Yup, I've done it again, I've bought another crappy plastic camera. It's an obsession, since I've finished my college course and getting the grade I did, I've kept saying 'fuck it, i'll treat myself'. I keep treating myself, and this is the last one, I promise. I promise myself. But we all know that isn't going to stick for very long.
But here we have it, the Lomography Fisheye 2. A little more refined than the Fisheye 1, it's got an integrated flash, a hot shoe for the really cool fisheye viewfinder which comes with it. The plastic body with the brushed metal surround looks great, looks robust, even if it isn't, it's still a nice touch. Looks wise, this is a great, appealing camera. It looks the part, but does it perform as well as it's aesthetics?
I have yet to find out, I'm halfway through my first roll of 35mm film with this little baby, I'm extremely excited to find out the results. I've been messing around with the little Multiple Exposure switch on the back, which is nifty. You press it and it disengages the advance roller for the film. So you can snap another shot on the same frame. I can't work out if it is totally needed, since the Holga 135 doesn't have it, I don't think that would benefit from having one. Probably just a feature they added because they could. Make it appear a little bit more up-market maybe? Either way, the £33 I paid for it, second hand from Ebay, you can't really complain.
Oh but you can complain. Let's talk build quality. Obviously yes, it's a plastic camera, hence it has crappy plastic insides. The outside as I've already said is structurally complete and a pleasure to hold and it looks the piece. But on the inside it appears it is a different story. The plastic cog which advances the film, I couldn't work out if it was me and my film loading skills, or whether there actually was a problem. It didn't seem to settle nicely on the film. So advancing the film means it slips from time to time. We shall have to see what they came out like in the first batch of photographs. The shutter button is a little relaxed, too. You do have to press it down, maybe wiggle it a little bit, to make sure it actually goes off. Not perfect if you are under pressure to get the snap of the moment. You can't exactly tell the person who just threw a bucket of water of your drunk friend to go back and do it again because the shutter didn't work. I'm not sure the drunk friend would be too happy about that. Unless they were really drunk, then you have no problems here son.
All in all, I am impressed with the camera, I'm excited to see how the first batch of developed images come out as. My new friend down at the Kodak shop will probably think I'm being a total wasteman with my time though.
More info: http://microsites.lomography.com/fisheye/
What I am Listening To: Calling Card (Live) - Rory Gallagher
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