Lomography Lomomatic 110 – The JACKED Pocket Instamatic

When I heard that Lomography was releasing a brand new 110 camera I got a little giddy and immediately reached out to them asking if I could borrow one for review. They kindly sent me a loaner copy which I’ve been testing for the last month. During that time I’ve been nonstop feeding the Lomomatic all types of 110 film, in addition to some DIY cut-down 16mm reloaded films.

My goal with this post is to give you an unbiased, informative opinion on the Lomomatic 110. This won’t be one of those “I didn’t know that 110 film was even still available, here’s the Lomomatic” reviews- it will be coming from someone who loves and shoots 110 all the time.

I also want to preface to review by saying that even though I’m borrowing this camera from Lomography, they have no say in what I publish. So, if you’re wondering what all the fuss is about, read on!

What is the Lomomatic 110?

Basically, it’s a 110 film camera on steroids.

The Lomomatic gives you creative control that isn’t normally an option for most pocket 110 cameras. It’s like a pocket Instamatic, but more. Things like a selectable ISO and aperture, a bulb mode, a multi-exposure switch, and zone focusing.

It’s worth mentioning that while there are a handful of ‘premium’ 110 cameras with an almost SLR level of control, the majority are going to be basic plastic bricks with only one button for the shutter.

Let’s start with the fun part

At this point of the introduction, I could probably begin spouting off all the specs and marketing copy, but I’d much rather get straight to the reason for my excitement with this camera- the amount of control it gives you when shooting with 110 film. It’s pretty insane how many creative doohickeys Lomography packed into this thing.

Just the fact that this camera has a dedicated multiple exposure slider and a bulb mode is enough of a reason for me to buy this thing. You might be thinking, well, then why borrow one from Lomography? Why not just buy one and review it? Oh, I will. But first, my sad excuse for a camera fund needs to be filled back up before I make any more purchases. Maybe you can relate.

Anyways. What was I talking about? Oh! Yeah. The fun part.

The MX slider allows you to take as many shots in one frame as your creative heart desires. Combine that with the ability to adjust the iso and you can better nail the exposure when stacking your images.

Fun fact: I’ve never made a light painting image on 110, but I can now with the Lomomatic’s bulb mode!

You can also find some of the typical quirky options on many Lomography cameras. For example, the detachable flash cube has an opening where you can slide in small gels to get a pop of color. You’ll want to use the gels in lower light for the most visible results because daylight situations tend to wash it out and overpower the small gels.

A more pronounced way to get some interesting color in your shots is to hold gels or filters in front of the lens and fire off a few multiple exposures.

Single exposure scene vs a multiple exposure scene using filters in front of the lens

Ok, now on to the more technical stuff…

Image Quality

Image quality with many 110 films can be hit or miss, especially if you’re hoping for sharp photos. Aside from the few premium-built options, most 110 cameras sport a plastic lens with only a single fixed point of focus.

The lens on the Lomomatic has a 23mm focal length, which equates to about 46mm or a normal lens field of view in 35mm terms. One thing to mention is that even though it has a 46mm field of view, the lens still behaves like a wide angle. You’ll notice curved distortions in straight lines, particularly up close.

If image sharpness is a concern, the Lomomatic has an advantage over most pocket 110s because of its glass Minatuar CX lens. Whenever I nailed the focus and the shutter speed was faster than my shakey over-caffeinated hands, the images came out super sharp.

Speaking of blurry images- these are fine if you’re trying to create an abstract, avant-garde piece of art. When you’re taking snapshots, not so much. I lost count of how many times I forgot to set the focus slider before pressing the shutter. Of course, this is my stupidity, but seriously, I ended up shooting so many second follow-up images after realizing I didn’t move the focus slider to the correct distance.

Why did I constantly forget to set the slider? I think it’s partially due to the adjustment being on the front of the camera without any other hint of your current focus position. For me, it comes down to “out of sight, out of mind”. Many cameras that utilize a zone focus system incorporate some type of display in the viewfinder to note where the focus is currently set.

I suppose herein lies a potential downside of having more control- there’s additional things to think about and adjust before you shoot, taking you slightly farther from that ‘in-the-moment’ experience.

But wait, there are even more buttons to tweak!

Another thing that you have some control over is the aperture. The Lomomatic has a day/ night slider on the bottom of the camera which will select either 2.8 (night) or 5.6 (day). The aperture was more of a ‘set-it-and-forget-it’ option for me, as the only time I thought about it was when I flipped the camera over to engage the MX slider.

Generally, a smaller aperture will deliver sharper results (up to a point). However, I don’t know if there would be any noticeable difference in sharpness between the two apertures on the Lomomatic. I didn’t think to test that, but maybe it’s something to tinker with for when I get my copy.

Build Quality and Design

There are two versions of the Lomomatic- a shiny chrome body made partially of metal, and an orange-trimmed, all-plastic “Golden Gate” version. Both color schemes look pretty sexy.

The Golden Gate version has a late 70’s flair to it while the chrome body is a bit more futuristic looking, kind of resembling the mind-neuralyzers used in Men in Black.

Most subminiature pocket cameras all have a consistent rectangular look to them. However, some designs incorporate and borrow features from each other. If the Kodak Ektralite and the Rollei A110 had a love child, it might be the Lomomatic 110.

