LOMO

The Leningradskoe Optiko Mechanichesckoe Objedinenie (LOMO) was one of the largest and most secret companies in the Soviet Union. They designed and made almost all of the optics used by Soviet military and space programs, but also normal cameras like the Voigtländer copy LOMO Lubitel 2. Now, however, Russia has lost her client states and hence LOMO has lost most of its military and scientific contracts. The company that once employed over 30,000 people now employs about 10,000 but still remains the largest firm in St. Petersburg.

After the decline of the Soviet Union, two Viennese marketing students - Matthias Fiegl and Wolfgang Stranzinger - came upon an LC-A while travelling in 1991. They shot random snapshots of their travels with their new LOMO, not knowing what would turn up on film. To their surprise, the resulting images had amazing colour and saturation, and were unlike anything they'd seen before. And so the Lomography movement was born.

Today, LOMO is best known among photographers as a producer of toy cameras - cheap, low-quality plastic cameras. However the company's accomplishments should not be underestimated. The LOMO company produces microscopes, spectral instruments, measuring instruments, sighting tubes, objective lenses, telescopes, sights, night vision devices, and more. They also made the largest telescope in the world, with a mirror that is 6 meters in diameter.

Cameras made by the LOMO factory

• LOMO LC-A
• LOMO Smena 35
• LOMO Smena 8
• LOMO Smena 8m
• LOMO Smena Symbol

In addition to the cameras made by the LOMO factory, Lomographic is also selling other cameras, see the Lomography page.

Links

• A Trip Through The LOMO Factory, by Mahlon G. Kelly