Rating: 
Summary: Know your metric system
Review: I've had this adorable camera for a year, and take it with me wherever I go. While other reviews recommend this for experienced photographers, I'm not convinced that would make much of a difference.
No, it is not a point-and-shoot in the traditional respects, but it is vastly simple. I've gotten fantastic shots in dimly lit bars and sunny Hawaiian beaches, all on the same "automatic" light setting. The compact size allows me to tuck into wee little evening purses and pester my friends all night long; yet it has a wonderful solid weight that means business and provides a cool retro feel.
My big issue continues to be with focusing, but sometimes the blurry shots are actually the best ones on the roll. There are four focul lengths-- 0.8 meters, 1.5 meters, 3 meters, and infinite. I find it hard enough to estimate distance in feet; switch to meters and it's even trickier. As the camera style provides no way to verify your subject is precisely in focus, this may lead to some disapointing results if you badly misjudge the distance.
My favorite thing about the lomo is the unexpected qualities in each shot. You may think you've got a roll of normal me-and-the-guys shots, but they come back from the developer with beautifully rich colors, amazing light effects, and a remarkable (and most pleasing) improvement to everyone's skin tone. If your goal is plain and simple shots, save a few bucks and go for whatever point-and-shoot is in your price range. If you want something a little more unusual, something that doesn't always provide the expected,and something that makes your and yours look like superheros,the lomo's what you want.
A note: there are nine small screws that hold the various parts together. It's a good idea to check these over and tighten them before you use your lomo the first time, as at least one has been loose in every lomo I've seen. They tighten with a phillips eyeglass screwdriver.
Rating:
Summary: Need to know the basics
Review: I've been a photographer for 10+ years and the Lomo has made me fall in love with photography all over again. You can take similar pictures with a good 35mm and a filter, but it's really all about the size of the Lomo that makes it outstanding. This thing fits in my pocket so that I can take it anywhere, and the results are incredible. The Lomo is a whole lot of fun if you want to randomly shoot and don't mind blurry or streaked photos when the pictures come back. But it's a little difficult to use if you know what you want to do but don't know a whole lot about photography. Because it's a 2.8 wide-angle lens, depth of field and lens speed are welcome features for the experienced but may be a little mystifying for the novice. It takes some practice before you start to really know what you're doing and how to do it. But it's unlike any other compact camera out there, and in terms of creativity, it offers an unprecedented amount of leeway. If you're dedicated enough and love photography, then this is for you. If you want a point and shoot for family pictures, don't bother.
Rating: 
Summary: That's Lomo!
Review: I fell prey to the carefully controlled hype and bought this little piece of junk, mostly because I yearned for an antidote to gross expense, the maddening slowness, the exasperating lack of spontaneity of digital photography. The premise seemed so seductive: wide angle, bright colors, shoot from hip, only four focal settings (close-up, near, middle, infinity). Not only would Lomo liberate me from my Nikon 5700, it would liberate me from my computer, my ink jet printer, and the gadgety geekness of photography, both film and digital, and possibly even expand my thinking and make me more hip. . . well. . .
I shot a bunch of film and paid more for the processing than the price of the camera, and this is my conclusion: minus all the useless little hipster booklets and the two free rolls of film, this camera is probably worth about $19.95. The optics are awful (although some the effects can be interesting), and the rest of the camera equally crude and heavy (but cute). . . As far as the aforementioned 10 aesthetic principals of "Lomography" are concerned, there is an aesthetic space that can only be entered mindlessly, subliminally, and this approach is sometimes desirable. So I agree with Lomography, and applaud it even, BUT you don't need to plunk down $160 on this little piece of junk to practice it. The biggest success of the Lomographic Society International is that these con artists have managed to convince so many people (including me!) that you need a Lomo to get your cool back and have fun again. The 3 weeks I spent snapping my first 8 rolls of film was indeed a lot of fun. But when I got the prints back the honeymoon was over. I had about 10 aesthetically appealing pictures out of out of 288. That's when I realized that serendipity can be awfully expensive. . . The truth about Lomo is that it's more a fashion accessory than a camera. The premise of fashion is "Buying this thing will make me feel good, cool, more alive, etc." It works for sneakers, blue jeans and skateboards, and now these Viennese guys have applied the formula to junky, virtually worthless Russian "spy" cameras. . . Think disposable Fuji that can be re-loaded. Hype it. Mark it up wildly. Laugh all the way to the bank. That's Lomo!
Rating:
Summary: Aha! That's what I was looking for.
Review: This is such a fun little camera (and yes, it is small). I was looking around for a camera that would make unique pictures--not always perfect, but different--and I found a relatively inexpesnive one that does this perfectly. Go to ...... and look at the pictures people are sending to the site. You can tell when a photograph is a lomograph. But let's stop screwing around and get down to the pros and cons.
Pros: Small, sturdy, versatile (for its type) takes great pictures (blurred, smeared, or very clear, depending on lighting conditions and film speed) fun, takes regular 35mm speed film. Fun. Super-cool. Cons: Seems a bit expensive at first, but it is quality material. Maybe the price is OK for you. Ummm... That's about it for the cons. It won't take professional, portrait quiality pics, but it has a nice lens and is capable of some really crisp shots. OK, now let me tell you why the LOMO takes unique pictures. Stay with me. The lens has some kind of coating on it that enhances the colors. The colors you get from this camera can be wild.
Also, there is an auto-shutter speed option (which you want to leave on all the time, really) that gauges how much light the shot will need, depending on the situation. So, if you're using 100 speed film, and are in a dimly lit room, or outside at night, the shutter will stay open a little longer, allowing the film to soak up the shot. Sometimes this results in a blurred image, sometimes not, but the blurred ones are the most fun. But say you're using that same 100 speed film and you're outside on a sunny day; the shutter snaps much quicker when it has ample light, giving you a clearer shot. It's a lot of fun to mess with, you'll find that out. I've never had so much fun getting my pictures developed before--you never know how they're going to turn out. It's great. So, get one. Have fun. Send me a million dollars.
