Photo Fixation: "Toy" Cameras

I am the proud Ebay buyer [soon-to-be-owner] of a Smena 8m. (Pictured above).

I've been looking for one for the past few weeks seeing as I've been inspired to use one for the past few months. It uses 35mm film. The deal is that they haven't been made since the 1980s and there's a couple hundred left to buy in the world. They're shipped from Russian companies or you can buy one from Lomography Society (the linked Website) for $100-$150, but of course they jack up the proce b/c of their brand name and reliability. I found one on Ebay for 22 bucks (that was my winning bid). I'll have to wait two weeks till it ships from Ukraine, but I'm super excited to get started.

This week I've been shooting rolls of 120 with my Holga. The film would turn out better if only the mini lab processor in the Newhouse photo lab didn't keep eating my film. Erp. I always have issues with my 120 film, but since I'm not shooting for assignment and I'm just experimenting I don't feel like sending it out to a lab for $5 or more. It's bad enough each roll of film (12 shots) cost nearly $5!!

I'll be uploading the pictures that survived on Flickr tomorrow.

I've been in quite the film mode lately and I know in the next year or so I'm going to look into finding one of these:


It's a Seagull TRL. The TRL stands for Twin-Lens Reflex.

This PARTICULAR Seagull is not the top of the line... but it's nearly there (and it's got Chinese decoration to boot). I doubt I'll find one of these without buying it straight from Lomography (if they're being honest... there's only 25 available), but whatever Seagull I invest in should have a four-element lens.

Toy cameras are like coffee table books for me. I have an instant attraction to them, they're fun to have around to learn from and gain inspiration from, and I like to collect them and leave them on display when I'm not using them.

Buuuttt.... only one camera a year so it seems... I've got a camera obsession, but I need to start selling my Nikon D70s so I can upgrade this coming summer. I've also got "serious" equipment that I'm trying to invest in so I'm not dependant on Newhouse (as I won't have that available to me after June). If anyone wants to buy it or knows someone interested in a strong digital SLR let me know :) I'm selling the body, but I might throw in a lens.