most mass produced camera in the World

[User_4525289]

<p>I strongly believe this place is rightly belong to Smena 8m. Gigantic Leningrad's Optic(o)-Mechanical Holding (LOMO) menage to produce 21 041 191 copies of that camera . That is quite some number! Smena 8M was the first camera for millions of Soviet people and I believe it was exported abroad so lots of people can clam that it was the very first camera for them as well. I had one of my own which I got as a gift for my 10th birthday, but being a curious young communist pioneer-explorer I got a screwdriver and disassembled my beloved Smena 8m to the last bolt.... That got me an excuse to demand a Zenit ET for my 13th birthday that was granted as a sort of *Bar-Mitzvahs* present and ever since did not have a chance to shout with Smena again....Until recently, my wife visited Russia and since I ask her to get me a camera from there (I sincerely hopped for an Iskra or a Kiev II with ZK 5/1.5) she got me that piece of plastic. What was a cruel jape of hers....but camera is a camera and every camera deserve to be tested at least.<br /> Here is the picture, not mine exactly but identical.</p><div></div>

[User_4525289]

<p>Well off I go with Smena 8M in Frederick MD in the hot and soggy summer evening.</p><div></div>

[User_4525289]

<p>again park and I am pretending to be a lomographer</p><div></div>

[User_4525289]

<p>Sunlight strait in the lenses decrease contrast somehow but to my surprise not to the zero level</p>

[User_4525289]

<p>here is the picture</p><div></div>

[User_4525289]

<p>Well shouting from the hip in the park. I never understand why people are sitting on the dirty ground if there are clean and well maintained park benches for their convenience. But well everybody is different. Some people sits on the ground some people shoots Smena 8M. And in conclusion I would say that camera manages to produce quite capable images to my surprise.</p><div></div>

[subbarayan_prasanna]

<blockquote>

<p>I never understand why people are sitting on the dirty ground if there are clean and well maintained park benches for their convenience.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>You are bit too orthodox for today's America, <strong>KP</strong>. The pictures are very good, especially the last one nice tones. I thought that the earlier Smenas were better made [or, looked better] than this plastic box. Thanks for the post. sp.</p>

 

[maderik]

<p>Interesting exposure system - I know some cameras where the film speed sets the shutter speed and then the aperture is set according to the light but this is the first I've seen to do it the other way round.</p>

<p>BTW, in hot weather I can think of one reason why the young lady would prefer that spot on the ground: the brick and ground would be relatively cool due to the shade and the banked earth. </p>

[tony_lockerbie]

<p>That's an interesting observation Kozma, I would have picked a Box Brownie or maybe the Canon AE1P orsomething like that.<br>

I have never heard of this camera, or seen one, but that production number is just amazing. How I could have missed owning one is a mystery...I will have to get out more!<br>

Your shots are remarkably good BTW, that camera seems OK.</p>

[philip_wilson]

<p>I have never used this camera (it is supposed to be the original Lomography body - it was built by LOMO and I understand the very bad shutter release gives motion blur!) but the production total of 21 million is massive. I believe the AE1 sold about 5 M plus almost 4 M AE1-P models for around 9 million units. I think the Box Brownie was about 10M for its most successful design (the Brownie Star series) but the Kodak Instamatic was about 60 million!!!. I am not sure what the kodak 110 volumes were but it will also be big.</p>

[indraneel]

<p>I thought something from here would have made it <a href="http://www.subclub.org/shop/110.htm">http://www.subclub.org/shop/110.htm</a></p>

[cj8281]

<p>I am not sure on numbers but the Argus C series cameras, (C, C2 and C3) were made for almost <strong>30 years</strong> (1938-1966) I think that is fairly impressive. I don't know how well they sold outside of the USA though. I am sorry to say that I have never heard of the Smena 8m.</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>Ah but some of us have heard of these domestic Soviet cameras. One of them, the Smena Rapid was/is a major Rapid film system shooter. Lomography™ pushes them these days.<br /> As the Wiki and Camerapedia articles say, Kozma's pictures illustrate how 'decent' the camera lens was. Nice work, Pioneer Kozma!</p>

<p>I've never tried a Smena, but I would like to try this one, except that when I pried out the rotted battery that was in it, it broke off the eroded battery connections. Admittedly, it might be more at home under "modern film". Much more automatic and a real Industar on it:</p><div></div>

[starvy]

<p>JDM, your Elikon reminds me of the Konica C35 my dad used to have in the late 70's.</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>It would not be unheard of for Soviet designs to "echo" Western or even other Eastern designs. ;)<br /> I looked and can find no reference to a "prototype" in this instance, but maybe I just didn't dig deeply enough.</p>

<p>Not to steal Kozma's post (sorry) anymore than already, here is a nice site on the Elikon and other cameras are also posted there: http://www.sovietcams.com/index.php?-1365077831 and for the Smena 8M: http://www.sovietcams.com/index.php?1769084597</p>

<p>You could have a large collection of nothing but Smenas, as a matter of fact. :)</p>

[User_4525289]

<p>Thanks everybody for the responses. I may say that Smena 8m is the most mass produced camera in 35 mm standard. Picture quality indeed is more then adequate. That actually came as a great surprise for me. However truth to be told I set aperture at 8 and that may be did the trick. As far as I remember the Smena 8m of my pioneer childhood was not as good, or may be I failed to use correct settings. And as a girl sitting on the brick sidewalk those bricks are way too hotter then the park bench nearby. I could feel it by my sneakers. We have 100 degree all summer long with humidity that bring heat index closer to 120. That is a lot of fun. <br /> And by way JDM feel free to hijack this topic.</p>

[indraneel]

<blockquote>

<p>I may say that Smena 8m is the most mass produced camera in 35 mm standard.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I believe the rewording is better. After some search, I found on wikipedia:</p>

<blockquote>

<p>The Instamatic was an instant success; more than 50 million Instamatic cameras were produced between 1963 and 1970.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>(that was for the 126 format); and also</p>

<blockquote>

<p>More than 25 million Pocket Instamatics were produced in under three years, and the 110 format remained popular into the 1990s.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>But it doesn't matter, you have nice images from the one you're using !</p>

[mfophotos]

<p>Definitely more Smenas than Argus bricks!</p>

[kris-bochenek]

<p>I bought one of those few years back for grand total of $9. Sure cheap plastic but the results weren't that bad- pretty good even. I ran two or three rolls on it and the film advance mechanism started to jam on frame 16 why? I don't know. I gave it to a co-worker that used to (as a kid) have one. Good little camera. We had those in Poland too and you can still find them in the used market and someone's attic maybe.</p>