Rating:
Summary: Something the Russians did well
Review: I bought this camera a little while ago, and I'm amazed by it. I've taken pictures at 100, 200 and 400 ASA film...if you want to get pictures that are fairly sharp, use 400 film on the automatic settings, and you'll be pretty impressed. At 400, the picture is more sharp then 100 or 200, but you really get a hint of the rich color that abounds at the lower speeds.
I bought this camera because I wanted to make "Artistic" looking pictures without having to haul around a bulky bag with filters, lenses, flashes, etc. only to have 1 or 2 good pictures on an entire roll. So far, this camera has done the trick, and I've gotten lots of compliments, albeit from "normal" people, but they think i've spent a lot more than I actually have.
Rating: 
Summary: Great camera, but has some mechanical defects.
Review: Like many other reviewers, I agree that this is a fun little camera. However one should be aware of some mechanical diffects, that occur randomly. First, it has a tendency of a sutter to freeze, and when it occurs the sutter leaves simply stick together and stop responding. You would not know untill u get first "empty" film. And the repair is costly. Secondly, the meetering system is fulled at times producing, very unexpected results.
But despite those diffects, I consider it a fun camera and worth a try if you love photography.
Rating:
Summary: Great little fun camera!
Review: I saw this review in Maxim magazine back in 1999. I read the article after I came back from a trip to London and wished I had it with me. This is a fun point-n-click camera. A great manual camera with a metal body. It even smells like a REAL camera. I take it on all my vacations now and only keep black and white film in it. I use it for the fun and quirky artistic shots. I used it on my honeymoon in Italy and took some great pictures in Florance. I've also used it in London and New Orleans. I used only one roll of color and decided to keep b/w in it for something different. It's definitely an "art" camera. No aperture settings to mess with. I have it set from what they suggested in the manual. There is a limited distance, but the sharpness is within 10 feet. I wished I had this in college when I was taking photography. Lomo also has fun contests that you can enter. Their website has users photos and different ideas for how these pictures turn out. If you are a camera collector or photo buff, this is a FUN camera to have!
Rating:
Summary: Overpriced junk....
Review: I got to test this camera and the picture quality is abysmal. Vigneting (soft, dim corners on pictures) is clear and obvious. Also my friends Lomo kompact suffers heavily from light leaks. The "low light photography" this camera claims you can do with it is a farce as far as I am concerned because you can buy many f2.8 fixed focal length camera's that are BETTER for ½ the price, point in mind, the Olympus Stylus Epic QD, which costs far less, has a more modern focusing system, superior lens, automatic film handling, and a flash. Wow, it turns into a Super Lomo if you read the manual and turn off the flash. I honestly do believe this little Russian camera is just leftover stock from the Soviet era that is being sold at exorbitant prices to dumb Westerners. Whatever people say is charming about it I can simply not understand, because it just takes horrible photos. So please save yourself from this junk and buy a Olympus Stylus Epic QD, you won't regret it. By the way, I am far from a inexperienced photographer, so I am positive it is not me that takes bad pictures. I own a manual camera.
Rating: 
Summary: give it another try...
Review: O.K. I got my lomo last week, and shot a roll of film. And came back all blurrrr photos. I was very disappointed. I can't see if I focus or not, it's very difficult to figure it out the distance setting at the beginning I guess, so, I will give it another try... but, because of this lomo camera is so small, and light, now I start to carry it all the time with me and take photos anywhere, anytime I feel like to. I always hear photographers saying that they carry their camera all the time, but, I have never carried my Nikon F100, or my Hassleblad with me all the time because they are heavier and I also need to bring a camera case to protect these expensive equipments and lens. I will be heartbroken if I careless lost, damage these expensive cameras. But with Lomo camera, I won't have a heart attack ;) if I lost it, drop it. If this happen, it's still all right...I will buy another one, or I might not...So, I feel good to have this Lomo with me. And Lomo.com and the way this Lomo camera's photos came out did change my perspective to see, to judge or to take photos a litte. I am used to like my photos to be 100% sharp with perfect setting, lighting, and found out now that some surprising photos from this Lomo(blur, distorb, wierd angle, over or under exposure...)might be interesting as well...at least I laugh about it...which is good to laugh too in today's stressful society, isn't it. And don't give me wrong, I love and am still using my Nikon, my hasslebald for shooting photos. and the reason that I give this camera only 3 star is the price ... other than these drawbacks, up to now, I am happy to carry my Lomo with me all the time and have fun...and laugh!!!
Rating:
Summary: Lomo Marketing Strategies ?
Review: Having read all the hype and warm fuzzies about this camera, I was all set to buy. But then I ran across an astonishing webpage - [...] - which purports to reveal some of the truth about the marketing of this camera. Apparently, the author of the website lived in Russia and regularly undercut the Austria-based "Lomomatic Society" by the simple expedient of going out to local camera shops, buying the LOMO camera at greatly reduced prices, and shipping them out in small quantities. Apparently, the "Society" decided to take offence. I quote a small section of president Wolfgang Stranzinger's letter: "...our friends [Vladimir] Putin and Klebanov (ex director of Lomo) are the leading people in Russia and it is true that we and our Russian friends do not like our business to be disturbed." This kind of letter used to be delivered by hard men carrying violin cases in Cicero, Illinois, in the 1930s. People interested in the Lomo camera and in joining the joyous "Worldwide Lomo Community" ought to read both Stranzinger's letter and J. Buxton's response. They can draw their own conclusions. I, for one, will not be buying a Lomo camera anytime soon.
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