Two cameras with a common shortcoming

LOMO LC-A

I’ve owned a LOMO LC-A for some years and enjoyed its inherent ‘quirkiness’ – both in the image quality and operation:

– the easy to miss focus indicator in the viewfinder.
– the so easily obscured light sensor – if you’re not careful where you place the index finger of your left hand.
– the hard to see film speed setting – unless you happen to have a hand lens on your person. And it’s also very easy to move the
control which sets the film speed.
– the electrical and mechanical connections for the power winder-that-never-was.

The autoexposure setting has the capacity for a 2 second exposure and the camera has has a tripod bush – but no cable release facility!
Yes, I know we’re in the realms of ‘Lomography’ here but even so, it seems a bit daft so be holding a camera even as small as this for up to 2 seconds and get a reasonable image!
There are some references on the web to fooling the camera to work in ‘B’ (bulb) mode by covering the light sensor. I’ve tried this and found it to be 10~20% reliable at best, so it’s not to be recommended.

LOMO APPARAT

A more recent acquisition is the LOMO APPARAT reviewed on 35mmc by Molly Kate in 2022
It’s a very stylish and easy to use “point ‘n shoot” camera with some useful features not usually found on this type:

– an ON / OFF / SHUTTER switch which requires the user to look at the front of the camera which in turn serves as a helpful reminder to remove the lens cap before taking a picture!
– a series of filters (coloured and ND) to adjust the effect of the built-in flash.
– the ability to turn off the flash if it’s not required.
– a ‘B’ (bulb) shutter setting for long exposures.
– a tripod bush.

However, it has a couple of shortcomings. Firstly, the lens cap is a very poor fitting and easy to loose – I’ve come close to doing this several times. And it also suffers the same shortcoming as its venerable relative – only even more so. It has the ability to make infinitely long exposures but for some strange reason the designer has omitted the ability to connect a shutter release cable!

I was keen to find a replacement lens cap, but of course its shape (rectangular) and means of attaching to the lens hood are unique to LOMO and they ain’t offering any spares. I remembered that sometime ago I’d purchased a shutter cable release adapter for my HOLGA 120 from an eBay member who specializes in 3D printed accessories for HOLGA and LOMO cameras.

A solution to the problem – with ‘extras’

I contacted Joe Sparrow of Sparrow Fabrications with a request to make a replacement lens cap and he agreed. Although I’d provided dimensioned photographs of the original cap, he (very prudently) purchased an APPARAT for himself to be 100% sure of the cap’s dimensions. Bearing in mind that he produces shutter release adapters for other HOLGA and LOMO cameras, I also enquired about the possibility of making one for the APPARAT.

After an exchange of ideas via eBay’s messaging service which resulted in an extension of my requirements, a prototype lens cap, shutter cable release adapter AND a filter holder (to fit on to the APPARAT’s lens hood) were produced and successfully tested. The shutter release adapter can be fitted with the APPARAT’s supplementary lenses, The Spiltzer and the new filter holder. None of the camera’s basic functionality has been lost with the addition of all these third-party accessories.

As an aside, in one of our eBay message conversations I was asked if I had a LOMO LC-A. It turned out that Joe had produced a shutter cable release adapter for this camera, but didn’t have the means of testing it. I have an LC-A and so was duly provided with a prototype adapter. A couple of minor modifications proved to be required, details of which I fed back to Joe, so hopefully he will be able to offer that in his product range soon, together with the APPARAT accessories.

To find Sparrow Fabrications on eBay – search for sparrowfabrications

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