Lomography 800 Film Review – by Christian Schroeder

In this article, I’m going to talk about some of my impressions from Lomography 800 (35mm). I’m currently on a quest for color negative films I haven’t used yet. Having stuck to Kodak Portra almost exclusively for years, I now want to broaden my horizon. In contrast to my last post, which dealt with Fuji Superia 400, I shot more than one roll of the Lomo. This time I ran a total of three rolls through my Leicaflex.

As already mentioned in the Superia post, I don’t just shoot the film just for sake of testing it. Thus, please don’t expect real test shots here. I rather do what I would have done with a familiar film stock: look for a subject matter that arouses my interest and then take some photographs of it. I hope that this helps you anyway to get an idea of what this stock is capable of.

To illustrate my points, I will take you on a trip back to autumn. You are going to see natural subjects – forest scenes, colorful leaves – as well as industrial environments. I also tried to include a rather broad span of lighting situations. Therefore, you are going to encounter images taken under an overcast sky, other ones from the edge between day and night, and finally some long-time exposures with only artificial light available.

Short Profile of Lomography 800

Lomography 800 is a daylight-balanced color negative film rated at the fairly high speed of – surprise – ISO 800. For my shots, I almost gave up the advantage in speed and overexposed it by one or even two stops. High-speed films are usually associated with a higher amount of grain compared to films rated at a lower ISO. Spoiler alert, I didn’t get the impression that Lomo’s grain is distracting at all.

Lomography offers this material in 35mm and 120. The images within this article were all shot on 35mm film. According to some internet reviews, Lomography 800 is rebranded Kodak material. My lab, Carmencita in Spain, scanned the film with a preset meant for Kodak Gold. By the way: did you know that Kodak once offered the Gold in 120 format? Head over to the folks of emulsive and read Bill’s piece about it.

The Virtues of Autumn

Already in June, July I’m looking forward to the fleeting weeks in autumn, when the summer rapidly transforms into winter. Golden sunlight through the whole day, colorful leaves and also grey, foggy landscapes – the autumn holds many virtues for us photographers.

In some cases, I specifically held a look out for intense colors. In other cases, I wondered how Lomography 800 would render rather subtle tones. Could the film enhance colors, depict them more vibrantly? Well, I think it can. In the image with the different colored leaves, it is already too punchy for my taste. As a result, I will handle this film with care.

To find some rather exotic plants, I paid the city park (“Stadtpark”) a visit. Indeed, the park didn’t disappoint me. I especially like the trees from the Asian region / Japan (?). However, in retrospect I enjoy my images from the commonplace deciduous forest even more. Luminous yellow leaves in front of a dark wall of tree trunks: this is where I can almost grab the melancholia with my hands.

Let’s Get Colorful! Autumn Images on Lomography 800

Industrial Environments (my Favorite Stuff)

There are several industrial areas in Hannover I regularly return to. If you now say: “Wait a minute, I think I know this place from one of your previous posts!”, you are probably right.

Imperfect things attract my attention far more often than impeccable ones. Industrial zones offer exactly this. They were built to earn money, not to appeal to the people. Facilities are being used and maintained. If their profitability decreases, they are often run down, abandoned and finally demolished. Photographing these places means to document transformations, transformations that likely happen faster than in other parts of the city. I guess that’s why I feel so heavily drawn to them.

Film photography veteran Matt Day used Lomography 800 to document an abandoned gas station in his hood. His video about his small outing inspired me to test out the Lomo in the first place. Matt does exactly what I love about such trips: visiting a previously spotted location, arriving there early and then waiting until the light reaches its sweet spot. Oftentimes, I could describe my own trips in this way: wait, wait, wait, still keep waiting, now shoot!, shoot more, faster!, go home.

Images of Industry – Lomography 800 at Dusk

Finally: Dinosaurs!

At the end of November, a museum around the corner installed three life-sized dinosaurs on their property. These models promote the museum’s new exhibition – dinosaurs and their representation in movies and TV.

I went there in the evening to photograph them, on the same day the dinosaurs had arrived. As a matter of fact, I wasn’t the only person taking images of the creatures that night. A group of two used a large permanent light mounted to a stand in order to illuminate the scenes. So I backed off and waited for them to clear. Without any lightning equipment, I had to take what was available, meaning long-time exposures. For once, Covid proved helpful. Thanks to the lockdown, the roads lay in a deep sleep and I could take my pictures without any distracting traffic in the background.

In the following days, the dinosaurs became a must-see for all families nearby. Since then it is virtually impossible to take a daylight photo of the saurians without a bunch of kids frolicking on and around them.

Closing Thoughts on Lomography 800

Lomography 800 is a great film. I used it in several different situations and environments I would usually take pictures. Without exception, it gave me nice results – not a single case I would have said afterwards “Too bad I haven’t taken that shot on Portra instead!”. Compared to the top dog just mentioned, Lomography 800 offers colors that are more bold and not that warm. Though not sold as a “professional” product, I don’t have to carp with the film’s grain or latitude. Thinking of the Fuji Superia 400 I also tested recently, I’m not sure which stock I would prefer for future assignments. Things I held against the Lomography are its ever limited availability and its price. Lately it has become so expensive that it sits price-wise closer to the professional stocks than to the consumer films.

No big surprise: In the end, it’s a matter of personal preference, willingness to spend money and the opportunity to get hold of the material. As for me, I will surely shoot Lomography 800 again.

Thanks for reading!