It combines the collapsibility and lens quality of the A110 while still retaining some of that elongated candy bar 110 body style. The build quality falls somewhere in between the precision all-metal Rollei and the high production plastic Ektralite.

The chrome version that I tested is made partially of metal, but it doesn’t necessarily have a heft or robustness to it. That’s not to say the Lomomatic is cheaply built- it’s not, but to me, it does have more of a plasticky feel (and sound), specifically when you’re opening and closing the camera.

I don’t have one to compare with, but people I’ve talked to about the Lomomatic have said it’s very similar in shape and design to Afga’s Afgamatic Pocket series of cameras.

What you see is not what you get

When shooting with any camera that has a viewfinder separate from the lens, you’re going to introduce parallax, and the Lomomatic falls into this camp.

Because of the offset position of the lens vs the viewfinder, your framing will have to be adjusted when shooting at the minimum focus distance (0.8 meters). This takes a bit of trial and error to compensate for and I still struggle with guessing how much offset is needed when taking shots up close.

To get an idea of how far the image’s framing was offset compared to the viewfinder, I took a few test shots at the closest distance.

Metering

The Lomomatic has fully automatic metering that controls the shutter speed between 1/250 sec and 30 seconds. I found the meter to be accurate in all of the trickier conditions I was shooting- low light, subjects with higher contrast, and backlit scenes. It even did a decent job shooting directly into the sun.

When the camera body is opened it turns on the meter and LED lights which stay active for about 5 minutes or until you close the camera, whichever comes first.

The fact that this camera has auto exposure sets it apart from the majority of simple-use pocket 110 cameras. Most Instamatics have only one set shutter speed (usually 1/125 sec), so the Lomomatic will deliver better-exposed photos most of the time.

Using reloaded cartridges

If you like to reload your film in your 110 cameras, the Lomomatic is a great option. I ran several homemade cartridges of Foma Pan 400 that I cut down from a roll of 120.

No perforations are needed to fire the shutter because you can just engage the MX slider. This is an advantage when reloading because other 110 cameras sometimes require perforations on the film to cock the shutter.

It’s also worth noting that only one cycle of open/ closed is needed to advance the frame to the next frame position- as opposed to the multiple windings required when shooting DIY cartridges in some other 110 cameras.

Holga 400 reloaded

When shooting cut-down film, I find it interesting to see the full projection of the lens. With factory 110 films, there is a pre-flashed section framing the sharpest area and aligning the crop, but without that pre-flashed area, you can see a full 4×2 image from the lens. Of course, everything on the outside edges will be a little mushy, but I love how that can look. It reminds me a bit of the blurred/ smeared edge of an image created with some old box cameras.

Here’s a tutorial on how to reload 110 films if you want to try it out.

But with all these features, what’s missing?

So, this is totally a personal preference but I feel like to make the Lomomatic hit peak 110 greatness would be the addition of 1 more thing: an incorporated tele lens.

Some of my favorite everyday film cameras to carry around all have a dual-lens function. Examples of this would be Kodak’s Tele-Instamatic or the Ektralite Tele series which incorporate not only a 22mm lens but a switchable 44mm lens as well. Having two focal lengths in such a small package is insanely useful.

I suppose the downside of incorporating a tele lens would undoubtedly be that it complicates the design and increases the cost. It might also come with some added loss of quality in the image as it does with other dual-lens point-and-shoot cameras. But in reality, we’re talking about a 13x17mm negative here, so the added convenience outweighs the negatives for me.

A few concerns

Throughout my time with the camera I had some things occur where I wasn’t sure what was going on. The first issue was a frame advancing problem that, on a few occasions, the camera would not cycle to the next frame after taking a picture. After some digging, I found out Lomography had acknowledged that this was a known issue in the pre-production models and that it had been corrected on the final versions.

Another thing I was curious about was the two audible and tactile “clicks” you hear when pressing the shutter button down. It feels like there are two ‘levels’ the shutter button cycles through when the button is depressed. I reached out to Lomography about this, and they said that’s normal- the first click engages the shutter, and pressing further engages the mechanism that winds the frame when closing.

This made me wonder if the advancing issue I experienced was somehow connected to not pressing down far enough on the shutter before closing and winding the camera. Also, it’s worth noting that these advancing problems weren’t related to accidentally hitting the MX slider, which I could see being a possibility.

The last thing I noticed wasn’t a functional problem per se, just something I saw happen a few times. While the camera was open, I would see the LED light for the iso selector faintly and sporadically blink on and off. It continued to occur after installing a new battery, so I wonder if this was another kink that needed to be worked out from the pre-production unit.

Other Example Images

Color ’92 Film

Foma Pan 400 (120) cut down to 16mm and reloaded

Lomochrome Turquoise multiple exposures

Final thoughts

To summarize my experience with the Lomomatic: it offers some of the most creative control available in a 110 camera. It has just as much pocket-ability as many of its subminiature siblings but packs a punch way above its weight class.

And let’s not forget- it’s brand new! That point shouldn’t be understated. It’s the norm to have used film cameras purchased from eBay start to fail, and having a supply of newly manufactured film cameras to shoot is a great thing. Kudos to Lomography for everything they’re doing to keep 110 alive.

So what’s the bottom line? I feel like the Lomomatic 110 is a niche camera that will vibe best with a particular group of people.

I’m definitely one of those people.