Gear Check: La Sardina

     La Sardina is the newest camera from the folks at Lomography.  The name comes from the sardine can shape after which it was modeled.  A quick glance at the accompanying book, La Sardina: Seeing the World Through a Sardine Can, also mentions that the camera was modeled after a group of Chicago-made cameras, known as "candid cameras," which were being manufactured in the 1930s and 1940s.  I had seen one such camera, the Lark, on one of my favorite photo blogs, but don't know much about them myself.  The other similar cameras mentioned in the Sardina book are the Kandor Candid, the Komet, and the Kandor Jr. made by the Irwin Corp., as was the Lark, and the Sunbeam Minicam made by the company Sunbeam.  The original candids took 127 film, but of course La Sardina uses 35mm.
     La Sardina comes in a variety of designs and patterns, some with flashes, some without.  There are even a few brass coated versions.  The camera is built to accept the "Fritz the Blitz" flash, which comes with a few color filters for more experimentation.  I do not have the flash unit, nor is mine clad in brass, but I have a nice black and white pattern reminiscent of those mobiles people get for their babies, still convinced that babies spend their first months colorblind.  Mine looks like this:

La Sardina Domino Edition
(Photo via Lomography)

     Mixed reviews are all over the internet, but of course you can never really trust what somebody else thinks.  For those who say that the camera breaks easily, and there are quite a few people complaining about this, I ask: Have you never used a camera from Lomography?  Of course it breaks easily.  It's made entirely of plastic and is not meant to be dropped or jostled.  That said, it actually does feel a lot sturdier than most of their other cameras.  Every time I take one of my Diana cameras out I feel like it's as fragile as a hummingbird or something.  The Holga is another Lomo mainstay and it is a one-false-move-and-it's-done camera too.  If you, dear reader, have never used a Lomo camera, or any "toy" camera for that matter, I will say this: If you are always cautious and gentle you will not easily break these cameras.  The one exception I might make is for the notorious Diana Mini, which has a mechanism that allows one to change the size of the frame between square and half-frame.  This mechanism is constantly being slammed in reviews for its inevitably short lifespan (though mine is still intact).
     I took my Sardina out for its first roll yesterday and got the film developed hastily in order to get this post up as soon as possible today.  I already see that I have a lot of learning to do about how to use this camera, but my first mistake was really using the wrong film, which I did out of necessity (I don't have anything else at the moment).  I filled it with some late 90s expired Kodak Gold 200 film and took it around Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood.  La Sardina has a lever in front of the viewfinder allowing you to switch between bulb and normal shutter.  If you push the lever all the way to the right it cocks the shutter again to allow for multiple exposures.  Always fun.  The Sardina has the usual focus settings - distance, and close-up.  I was confused about the symbols for a short period of time, because the close-up setting has an icon that looks like a little fly.  Since I neglected the manual, I didn't really know what Lomography meant by this so I took a few shots as macro shots just in case.  Macro it is not.  The "fly" setting is for 0.6m to 1m.  The more standard "three guys standing shoulder to shoulder" icon is for anything over 1m.  Then there's the shutter button, the advance wheel, and a rewind wheel.  Nothing too exciting.  Taking a gander through the viewfinder suggests that the camera takes some pretty wide angle shots - pretty similar, as many other reviews will tell you, to the Superheadz Wide and Slim (which I love).  There are threads in the shutter button for cable release.  There is one other feature to the camera I haven't yet mentioned and that is the stowable lens.  I am told, by the manual, that the lens collapses into the body a little bit for travel.  The manual even says it will be collapsed in the package and that it's the first thing I should do, but it was not collapsed when I got it.  I gave the lens a jiggle just out of curiosity, but the resistance invoked the usual "don't force it" rule I have for my toy cameras.  Oh, the Sardina also has a lens cap that fits very well, which is nice.
     I took my 24 pictures and when it came time to rewind my film I realized that I had no idea how to accomplish this.  Normally I push the little button on the bottom to release the film, but I could find no such button.  I thought it best to double check when I got home before reefing on any knobs (see rule on resistance situations) and I guess maybe I was being overcautious.  You just start winding the rewind knob clockwise.  I unloaded the film and got the film developed.  Here are the best shots from the first roll.

      Here was my test of the multiple exposure lever.  Not the greatest use of multiple exposure, I know, but it proves that it could theoretically be awesome.

     So like I mentioned, this is not the right film for the job given the amount of light and my usual level of shakiness, but it's a good first roll.

     Pros & cons time.  Good news first, or bad news?  Feeling negative?  Ok, cons first.

     Cons:

• The viewfinder is a little small.  I can see it was done to make it look more nautical or art deco, but it's hard to get your eye positioned correctly without smashing your schnoz into the back.
• The size and shape do make it a little hard to hold without shaking, but maybe this is because I'm a relatively big guy.  This would be great to hold onto if you have kid hands, or if you're a kid.
• It's quite expensive.  The base model, with faux sardine can skin, costs $59.  The pattern model, like my domino, adds $10.  Get the sardine can with a flash and you're looking at $99.  The pattern models with a flash are, well you know, $10 more than that.  And finally there's the brass plated one with a flash.  That one's $179, and comes in what I consider to be the lamest designs.  The flash by itself costs $69 (!!!).  If you really want all 4 sardine can cameras, you can buy them as a "deluxe kit" for $249 with a flash too...

     Pros:

• It's really small & compact.  It would be easy to stow in any bag and would be great for hikes or something where you don't want any extra weight.  It does feel sturdier than the Wide and Slim, especially when it comes time to rewind the film.  It is bigger than the Wide and Slim though...
• The patterns are very attractive.  The camera has a definite art deco look and the Lomo people did a surprisingly good job of making the camera look like the originals while still keeping things fresh.  It does look even better with the flash attached.
• I like the rewind knob much better than the usual plastic rewind lever.  This will last much longer than the lever would, no doubt about that.
• It does take some nice, wide angle shots and has the great plastic lens look that we toy photographers love so much.
• I don't see much potential for light leaks, at least with the camera I ended up with, so that could be seen as either a positive or a negative.  I'll call it a positive since I don't know my camera well enough to know how to handle its specific area and intensity of leak.

     I guess that's all I have to say for now.  I definitely don't see any reason not to have one of these on the shelves and to give it plenty of use.  I will definitely be giving mine another shot soon, and will consider dropping the $70 on the flash just for fun.  That's the life of a hobby toy photographer, right?