Another LOMO Wannabee

Author's Rating:

Pros: Unique format produces amusing shots. Standard processing is all you need.

Cons: Quickly becomes boring. 2 element lens array not that sharp.

The Bottom Line: 
This is a novelty camera and the novelty wears off quickly.

Author's Review
The Lomographic Society hit paydirt when a mediocre Russian copy of a 1970's Japanese Cosina 35mm camera became fashionable as an "artsy" camera. They have been hoping that lighting will strike twice ever since with other models.

This Chinese-made plastic camera is quite clever, but has nothing to do with the original LOMO. However, unlike the other "Action Tracker" (which has been around for 10+ years under various names), this camera design is not seen elsewhere.

Basically, the camera slices the standard 35mm negative into four strips and exposes them a fraction of a second apart. Since all four strips fit into a standard negative size, a 4x6 print shows them all without special processing instructions.

Depending on the marketing pitch, this type of camera is used for everything from recording golf swings to making computer animations. The latter is done by scanning the images and combining them.

I found these units as a close-out for $7 because the film had expired. Results were mildly amusing, but the image quality was unimpressive. The lenses have only two elements, which means they are not well corrected. Also, each separate image is only 1/4 of a 35mm negative, which means it will not blow up particularly well.

So unless taking "sequence shots" is your passion, you will probably put the camera away after 1-2 rolls.

Note: batteries are not used with this camera, it has no flash and is for outdoor use only.