Tried out my latest lomographic acquisition, the Action Sampler, at George’s Jamboree, a high-calibre monthly open mic night hosted by local performance poet George Chopping.
The Action Sampler is a fairly gimmicky multiple image film camera manufactured by Lomography.
It takes four sequential shots over a period of about half a second using four separate lenses that each cover a quarter of the standard 35 mm frame. Shutter speed is around 1/100th of a second and the aperture is fixed at f/16 – which is why I opted for the version with flash, as otherwise shooting indoors would be impossible without a very high speed film and very strong lighting.
I loaded it with Fuji Superia Xtra 400 ASA and gave it a whirl (in some cases literally) at the Jamboree. The flash was more than adequate at this film speed. In fact I had no real issues with underexposure at all.
The main difficulty came in framing the shots. On the one hand, the narrow field of view made it difficult to capture the subject without using the viewfinder – something I tend not to do in order to properly see the expressions on people’s faces and also to take shots from unusual angles.
On the other hand, in many of the pictures the subject is too distant. The quarter-frame picture format only really seems to suit close ups.
However, I discovered that at short range the stroboscopic flash, which triggers four times, can be quite off-putting to performers. Nontheless I will perservere.
You can see what you think of my Action Sampler shots by selecting the photos to right and going to the Flickr sets. For comparison I’ve included some recent gig shots taken with my Diana Mini.