All You Need is the Weather - Smena 35

The Smena 35 is a true lomo camera. Maybe not the most noted but it makes a great companion. This little guy doesn’t look all that much like it’s siblings, but it’s definitely a Smena.

This model of the Smena line might not be very old, being made beginning in 1995. It has a modern look to it’s outer plastic body. Inside there are no batteries, this camera is completely mechanical. It can also be completely manually controlled. The icon based shutter speed control is made useful just by looking up at the sky and matching up what you see to it’s icon. The aperture is directly connected with the film speed (ASA or ISO). This camera was originally designed and produced for the younger generation of soviets. Possibly the only big flaw that i’ve noticed is the film counter, it’s essentially useless unless you want to try and figure out how to set it, but that adds to the fun.

This camera’s lens, a Lomo Triplet 3 element coated 40/4 lens, is most likely the reason picture it produces are the way they are, as with any other camera. This is a Lomo camera with a Lomo lens, it’s hard to forget that when you get your prints back and see that it’s quite possible just as good as LC-A pictures. They are great pictures and worth it.

This camera, and probably any other Smena, might be a little confusing to figure out how to use at first but soon you learn the process and get to take advantage of it’s ability to take unlimited multiple exposures and long exposures whenever you use this Smena.

This camera was my first real Lomo camera, meaning one that was made in the Lomo factor as opposed to one by Lomography. I love this camera, I wish I had bought one years ago.

written by plesaleza on 2008-10-04 #gear #35mm #review #smena