Lomo Cosmic 35

 This camera is a rebranded Smena 8 for the English-speaking market. It was also an unexpected freebie thrown in with another camera that I ordered. I knew nothing about these cameras until I looked them up and it turns out they are pretty neat.

These cameras were made by Lomo in Leningrad (modern day St Petersburg) between 1963 and 1971. They are plastic, compact, budget cameras but they also have some nice features making them very capable.

The lens is a 40mm hard coated, 3-element anastigmat with a widest aperture of f/4. The aperture ring surrounds the lens glass and is fiddly to operate, just as with the Belomo Chaika 3. The lens will focus as close as 3 feet and there is a handy depth of field scale on the lens barrel.

Shutter speeds range from 1/15 to 1/250, including bulb mode and a self timer that gives a 7 second delay. The camera is synchronised for electronic flash at all speeds and for flash bulbs at 1/15. The shutter cocking mechanism is on the shutter housing, which is a pretty retro feature for a 1960s camera.

There is a frame counter that must be manually reset to 0 when a new film is loaded. There is a film speed reminder on the top plate next to the cold shoe which displays ASA speeds from 25 to 200.

The shutter release button will take a threaded remote shutter cable. It also enables the film to be rewound once depressed. To keep it depressed turn it clockwise.

The shutter and aperture rings feature the numbers 4 to 8. These are EV numbers. If your light meter gives EV number readings these are very useful. For example if you are given the reading EV13, the correct setting is whichever shutter and aperture settings equals 13: 7 + 6 or 8 + 5 for example.

The take up spool in this camera is not fixed for some reason so it is possible to lose it. Apparently this is a quirk of several Russian camera makes.

So all in all a rather nice camera. It was certainly a pleasant surprise. With a name like Cosmic 35 I feel like it should be displayed alongside some 1960s space race memorabilia. It will make a nice pair with my Ikophot light meter, which gives EV value readings.