Last weekend, we took a mini-break down to the family cabin in the Hocking Hills to do a little hiking with Turkey. It was the first time he'd been there, and you could tell that our city-dog was lit up to be around so many small animals to hunt and kill and new and exciting methods to get dirty. We even roasted marshmallows on a campfire.
I took about 4 cameras with me to try to get some good shots of the dog while he's still a puppy to document the occasion. While we were at the cabin, my Lomo LC-A camera broke in about three different ways. I have somewhere between 5 and 10 cameras that are in working order but this is the camera that I use all of the time.
With the help of the boy and the internet, I think it is mostly fixed. Since I found a few helpful tips for Lomo repairs on line, I thought I would document what happened and how we fixed it.
Problem #1: Prior to this weekend, I was missing a screw in the front faceplate of the camera. I had heard that loose screws were a problem, and missing one didn't seem like a big deal. After our trip to the cabin, I was missing 3, and the last remaining screw felt loose. I use this camera frequently, and I would not say that I'm exactly gentle with it. I've had it for over 2 years now, so I'm not sure if this is a problem that increases with age or what.
I found this page on line and it was extremely useful. Basically, it said that if the screws on your LC-A fall out, you can replace them with the smaller screws in an eyeglass repair kit. This is the most wonderful $2 repair hack ever.
Problem #2: Possibly as a result of the faceplate being so loose, my lens cover got stuck half open. This was pretty easily fixed by taking out the last remaining screw and resetting the pin levers for the two covers (one comes down, and one moves up).
Problem: #3: Last year I dropped my LC-A on the bricks of the alley where I lived as I was trying to juggle too many thing in my hand and unlock the door. I am a very graceful woman. Since that incident, there has been a hairline crack near the film winding spool, but no resulting light leaks. The bigger problem is the top of the film winder was cracked in such a way that the pin that sticks up for winding and releasing the film compartment falls out when winding film. Since then, film winding has been slow, but I have not yet lost the pin as I expected I might. My attempt to epoxy the plastic that would keep the pin in place failed.
Last night, after fixing the other problems, we tore off completely, the half of the top of the winding spool that had barely been hanging on. This actually made it easier to wind with my finger. I'm contemplating looking for a replacement winding spool though, as it appears to be somewhat standard.
I know that there are a lot of differing views on the whole lomo scene. I definitely think that a certain percentage of it is pure marketing hype. I know the cameras are overpriced (I bought mine in a rare sale on Amazon a couple years ago) and I know that they are prone to problems like this. That being said, I really love some of the pictures I've taken with these cameras.
While I was investigating solutions to fix my LC-A, I ran across something that got me really excited. There is apparently a large number of devotees to the lomo-style that have turned their affections toward the Olympus XA camera from the eighties. When I saw a picture of the camera, I almost fell out of my chair. The Olympus XA is the camera that I grew up using.
My father is the official family photographer and rarely let anyone touch his cameras until I was well into my teens, and even then I think it was more of an "ask forgiveness rather than permission" kind of thing. The Olympus XA was my mother's camera. I think my dad bought it for her birthday around 1983. It is a sturdy little camera — I took it with me for my first year of college in New York and I can remember shooting pictures at the Met and Central Park in the Autumn of '97.
I haven't touched the camera in at least 8 years, but as I type, my mother's XA is winging itself towards Columbus. I know I will have to find a new battery for it, but I am totally looking forward to playing around with some 100 speed film and trying to replicate the lomo color saturation in a much sturdier camera.
As an end note, I did get some good pictures this weekend of le dog with my Olympus 3030 digital camera. I'll post some today or tomorrow.