the final is when the subject is far away. If using the Sunny 16 rule and an aperture of f/11 or above, you can keep the focus set at infinity and expect sharp photos from foreground to background.

Shutter Speed and Sharp Focus

In order to get a sharp handheld picture you must shoot at a shutter speed equal or greater than the length of the lens. So, for a 32mm lens, it must be 1/30th of a second.

Fun with Filters

The Lomo has no threads for filters, but by holding a filter in front of the lens a filtered effect can be achieved. The single best filter for use with the Lomo is a polarizing filter. A polarizer acts to remove reflections from the water and surfaces coated with water. It brings out colors, and darkens the blue of the sky. When holding a polarizer to the sky and rotating it, it will go from dark to light. To apply the effect you want don’t change orientation of the filter as you move it to the front of the lens. This change in appearance also effects the exposure when shooting the Sunny 16 Rule. At its lightest it is one stop darker and at its darkest it is two stops darker. To compensate for this using a lomo, change the aperture from f/16 to f/11 using its lightest setting and from f/16 to f/8 at its darkest setting.

Getting Keeper Photos

They key to getting great photos from the Lomo is to use its 32mm lens to produce photos that have strong foregrounds that lead into interesting backgrounds. This is the perfect lens to use for bow in the shot photos that show the viewer where you are heading. Secondly, make sure you fill the frame with any items or people you are shooting. The 32 mm lens tends to make whatever you are taking a picture of smaller in the final image. Thirdly, try and keep you main subject out of the center of the frame. This will provide more impact when your photos come back from the lab.

The Lomo Compact-Automat camera is a fun little camera to use when you want a break from the modern camera. It’s easy to hold in one hand while your other hand is controlling the paddle. In the morning when the mist is rising from the lake, and the sunlight glows perfectly, you can easily snap a shot, kick back, relax and know that you will have a perfect keeper shot to wow your friends with.