It’s pretty clear that Lomography’s focus is on people who are pretty serious about photography, and while this has some great point-and-shoot options, to get the most out of it you’ll want to play around a bit more. It comes with a 38mm wide-angle lens with an f/4.5 aperture, but thanks to the standard lens threading you’ll be able to attach other lenses – for example, the included close-up lens, designed for photos at a range of 10cm. The Automat uses Instax Mini prints, and captures impressive detail in portrait and landscape shots, but struggles a bit more in close-ups. Low-light photos aren’t great either – even with brightness adjustments, typically the flash either washes the photo out or fails to light it properly.
There’s a selfie mirror on the front of the body, but unhelpfully it’s built into the shutter button – so the moment you try and take the photo you lose sight of yourself, somewhat defeating the purpose. It’s the wrong orientation for the camera too, which seems a daft oversight. Where this Lomography camera excels is when you get into more complex shots. The bulb mode is one of the best around, allowing you to expose the film for up to 30 seconds, while this is also the only camera we’ve seen with multiple exposure (as opposed to double), letting you expose the film unlimited times before choosing to print. Tech Advisor’s Deputy Editor, Dom covers everything that runs on electricity, from phones and laptops to wearables, audio, gaming, smart home, and streaming - plus he’s a regular fixture on the Tech Advisor YouTube channel.
