John Wade takes an instant liking to a folding Lomo camera
Amateur Photographer verdict
The Lomo’Instant Square Glass is utterly unique, with its dual print formats and folding design. Instax film gives great results, too. For instant photography aficionados, it may just be irresistible.
- Compact folding design
- Good-quality glass lens
- Unique dual-format design
- Instant photography is expensive
Lomo began making instant cameras to use Fujifilm’s Instax film in 2014. In 2018 the Lomo’Instant Square was launched, and it’s still available today. Lomo claims it as ‘the world’s first fully analogue, dual format, glass-lensed, automatic, instant camera’. That’s a description with which it’s hard to argue.
At a glance:
- $169 / £119-139 depending on colour and accessories bundle
- Folding, automatic instant picture camera
- 95mm glass lens (45mm equivalent)
- White, red, black and blue versions available
- Two instant picture formats
- Close-up lens and image splitter accessories included
- Coloured filters fit over the flashgun for creative results
- shop.lomography.com
Just to be clear: this is not a digital camera that prints its image onto paper before ejecting it; instead, it’s a truly analogue instant picture camera. And while most such cameras are big and bulky, the Lomo’Instant Square Glass uses a folding design to make it much easier to carry around.
Folded up, the camera measures 14x12x4cm. Gripping the panel above the lens and giving it a confident tug folds the lens up 90° to sit at the end of bag-type bellows. It folds again by pressing a supporting strut and pushing the lens panel back into the body.
Key features:
- In the box: Camera, instructions, interchangeable film backs, close-up lens, image splitter, flashgun filters, picture display items
- Controls: Shutter release, remote control, flash, multiple exposures, exposure compensation, self-timer, auto and bulb options
- Automation: Programed 1/250-8sec auto, 30sec in bulb mode, f/10 and f/22 apertures, manual focus down to 0.8 metres
- Batteries: Two CR2 batteries for the camera, one CR2025 for the remote control
A sliding switch below the lens pushes it forwards and backwards for focusing. This must be set to infinity before folding the camera.
Five control buttons sit vertically on the back. The first turns the flash on and off. Next comes multiple exposure control. With the supplied image splitting device used to cover half the lens, then reversed to cover the other side, multiple exposures can show one person appearing twice in the same picture. The third button gives plus and minus override on the auto exposure. Then comes a selector button for auto or bulb modes. The last button activates a 10sec delayed action.
The shutter release is on the front of the body falling easily under a right forefinger. Alternatively, the shutter can be fired remotely, using a small device that slides out from the base of the body.
Uniquely, interchangeable film backs offer two picture sizes: Instax Square for a 62x62mm image mounted on a 72x86mm card, or Instax Mini for a 46x62mm image on a 54x86mm card. Immediately following exposure, the print is ejected from the top of the body to self-develop in about two minutes.
Fujifilm’s Instax ISO 800 film is known for its saturation of colour as opposed to the slightly softer look of the old Polaroid films, and the camera’s glass lens delivers crisp results.
Our Verdict
At around £100-plus for the camera, and Instax film costing up to 90p per shot, this is not a cheap camera to use. But shooting instant pictures has always been fun, and if that’s all you’re after, you might find the Lomo’Instant Square Glass, with its folding design and dual image facility, irresistible.
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