Lomo compact Automat LC-A
Ussr 1984, brand Lomo, material plastic, cm 10,5x3x6,5
LOMO Compact Automat LC-A analog compact camera.
Brand: Leningrad Optical and Mechanical Association
Sold with MINITAR 1 1:2.8 32mm lens.
The LOMO LC-A is a compact film camera with a fixed lens introduced by Lomo in 1984. It has a 32mm focal length lens with an aperture range of F2.8 to F16 and a focus range from 0.8m to infinity.
Made in USSR, vintage 80s.
With original hard plastic box and instruction manual in Russian.
Serial number: 92071062
Working: with batteries only one light turns on and you hear a click.
NOT tested with films.
Good general condition: inside some pieces of plastic have deteriorated over time.
The story of the LOMO LC-A begins in early-1980s Leningrad, where Soviet engineers dissected a tiny Japanese Cosina CX-2 and decided to create a sharper, sturdier, more light-hungry twin.
By 1984 the LC-A rolled off the line in the thousands, winning over Soviet shutterbugs and later traveling across the Communist bloc.
But as the USSR faded and cheap Asian imports flooded the market, the LC-A lost its charm at home.
By the early ’90s, production had slowed to a trickle—until fate intervened in the streets of Prague.
There, a group of Viennese students stumbled upon the quirky camera and fell headlong into its dreamy, off-kilter aesthetic.
Their enthusiasm sparked a grassroots movement: Lomography.
Within a year they founded the Lomographic Society, hosting parties, exhibitions and embassies to spread the LC-A gospel.
Demand soared—but supply collapsed as the LOMO factory shut its camera division in 1994.
Refusing to let the LC-A die, the Lomographers traveled to St. Petersburg to plead their case.
In a twist fit for legend, Vice-Mayor Vladimir Putin backed them, pushing LOMO to restart production in 1997.
The LC-A was saved, at least for a time, buoyed by a global cult of film lovers shooting from the hip and breaking every photographic rule.
Yet rising costs and Russia’s shifting industrial priorities slowly tightened the noose.
By 2005, the beloved camera reached its final curtain in its homeland.
Still, its spirit endured: Lomographers vowed to reinvent it for a new generation.
And thus the LC-A, born from a Soviet copy and resurrected by youthful passion, became an icon of analogue rebellion.
PH-02-0020 - available
