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Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
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The Digital Photographer’s Introduction to Lo-Fi Cameras

Chris Gampat
No Comments
06/03/2016
4 Mins read

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Instant film cameras 2015 (1 of 8)ISO 1001-125 sec at f - 4.0

LoFi cameras remove all the crazy, super technical things about pixel peeping and dynamic range to instead have the user focus on just creating an image that they’re really happy with. It often isn’t about much more than documenting a moment of fun. In some ways, these cameras give you limitations that will really appeal to only two major schools of photographers: complete beginners and complete masters. Those in between may become frustrated; but once you master what these cameras are capable of, you’ll be seriously surprised.

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Lomography LCA 120 color photos (10 of 24)

A Tool for Both Masters and Padawans

As we stated earlier, Lo-Fi cameras are often seen producing work by two types of people: completely artistic masters or people that love and embrace their toy-like aesthetics. The reasons for this has to do with the fact that these two types of shooters truly understand that creative vision (or in the case of beginners, fun) comes first before anything else. No, none of this is hipster aesthetic speak–it’s the seriously brutal truth.

What you eventually learn to do is work within limitations and see the types of images that you’re capable of creating with the cameras. Not all of them have super crazy limitations either. Some have exposure control like the Diana F+, Instax Mini 90, Instax Wide 300, etc.

Others really have interesting mechanics about them: for example the really old Lomography La Sardina has a fixed shutter speed and a fixed aperture setting. Your ISO is locked in and the only variable you can have is flash output if you get the flash. You can also do multiple exposures and bulb mode–in this way they work much different from the more typical cameras out there that you’re all used to.

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Lomo'Instant Wide image scan studio light (1 of 1)

Understanding Capabilities

To get the most of these cameras, you’ll often need to really get at what they’re capable of doing. Unfortunately, many of the companies that market these cameras show sample photos that appeal to a very specific demographic and don’t show off the absolute fullest capabilities. This is a big problem that ultimately ends up limiting the creativity of the end user just to feed the machine.

To be very candid, it’s complete bullshit.

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Lomo'Instant Wide product photos (1 of 10)ISO 2001-125 sec at f - 1.4

If you start to work with medium format, large format and alternative formats of photography you start to understand what these lo-fi and toy cameras can truly do. Many of them are best used with a flash, in bulb mode, with instant film, etc. Sometimes they can be unpredictable, but other times they’re pretty spot on once you understand what they can do. Admittedly, that can take some time.

The truth about it all is that you don’t need to cross process anything to make something look good or artsy. You just need to know how to make the scene and the camera work in a specific situation.

So what do many of the better photographers use these cameras for?

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Diana F+ review sample pinhole black and white (1 of 1)

  • Portraiture
  • Landscapes
  • Seascapes
  • Pinhole work
  • Parties
  • Weddings

These cameras are much less about the super rigid serious nature and much more about making your brain work in a different way.

Consider it an exercise.

Specific Exposure Tricks

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Fujifilm Instax Mini 70 scan montrose ave (1 of 1)

Exposure Compensation: Telling the light meter to be brighter or darker. Some cameras even have certain controls over the exposure settings like shutter speed, aperture controls, and flash compensation.

Flash Diffusion: Sometimes the best thing to do is to put a piece of tape on the front of your flash. No really, it’s just that simple.

Recommended Cameras

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Photo Plus Expo 2013 Fujifilm XE2 XQ1 Mini90 Instax product images (18 of 18)ISO 16001-50 sec at f - 2.2

Lomography LCA series: All of these cameras have glass lenses and a meter built into the cameras. My favorite is the LCA 120, which shoots 6×6 images and quite honestly has a bad ass light meter. It’s the ultimate modern street photography camera in my opinion

Mint TL-70 series: This TLR camera spits out Instax Mini film. Plus you’ve got a bit of exposure control.

Mini SLR70m: Imagine the SX-70 but with manual control options.

Fujifilm Instax Mini 90: One of my favorite things about the Mini 90 is that it has exposure compensation on different levels and you can force the flash to be off. Plus it has multiple exposure mode.

Lomography Diana F+: This camera is honestly my favorite on the list. It has various aperture controls that correspond to shooting situations and is pretty simple to use overall.

Lomography Lomo’Instant Wide: The Wide has a fixed shutter speed setting, can work with studio strobes, is well built, and has a remote control built into the lens cap. How cool is that?

camera instant lo-fi lomography Photography photos
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Chris Gampat

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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